Software Researcher III

Job Summary

We are looking for highly talented developers with experience and interest in state‑of‑the‑art technologies, high performance computing (HPC), memory management, and dev‑ops. You will enjoy being part of a world‑renowned research institute and work closely with PhD, Post Docs, software engineers and faculty members on developing cutting‑edge AI ready data management.

We are working on extending and maintaining the Data Spaces () project – a high‑performance distributed data management framework designed for in‑memory data staging and coordination in scientific workflows. Our use case spans multi‑node HPC environments, and data‑intensive applications requiring real‑time interaction, streaming, and integration with custom pipelines.

We’re seeking a Research Software Engineer (RSE) who can contribute directly to the core of Data spaces (written in C/C++) and support the integration and deployment efforts including containerization, automation, and system‑level optimizations.

Contact Jess Tate (jessh.edu) for further information.

Through the Cyberinfrastructure Professionals (CIP) Cooperative (Co‑Op) at the SCI Institute, the successful candidate will access a community of research computing and data experts working together to support and sustain SCI’s world‑class research efforts. The Co‑Op provides a stable work environment with opportunities for mentoring and growth, and fosters a high‑quality software lifecycle for SCI research projects.

• You will be contributing to cutting‑edge computational methods for HPC, edge computing, and memory management.
• We offer flexible working hours.
• We offer professional career development opportunities.
• The University of Utah offers a very competitive benefits package.

• Health, dental, and wellness coverage (https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below).)
• Automatic and immediately vested 14.2% employer contribution (https://) to personal retirement account (401a)
• Free public transportation pass () (Utah Transit Authority)
• Paid leave time (https:// Leave.php)
• Tuition reduction for employee and family members (https://)
• And more: https:///benefits

• Work with faculty and students in designing and developing computational tools in support of research projects.
• Aid in the specification of software requirements in coordination with faculty or team leads.
• Develop and maintain features in the Data Spaces codebase (C/C++).
• Customize and optimize Docker‑based builds for various CPU architectures (e.g., with and without AVX).
• Handle dependency management (Mercury, Margo, MPI, libfabric, etc.).
• Build CI/CD workflows to validate changes across multiple targets.
• Work with system engineers to deploy Data Spaces on HPC clusters and edge nodes.
• Profile and optimize performance for data throughput and latency.
• Extend functionality to interact with Python or REST APIs.
• Interface with collaboration partners and participate actively in a collaborative work environment to turn requirements into optimal solutions on a large scale.
• Contribute actively to team discussions on architectural design and solutions by continuously looking for improvements.
• Research and stay current with project‑related scientific literature.
• Identify and implement creative solutions to overcome problems.
• Mentor postdocs, students, and junior software developers for best software practices.
• Support the end‑user community by responding to user questions posted on the discussion list, fixing bugs, and incorporating feature requests.
• Help with the project website and discussion boards for user support, developer support, and announcements.
• Contribute to teaching activities by preparing and presenting educational seminars.

• Solid background and working knowledge of computer science fundamentals including algorithms, data structures, and object‑oriented programming.
• Proficiency in C/C++ or similar language.
• Working with large codebases.
• Containerization (Docker) and…