Argus Array Data Production Engineer

Department :

Physics and Astronomy-319000

Career Area :

Research Professionals

Posting Open Date : 09 / 04 / 2025

Application Deadline :

11 / 03 / 2025

Open Until Filled : No

Position Type :

Permanent Staff (EHRA NF)

Working Title :

Argus Array Data Production Engineer

Appointment Type : EHRA Non-Faculty

Position Number : 20072149

Vacancy ID : NF0009265

Full Time / Part Time :

Full-Time Permanent

FTE : Hours per week :

40

Position Location : North Carolina, US

Hiring Range : $51,000-$100,000

Proposed Start Date :

12 / 01 / 2025

Be a Tar Heel! :

A global higher education leader in innovative teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill consistently ranks as one of the nation’s top public universities . Known for its beautiful campus, world-class medical care, commitment to the arts and top athletic programs, Carolina is an ideal place to teach, work and learn.

One of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, Chapel Hill has diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.University employees can choose from a wide range of professional training opportunities for career growth, skill development and lifelong learning and enjoy exclusive perks for numerous retail, restaurant and performing arts discounts, savings on local child care centers and special rates on select campus events. UNC-Chapel Hill offers full-time employees a comprehensive benefits package , paid leave, and a variety of health, life and retirement plans and additional programs that support a healthy work / life balance.

Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit :

Our primary mission is providing instruction of the highest quality in physics and astronomy to undergraduate and graduate students at UNC-CH. Training in physics is fundamental among the natural sciences because it provides understanding of the forces governing the structure of matter, from subatomic particles to the large-scale structure of the universe.

Our departmental instructional mission spans all segments of the student community. Over 60% of all college graduates from UNC-CH have taken a course in our department. Among them : undergraduate liberal arts majors who should master the power of quantitative reasoning; undergraduates seeking a degree in another of the natural sciences, who need physics as a foundation for their advanced scientific training; the small number of undergraduates who major in physics, to whom we provide broad and rigorous training. Our graduate education and research advances frontiers of knowledge at the two extremes of space and time, from the very small) the realm of particle physics) to the very large (the realm of astronomy), while expanding the boundaries of knowledge in the many subfields spanning length scales between. Forefront physics and astronomy research requires access to well-equipped laboratories and extensive computing capabilities; it also must be supported by comprehensive and accessible library collections. Again, in research at this advanced level, the bridging aspect of physics provides basic interdisciplinary insight for many other sciences.

A strong managerial, administrative, and technical staff supports this instructional mission. Duties of these employees range from budget planning and management for the numerous research grants held by faculty in the department to maintaining course and student records. These activities are usually accomplished in a standard 40- hour week schedule.

Position Summary :

The Argus Array will be the largest optical telescope array ever assembled, with a collecting area comparable to the largest monolithic telescopes in the world. The Array will push our observations of the universe into a new regime, scanning the sky 100,000x faster than current nightly-cadence sky surveys. Argus will capture a continuous multi-color, 55-gigapixel movie of the night sky, shared with the entire astronomical community in real-time through public transient alerts, images, and light curves with millions of epochs for hundreds of millions of stars.

Joining our local team of astronomers, telescope-instrumentalists, and engineers, the Argus Array Data Production Engineer will support the development and operation of the GPU-accelerated, real-time data analysis pipelines that will turn images from the world’s largest digital camera into discoveries. Three years of prototyping efforts have demonstrated the core pipeline architecture and built an archive of representative data; we are now working to build pipelines and platforms that scale to the full array. This scale up involves integration with cloud services, distributed storage networks, and the dedicated computing cluster supporting Array operations.

The Data Production Engineer will bring the real-time analysis pipeline into production, working with a team of scientists to develop, implement, and deploy cutting edge algorithms and approaches to astronomical difference image analysis, image resampling and reprojection, and coaddition. You will write and design code that interfaces directly with the largest digital sensor array ever assembled — a distributed machine vision camera with more pixels than 6000 4K TVs. You will work with a cross-functional team responsible for the entire data path of the Argus Array, from the telescope telemetry and hardware operation to long-term data archiving and distribution.

Our project management philosophy emphasizes a small and local team; flat management structure; and a highly collaborative working environment. We routinely produce and test prototypes and complex hardware in-house. While you will contribute primarily to the data processing system effort, team members frequently collaborate across boundaries and contribute hands-on to various Argus hardware and software subsystems.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements :

Relevant post-Baccalaureate degree required (or foreign degree equivalent); for candidates demonstrating comparable independent research productivity or professional-level background in sponsored research administration, will accept a relevant Bachelor’s degree (or foreign degree equivalent) and 3 or more years of relevant experience in substitution.

Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience :

• We are searching for an engineer with deep Python expertise (5+ years) and demonstrated success in designing and optimizing high-throughput systems (2+ years).
• Experience and proficiency across the software development lifecycle (version control, documentation, and testing) is required.
• Experience with GPU acceleration frameworks (Nvidia CUDA, PyCUDA, CuPy, or equivalent) is required.

Preferred Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience :

Special Physical / Mental Requirements :

Ability to sustain nighttime validations testing and monitoring of your deployed data pipelines (as part of a rota of qualified support personnel).

Campus Security Authority Responsibilities :

Not Applicable.