Position Summary:

The Interdisciplinary Senior Software Engineer will support aeronautics research within the Aviation Systems Division (Code AF) at NASA Ames Research Center. The successful candidate will bring data engineering, database modeling, and software development expertise to the team developing a data service architecture enabling the data exchange and management required for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) operations. NASA projects supported by our team include Air Traffic Management – eXploration (ATM-X), Data and Reasoning Fabric, Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration, and Sustainable Flight Demonstrator. Our team works closely with the FAA, commercial partners, and the aviation industry to enable development and testing of future capabilities.

USRA is the prime contractor for the NASA Academic Mission Services (NAMS) contract at NASA Ames Research Center. Our NAMS mission is to perform strategic multi-disciplinary research and development that supports NASA’s long-term mission requirements across aeronautics, space and earth sciences, and advanced information technologies.

Essential Duties/Responsibilities:

• Satisfy USRA's non-profit mission by making a distinctive impact through scientific and technical accomplishments in the assigned projects.
  • Engage with NASA teams and partners on requirements development and systems design for modeling, simulation, and prototype demonstration systems.
  • Support NASA researchers with the development and evaluation of advanced air traffic control and management automation concepts. Propose new automation concepts and algorithms, help identify issues, and provide solution recommendations.
  • Interact with senior researchers, customer (i.e., NASA), and other project engineers to collaborate on NASA research goals and develop and execute research plans which include milestones, requirements, schedules, design & development activities, deliverables.
  • Provide software development, integration, testing, and data analysis support to expand NASA capabilities for air traffic management research and simulations.
  • Support automated software build, release, and deployment into cloud environments.
  • Support development of experiment tests and test execution procedures.
  • Develop software release documentation for the simulation components and APIs.
• Work effectively with others including functional staff for day-to-day operations and efforts to improve operational excellence.

Additional Responsibilities

• Ensure the protection of NASA and USRA intellectual property, which includes submitting new technology disclosures and supporting patent applications.
• Ensure export control compliance related to ITAR/EAR regulations.
• Support efforts by USRA Management to ensure that USRA conducts its business operations in an effective, cost-competitive, and professional manner.
• Complete all trainings as scheduled.
• Other job-related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or related degree; advanced degree strongly preferred.

Experience:

• 10+ years relevant experience in software development, data engineering, database modeling and development.
• Expertise with Java, C/C++, scripting languages like Python and MATLAB, NoSQL (e.g., MongoDB), SQL (e.g., PostgreSQL).
• Expertise in Agile Development processes, software architecture, object-oriented design, unit testing.
• Expertise with software development for cloud computing services and micro-services architecture.
• Demonstrated experience with the full software development lifecycle.
• Experience with Atlassian tools, Confluence, Git, Jira highly desired
• US Citizen or permanent resident required.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Background in aeronautics, air traffic management research, aviation data streams, or unmanned aerial vehicles highly desired.
• Ability to build NASA Procedural Requirement (NPR) 7150.2 compliant software highly desired.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills for design, creation, and testing of custom software.
• Possess excellent written and oral communication skills with experience writing routine reports and correspondence and presenting to customers or employees.
• Ability to work independently, effectively, and professionally in a team environment (co-workers, customers, and supervisors).
• Knowledge of data science and machine learning is a plus.
• Ability to write technical reports and peer reviewed publications is a plus.
• Knowledge of AngularJS, Javascript, Open APIs, REST APIs is a plus.
• Knowledge of containerized computing systems, Kubernetes, virtual machines, Docker is a plus.
• Model USRA’s core values:
  • Passion (for science, technology, and education)
  • Partnerships (with universities, governments, and the private sector)
  • Professionalism (through excellence, accountability, and respect for others)

Working Conditions:

Work will be performed in an office (on-site or remote with project/supervisor approval) or computer lab environment. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, talk, or hear. Keyboarding for large time spans each day will be a significant part of this position. The employee may need to lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.

The hiring range displayed is specifically for those who will work in or reside in the location listed (Mt. View, CA). In extending an offer, USRA considers factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s job-related skills, experience, knowledge, internal staff equity, and relevant education/training. The hiring range for this job may be adjusted based on primary work location outside of Mt. View, California. This adjusted range will be provided to candidates by the HR Business Partner when applicable. The full time equivalent annual hiring range for this job in Mt. View, California $140,900-$236,670.

Travel:

Employee must be willing and able to travel. Position may require infrequent domestic business travel.