Research Programmer/ Senior Research Programmer- Robotics Institute

The Auton Lab at Carnegie Mellon University is a large academic group driven by a desire to make a real-world difference. We are seeking outstanding Research Programmers and Senior Research Programmers to be instrumental in a wide range of fundamental and applied projects in Machine Learning. We are seeking team members who will be responsible for developing experimental research applications and modifying existing software for specific research applications.

Applicants should have knowledge of the theoretical foundations of computer science including algorithms and data structures, theory, and the application of state-of-the-art programming methodology and languages. Applicants will also provide consulting services to researchers relative to software technology and capability, as well as design and perform tests of the developed software, contribute to technical reports and presentation materials, and thoughtfully and optimally interact with sponsors and end-users as required. Applicants should be willing to further develop their skills and be open to learning new techniques as necessary. Applicants should be willing to potentially work on multiple projects simultaneously. Deep familiarity with Machine Learning is not required but very helpful.

We are always interested in finding ways to make Artificial Intelligence more accessible, beneficial and affordable to everyone. The areas of our current application interests include healthcare in clinical, managerial, and new sensing modalities contexts, radiation safety, countering human trafficking, agriculture, predictive maintenance of equipment, multi-modal data analytics, etc. Research topics include, but are not limited to, modeling complex temporal and sequential data, structural learning, computer vision, incorporating diverse feedback, graph modeling, anomaly detection, etc.

Responsibilities:

• Research programmers are primarily responsible for software and systems development to support research activities. Prior knowledge of AI/ML is not required.
• Develop software in a variety of languages which may include Python, C/C++, Cython, and Rust and technologies which may include database integration, web application development, scaling up research solutions, cloud deployment, software architecture, and solution integration.
• Write code for the entire end-to-end AI/ML process (data preprocessing, featurization, modeling, presentation/visualization of results, and support tooling).

Experience:

• Research programmer applicants do not require extensive experience in machine learning at the start. While ML/AI learning opportunities exist and experience in ML can be helpful, research programmers need not be seasoned ML practitioners before entering the role.
• Knowledge of programming and a strong understanding of computer science fundamentals are required, which can be assessed during the interview process in a person’s language of choice. Experience in C/C++ or Python is beneficial though not required.
• 1-3 years of Research Computing Systems Analysis, Research Computing, or Systems Programming experience are beneficial but not required for the Research Programmer position. 3-5+ years of experience are required for the Senior Research Programmer position.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field is required. A Master’s degree in a relevant field is beneficial but not required.
• Programming skills are required. Knowledge of C/C++ or Python are preferred.
• DevOps skills such as cloud deployment, containerization, and scaling technologies are beneficial but not required.
• Systems-level skills such as Linux, scripting, Slurm, etc. are quite valuable in this role but can be acquired on the job.

Life in the Lab:

A research programmer in the Lab contributes to a variety of projects and has the opportunity to wear many different hats should they choose. From gathering use cases and building user-facing applications to featurizing datasets and standing up models to presenting work in client-facing settings - the position is a broadly defined one, where you will be sure to develop traits you will find useful throughout your career for whichever path you decide to take.

Benefits of Working on the Lab

• Learn cutting-edge machine learning through experience and peer mentorship
• Sharpen software development skills by working with other knowledgeable developers on challenging problems
• Work on challenging and important problems which contribute to the betterment of society
• Contribute to the latest research in AI/ML, both applied and theoretical research
• Opportunities to publish research, if desired, along with collaborators in the Lab
• Work across a range of ML/AI projects in diverse domains including healthcare (clinical research, infectious diseases, healtchare informatics), defense and homeland security (predictive maintenance, nuclear threat detection), public safety (human trafficking, public health), and many others.
• Contribute to software development and research in diverse research topics including time series analytics and forecasting, anomaly detection, supervised learning, weak learning, NLP, video and image processing, deep learning (including GANs, autoencoders, etc.), trustworthy AI, and many others.

Background of the Auton Lab:

The Auton Lab, founded in 1993, is one of the largest applied intelligence research teams in academia. Our interests combine developing new science with deploying working systems in real-world applications. We have successfully transitioned the resulting systems to practice in food safety, nuclear safety, preemptive maintenance of complex equipment, and countering human trafficking, to name a few.

Follow us on Linkedin!

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cmu-auton-lab/about/?viewAsMember=true

Location

Pittsburgh, PA

Job Function

Software/Applications Development/Engineering

Position Type

Staff – Regular

Full Time/Part time

Full time

Pay Basis

Salary

More Information:

• Please visit “ Why Carnegie Mellon ” to learn more about becoming part of an institution inspiring innovations that change the world.
  
  
• Click here to view a listing of employee benefits
  
  
• Carnegie Mellon University is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veteran .
  
  
• Statement of Assurance