Posting Detail Information

Working Title24-102: Cloud Architect

Position LocationFort Collins, CO

Work LocationPosition is fully remote

Research Professional PositionYes

Posting Number202400242AP

Position TypeAdmin Professional/ Research Professional

Classification TitleResearch Associate III

Number of Vacancies

Work Hours/Week40

Proposed Annual Salary RangeCommensurate with experience and qualifications as follows • Research Associate II: $90,000 - $110,000 • Research Associate III: $100,000 - $120,000

Employee Benefits

Colorado State University is not just a workplace; it’s a thriving community that’s transforming lives and improving the human condition through world-class teaching, research, and service. With a robust benefits package, collaborative atmosphere, commitment todiversity, equity and inclusion (https://inclusiveexcellence.colostate.edu/about/) , and focus on work-life balance, CSU is where you can thrive, grow, and make a lasting impact.

• For detailed benefit plan information for eligible employees, visithttps://hr.colostate.edu/hr-community-and-supervisors/benefits/benefits-eligibility/andhttps://hr.colostate.edu/prospective-employees/our-perks/.

• For the total value of CSU benefits in addition to wages, visithttps://hr.colostate.edu/total-compensation-calculator/.

• For more information about why Fort Collins is consistently ranked in the top cities to live in, visithttps://hr.colostate.edu/prospective-employees/our-community/.

Desired Start Date

Position End Date (if temporary)

To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by 11:59pm (MT) on03/10/2024

Description of Work Unit

Founded in 1870, Colorado State University is among the nation’s leading research universities and enrolls approximately 32,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Located an hour north of the Denver metro area, Fort Collins is a vibrant community of approximately 157,000 residents that offers the convenience of a small town with all the amenities of a large city. Fort Collins is situated on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains with views of 14,000 foot peaks, and offers access to numerous cultural, recreational, and outdoor opportunities.

The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere ( CIRA ) at Colorado State University ( CSU ) is a multi-million dollar research organization located on CSU’s Foothills Campus in Fort Collins, Colorado. CIRA is a cooperative institute that is also a research department within CSU’s College of Engineering, in partnership with the Department of Atmospheric Science. Its vision is to conduct interdisciplinary research in the atmospheric sciences by entraining skills beyond the meteorological disciplines, exploiting advances in engineering and computer science, facilitating transitional activity between pure and applied research, leveraging both national and international resources and partnerships, and assisting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) the National Weather Service ( NWS ), CSU , the State of Colorado, and the Nation through the application of our research to areas of societal benefit. The primary goal in the research partnership between CIRA and the NOAA / NWS Meteorological Development Laboratory ( MDL ) in Silver Spring, MD, is to keep abreast of advanced technology and apply it to CIRA and MDL in support of decision support tools and technologies. The partnership is focused upon providing technical expertise to MDL , providing a framework to foster innovation, science sharing, and development of new tools and services within the NWS with the goal of streamlining the transition of research to operations. The MDL develops and implements techniques that generate products and services that enhance the value of NWS forecast products. Prototyping of promising techniques is done to identify those best for implementation. Once developed and vigorously tested, these techniques are implemented in software on NWS operational platforms.

Position Summary

The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere ( CIRA ) at Colorado State University ( CSU ) seeks to hire a full-time Cloud Architect to engage in collaborative research and development with the Weather Information and Applications Division ( WIAD ) of the National Weather Service ( NWS ) Meteorological Development Laboratory ( MDL ) in Silver Spring, MD. The individual in this position will work on WIAD’s Impact-based Decision Support Services ( IDSS ) Management System ( IMS ) project, which will create for the NWS a set of nationally consistent and operationally supported tools for IDSS . The individual in this position also will work on the NWS Chat 2.0 project which is an essential part of the communications between NWS Forecast Offices and Core partners during critical weather events.

Specifically, the individual in this position will report to the Virtual Laboratory (VLab) Technical Lead and help design, develop, test, and refine the Amazon Web Services ( AWS ) cloud architecture of IMS . IMS is an enterprise system with many facets and consists of browser-based graphical user interfaces as well as a web-based API . IMS is being adapted to run within the AWS cloud architecture and the individual in this position will direct, architect and implement that cloud migration. The individual in this position must possess experience in architecting AWS systems for high resilience and high availability with fast failover capabilities. The current architecture includes a container based system that the individual in this position will migrate to Kubernetes. They will guide junior members of the project team in technical matters and participate in twice-weekly development discussions, and semi-annual in-person meetings in Silver Spring. The individual in this position may assist development or provision of project-related presentations.

This position requires a NOAA Common Access Card ( CAC ) ID badge for computer access and therefore is open ONLY to citizens of the United States and lawful permanent residents in possession of a physical USCIS “Green Card.” This position is located in a federal facility in Silver Spring, MD and requires the ability to pass a National Agency Check with Inquiries ( NACI ) Tier 1 federal background check for building access. The office will be in Silver Spring; however, the option exists to work remotely from a home/office. Periodic, in-person coordination meetings in Silver Spring and other locations will be required, and travel to attend those meetings will be paid by the project.

This position will be classified Research Associate II or III according to the credentials of the finalist selected for hire as follows:

• For position title Research Associate II: Bachelor’s Degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field PLUS 3-4 years of relevant work experience –OR– Master’s Degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field experience PLUS up to 2 years of relevant work experience.

• For position title Research Associate III : Bachelor’s Degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field PLUS 5 or more years of relevant work experience –OR– Master’s Degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field PLUS 2 or more years of relevant work experience –OR– Ph.D. in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field.

  CSU recognizes the importance of supporting its employees as they balance their career, personal and family life, and that employees must be able to recharge, feel protected in their employment, and take the time they need to improve their overall productivity and health. Faculty, Administrative Professional, and other Non-Classified Staff are provided with paid and unpaid leave benefits to support them and their family and enhance financial security. Paid time off accrual rates for full-time employees = 16 hours of annual leave per month and 10 hours of sick leave per month. Employees also receive paid time off for 11 legal holidays, jury duty, and bereavement leave. CSU’s Commitment to Campus offers employees a healthy work-life balance through a wide variety of programs, discounts, and special benefits. This includes Employee Study Privilege (nine free credits per year available through CSU , CSU Global, CSU Online Plus, and University of Northern Colorado), Family Tuition Scholarship Program (50% reduction in tuition), Discounted Veterinary Care, Wellness Membership Discounts, Volunteers in Public Schools Leave Program, Athletic Ticket Discounts, and much more! Visitwww.facultyandstaff.colostate.eduto learn more about working at CSU . This information is a summary of commonly used leaves and is not all inclusive of benefits offered at CSU .

Required Job Qualifications

In your cover letter, please specifically address EACH required qualification as it relates to your experience. A cover letter that fails to address the required qualifications for this position may not be considered further after review by the search committee.

• Must be a citizen of the United States or Lawful Permanent Resident with a physical USCIS “Green Card.”.

• Ability to pass a National Agency Check with Inquiries ( NACI ) federal background check and receive a NOAA Common Access Card ( CAC ) ID badge;

• For position title Research Associate II: Bachelor’s Degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field PLUS 3-4 years of relevant work experience –OR– Master’s Degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field experience PLUS up to 2 years of relevant work experience.

• For position title Research Associate III : Bachelor’s Degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field PLUS 5 or more years of relevant work experience –OR– Master’s Degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field PLUS 2 or more years of relevant work experience –OR– Ph.D. in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field.

• Experience with Cloud, specifically Amazon Web Services.

• Experience architecting AWS systems for high resilience and high availability with fast failover capabilities.

• Experience working independently on development projects.

• High degree of initiative.

• Ability to handle multiple tasks and meet project deadlines, and communicate effectively both verbally and in writing,

• Ability to function well as an effective member of a project team where adherence to design, coding, and other project conventions are highly valued.

• Willingness to learn new skills for professional growth within the position.

• Must be reliable, self-motivated, and comfortable working in an agile and creative team environment.

Preferred Job Qualifications

In your cover letter, please specifically address the applicable preferred qualifications for this position. A cover letter that fails to address the preferred qualifications for this position may not be considered further after review by the search committee.

• Experience supporting and maintaining large, complex projects.

• Familiarity with object-oriented concepts and design principles.

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) such as Terraform or AWS Cloud Formation.

• Experience in AWS with the following services ( IAM , SQS , SNS , EC2, EKS , EBS , EFS , Lustre, S3, Lambda, RDS , AWS cli, and boto3/java AWS SDK ).

• Experience with containerized systems such as Docker.

• Experience with Kubernetes or Elastic Kubernetes Service ( EKS ).

• Experience designing databases for high availability and fast failover.

• Experience with issue tracking and revision control (specifically Git).

• Experience with continuous integration (e.g., Jenkins).

• Experience with Gerrit code review.

• Experience with Python.

• Experience developing software in a Linux environment.

• Experience setting up your own development environment, and using an Integrated Development Environment ( IDE ) such as Eclipse or Visual Studio.

• Experience with System Administration with Centos/Redhat OS.

• Experience troubleshooting complicated issues.

• Experience supporting and maintaining an operational system.

• Experience coordinating projects or research between multiple groups or agencies.

Diversity Statement

Reflecting departmental and institutional values, candidates are expected to have the ability to advance the Department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Essential Duties

Job Duty CategoryApplications Development and Administration

Duty/Responsibility

• Develop and provide cloud architecture and implementation for IMS .

• Assist with the management and administration of IMS systems in the cloud.

Percentage Of Time80

Job Duty CategoryLeadership

Duty/Responsibility

• Provide knowledge, guidance, expertise, consultation, and training on AWS Cloud Services.

• Lead the team to help implement solutions in the cloud for the IMS project.

• Suggest software and overall architectural design changes to improve IMS implementation in the cloud.

Percentage Of Time10

Job Duty CategoryDocumentation & Reporting

Duty/Responsibility

• Complete annual reports documenting the status of the project.

• Summarize research results for sponsors and the broader weather community.

• Prepare software documentation in collaboration with other team members.

Percentage Of Time10

Application Details

Special Instructions to Applicants

Applications must be submitted via online portal.We will not accept materials sent via email or other mode. NOTE : In your cover letter, please specifically address the required and preferred qualifications of this position. A cover letter that fails to address the qualifications of this position may not be further considered after review by the search committee. Likewise, an online application with a generic cover letter or missing a cover letter, and/or an application that does not include current/correct reference contact information may not be further considered after review by the search committee. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled; however, to ensure full consideration applications should be submitted by 11:59 PM MT on Sunday, March 10, 2024.

CSU is committed to full inclusion of qualified individuals. If you need assistance or accommodations with the search process, please reach out to the listed search contact.

To apply, please upload a cover letter that addresses the required and preferred job qualifications, a resume, and the contact information for three professional references. References will not be contacted without prior notification to candidates.

Conditions of EmploymentPre-employment Criminal Background Check (required for new hires)

Search Contactlinn.barrett@colostate.edu

EEO Statement

Colorado State University is committed to providing an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based on race, age, creed, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, gender, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, or pregnancy in its employment, programs, services and activities, and admissions, and, in certain circumstances, marriage to a co-worker. The University will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. Colorado State University is an equal opportunity and equal access institution and affirmative action employer fully committed to achieving a diverse workforce and complies with all Federal and Colorado State laws, regulations, and executive orders regarding non-discrimination and affirmative action. TheOffice of Equal Opportunity (https://oeo.colostate.edu/) is located in 101 Student Services.

The Title IX Coordinator is the Director of the Office of Title IX Programs and Gender Equity, 123 Student Services Building, Fort Collins, CO 80523-0160, (970) 491-1715,titleix@colostate.edu.

The Section 504 and ADA Coordinator is the Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, 101 Student Services Building, Fort Collins, CO 80523-0160, (970) 491-5836,oeo@colostate.edu.

The Coordinator for any other forms of misconduct prohibited by the University’s Policy on Discrimination and Harassment is the Vice President for Equity, Equal Opportunity and Title IX, 101 Student Services Building, Fort Collins, Co. 80523-0160, (970) 491-5836,oeo@colostate.edu.

Any person may report sex discrimination under Title IX to theOffice of Civil Rights, Department of Education (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/howto.html) .

Background Check Policy Statement

Colorado State University strives to provide a safe study, work, and living environment for its faculty, staff, volunteers and students. To support this environment and comply with applicable laws and regulations, CSU conducts background checks for the finalist before a final offer. The type of background check conducted varies by position and can include, but is not limited to, criminal history, sex offender registry, motor vehicle history, financial history, and/or education verification. Background checks will also be conducted when required by law or contract and when, in the discretion of the University, it is reasonable and prudent to do so.

References Requested

References Requested

Minimum Requested3

Maximum Requested3

Supplemental Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

• • This position requires a NOAA Common Access Card (CAC) ID badge for computer access and therefore is open ONLY to citizens of the United States and lawful permanent residents in possession of a physical USCIS “Green Card.” Are you a citizen of the United States or a lawful permanent resident in possession of a physical USCIS "Green Card?"

• yes

• no

Applicant Documents Required Documents

• Cover Letter

• Resume or CV

Optional Documents