Bring your passion for what you do and come join the Data Management Division (DMD) with The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) as a Senior Software Engineer (DevOps).

The DMD is responsible for a multi-petabyte astronomical data archive, the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescope (MAST), which maintains the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Kepler, GALEX, and TESS mission data. It will maintain mission data for the future James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launching in 2021 and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman), launching in the mid-2020s.

DMD is seeking an experienced DevOps Engineers to help build development assets upfront for our missions, geared towards operating in a DevOps mode for smoother, quicker, and more reliable development and deployment of software deliverables. You will work with a team that is passionate about the work they do in support of astronomers around the world.

We are located in Baltimore, MD. We offer an excellent and generous benefits package, tuition reimbursement, flexible work schedules and a stimulating and diverse work environment. Explore our benefits:

The DevOps Engineer Role

DMD is seeking a qualified and motivated candidates to work in both on-premises and cloud computing environments to maintain STScI's position as a world leader in the development of software for astronomy and providing high quality, science ready data. You will help build development assets for missions geared towards operating in a DevOps mode for faster, and more reliable development and deployment of software deliverables. You will join a team of software developers and astronomers to take the software, hardware, and tools being developed in Data Management Division (DMD) and make them available to our Science Operations staff.

About you

You're a creative, highly motivated, engaged and driven DevOps Engineer looking for an exciting opportunity to automate CI/CD processes. You can work across teams to develop a shared purpose, vision and strategy for moving our organization forward. You have significant experience stream lining software integration and deployment processes by incorporating CICD best practices enabling organizations to more reliably deploy software of higher quality and greater frequency. You thrive in an environment that offers you significant freedom to develop novel solutions but you also have a proven commitment to excellence. You understand the critical role that automation plays in building reliable systems and you embrace the 'DevOps' mentality and believe that engineers should share operations ownership of the systems they build.

The Role and Responsibilities (may vary for each opening):

• Develop, manage and maintain CI/CD pipelines that are flexible and easy to maintain (Ansible, Jenkins, Groovy)
• Maintain application running on-premises in our data center
• Automate and write high quality, well designed software and scripts using Java, Python, and BASH
• Build monitoring capability for our applications using ELK stack and other tools
• Build dashboards using Kibana for essential KPIs of the applications
• Integrate testing and security tools to CI/CD pipelines
• Establish DevOps best practices
• Write and run shell scripts in Linux
• Cloud compute to automate and write high quality, well designed software and scripts using Java, Python, and BASH
• Deploying services with Docker, Podman and/or Kubernetes
• Context-switch, supporting developers and/or operations staff on an interrupt basis, while focusing on building software tools to reduce churn
• Developing/deploying active and passive monitoring of all critical services

Requirements:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Software Engineering or a relevant field with a minimum of 2 to 3 years working experience in a DevOps environment

• Cloud compute experience with an ability to automate and write high quality, well designed software and scripts using Java, Python, and BASH
• OS level knowledge/experience/interest, particularly on Linux and/or Windows
• Experience developing/deploying active and passive monitoring of all critical services
• Experience working with Git
• Worked in an Agile development environment
• U.S. citizen or permanent resident

Desirable but not mandatory:

• Strong software development background
• Object-oriented design
• Software testing and debugging

TO APPLY: This position is available immediately. Please upload one cover letter and resume on one PDF document for review. Relocation assistance may be available. Applications will be considered until the position is filled.

Direct Link:

STScI offers a flexible and welcoming workspace for all. We offer an excellent and generous benefits package. Explore our benefits at This position can support telework 3-4 days a week and 1-2 days on-site.

STScI has most staff working virtually from home during the COVID-19 crisis. The safety of our staff and community is our top priority. We will continue to interview and screen candidates in this new virtual landscape. Offers of employment can be extended and new hires will on-board virtually. We will then ship systems to you to enable working from home until it is safe to report to our Baltimore offices. If applicable, relocation benefits will be available to those eligible when travel can be supported but employees are required to be resident in the Baltimore-Washington area.

COVID-19 Working Protocols-

AURA, as a leader in the astronomical community, is committed to diversity and inclusion. AURA develops and supports programs that advance our organizational commitment to diversity, broaden participation, and encourage the advancement of diversity throughout the workforce. Learn more at

As a recipient of U.S. Government funding, AURA is considered a government contractor and is subject to Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action regulations. As an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer, AURA and all of the centers, do not discriminate based on race, sex, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity/gender identity expression, lawful political affiliations, veteran status, disability, and/or any other legally protected status under applicable federal, state, and local equal opportunity laws. The statements below as well as the requests for self-identification are required pursuant to these regulations. We encourage your participation in meeting these federal reporting requirements which are included for protection and to assist us in our record keeping and reporting. Your responses are kept strictly confidential.

STScI sees the diversity of our staff as a strategic priority in our desire to create a first-rate scientific community. We reflect that deep commitment in strongly encouraging women, minorities, veterans and disabled individuals to apply for these opportunities.

Veterans, disabled individuals or wounded warriors needing assistance with the employment process can contact us at careers@stsci.edu. EOE/AA/M/F/D/V