Research Associate I-III, and Senior

Position Function:

Provide computer science support in the development of data management capabilities and visualization techniques for NOAA and its partners. An experienced computer scientist with extensive development experience and cloud-based programming is required to complete this work.

Salary Grade: 13

Please see or for salary ranges. For salary grade UC, these positions are "Unclassified" and salary ranges are determined by the hiring department.

Department Profile:

The Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Institute comprised of six academic institutions that are geographically distributed across the Gulf Coast states. The six NGI member institutions are Mississippi State University (lead), the University of Southern Mississippi, Florida State University, Louisiana State University, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory. Together with NOAA and in support of their strategic plan, NGI conducts research on interconnections among Gulf of Mexico environments, habitats, resources, and people and engages in outreach to help others learn about and make decisions based on these interconnections.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Effective Technology Solutions
a. Analyze, identify, recommend, and implement solutions to the gaps in data management
capabilities resulting from the development of new and existing environmental data
sensors and platforms,
b. Analyze, identify, recommend, and implement solutions to the increased complexities of
multi-dimensional and non-traditional data sets that are outside the stewardship solutions
currently available to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
Oceanographic and Geophysical Sciences and Services Division (OGSSD)
c. Data Collections and Archive: Collect Ocean surface marine and meteorological data
from the global ocean observing systems and archive them at NCEI and the Global Data
Assembly Centers (GDACs).
2. Support NCEI partner efforts
Quality Improvement: Review and improve Quality Control (QC) processes to improve
data quality,
b. Optimize and automate data visualization tools and products for multidisciplinary
oceanographic, coastal, and marine data,
c. Identify, develop and shepherd the migration of tools, products, and services from NGl
research to NOAA NCEI operations once fully vetted
d. Provide scientific expertise to assist restoration project performers to develop and
optimize effective data management processes and procedures, ensuring efficient end-to-end
data stewardship.
Provide at-sea data and sampling support aboard NOAA research cruises on NOAA and
non-NOAA vessels using a variety of at-sea data collection platforms
f. Work directly with users to turn feedback and ideas into solutions.

This position may supervise other research staff.
The position will be located at the Mississippi State University Science and Technology Center at the Stennis Space Center. MS.
Salary commensurate with abilities and experience. The period of performance is estimated to be a minimum of one year with a potential for additional years.

Minimum Qualifications:

Department of Commerce Clearance: Ability to receive a Department of Commerce moderate risk clearance.
Educational Background:
Bachelor’s Degree: A professional employee with a bachelor’s degree in Computer
Science, Data Science or related field and demonstrated competence can begin work at
the Research/Extension Associate I level. To begin at the Research/Extension Associate
II level, one must have a bachelor’s degree in the required discipline and a minimum of
three years relevant experience and the equivalent of a master’s degree. To begin at the
Research/Extension Associate III level, one must have a bachelor’s degree in the required
discipline and a minimum of six years relevant experience and the equivalent of the
master’s degree
Master’s Degree: A professional employee with a master’s degree in Computer Science,
Data Science, or a related field and a minimum of 1 year of relevant experience can begin
work at Associate II; 3 years for Associate III; 6 years for Senior Associate.
Doctoral Degree: A professional employee with a doctoral degree in the required
discipline and 2 years of relevant experience can begin work at Associate III; 3 years for
Senior Associate.

Preferred Qualifications:

Proficiency with common word processing, database, and office applications.
Experience in software system analysis, design, development, testing, documentation, and
implementation in a federal Government environment.
Familiarity with NOAA NCEl data management policies and procedures as well as NIST
specified security protocols.
Expertise in cloud-based programming, Linux, XML/XSLT/XSD, technical support,
HTML/DHTML, XHTML, R, Python, and Google Apps Script or JavaScript.
Comfort with SQL databases.
Experience in “big data” management and analysis.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Has established scientific expertise; knows and effectively uses the fundamental concepts, practices, and procedures that field of specialization.
• Ability to organize, interpret data, and derive study conclusions
• Ability to advance state-of-the-art scientific research in field of specialization.
• Ability to apply extensive and advanced principles, theories, and concepts.
• Ability to contribute to the development of solutions to complex problems that require innovation and ingenuity. Project management skills
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Able to write reports at the college level and verbally communicate to a wide variety of audiences, including program leadership and the scientific community.

Working Conditions and Physical Effort

Occasional and/or light lifting required up to 10 pounds. Limited exposure to elements such as heat, cold, noise, dust, dirt, etc.; none to the degree of being disagreeable. Frequent standing, walking, climbing, or balancing required. Routine deadlines, variance in work volume predictable; priorities can be anticipated; some interruptions are present; involves occasional exposure to demands and pressure from persons other
than immediate supervisor. Vision requirements: Ability to see information in print and/or electronically, ability to distinguish colors.