Engineer, Software; EarthRISE

USRA and the Science and Technology Institute are seeking a full-time Software Engineer to work in our Huntsville, AL office. The candidate will work directly with EarthRISE, which is a project of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that works in collaboration with state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners to use information provided by Earth observing satellites and geospatial technologies for managing environmental challenges.

EarthRISE’s goal is to empower decision-makers with tools, products, geospatial artificial intelligence, and services to act locally on issues such as disasters, agriculture, water, ecosystems, air quality, and health.

We are seeking a highly motivated Software Engineer experienced in the development of scientific visualization tools, involving geospatial data (interactive maps, charts and tables) and automation of scientific data processing workflows. The engineer will work with teams of early career scientists in the EarthRISE Developers Academy to create various web-based visualization and analysis interfaces using a large and diverse array of Earth observation datasets and solutions customized for use cases in various thematic areas.

The Software Engineer will require strong interpersonal and communication skills to successfully elicit crucial requirements and produce solution prototypes in short development cycles. The Engineer will be part of the Geospatial IT Team in EarthRISE and will collaborate closely with teammates to leverage existing experience and available assets (e.g., existing application code and patterns, current technological infrastructure and methodologies, etc.).

The Engineer will be part of the Geospatial IT Team in EarthRISE and will collaborate closely with teammates to leverage existing experience and available assets (e.g., existing application code and patterns, current technological infrastructure and methodologies, etc.).

• Collaborate with and mentor EarthRISE Developers Academy participants and teams across multiple NASA centers, in-person and virtually, to design and develop computer applications, automation scripts and AI/ML solutions based on end-user needs
• Document designs for delivered software components
• Conduct code reviews and enforce open science and engineering best practices and standards
• Monitor application performance and resource utilization and troubleshoot production issues
• Assist developers in other teams of the EarthRISE project to implement best practices for software development testing and debugging procedures, technical documentation, and quality assurance
• Provide guidance to scientists to optimize their data processing algorithms
• Prepare and deliver technical presentations on software development practices, AI/LLM implementations, and project outcomes
• Research and test emerging technologies to assess their potential value for EarthRISE applications

Master’s degree in computer science, software engineering or similar degree focusing on Software Development or equivalent experience

5 or more years of experience in Software Development projects using a broad set of technologies such as:

• Relational database design & management (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL)
• Web applications development, including standards and underlying software architecture (Server technologies: NGINX, IIS, Apache, Tomcat; Web presentation languages: HTML, CSS; Data transfer languages: XML, JSON)
• Server-side scripting languages (e.g., Python, PHP, .NET languages, Perl, etc.)
• Client-side programming with JavaScript, jQuery, React, or others
• Cloud-based architecture and deployment
• Integration of Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Model (LLM) solutions, including prompt engineering, AI-powered chatbot development, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and deployment of AI-enabled services
• Leveraging multiple visualization technologies to interpret statistical data and communicate complex scientific outcomes to technical and non-technical stakeholders

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Web mapping…