Application Developer

Job Summary

NExScI at Caltech/IPAC has an opening for an AI Application Developer to lead the development, production deployment, and scaling of TAPchat - an AI-powered conversational interface that helps astronomers query and explore data from NASA's astronomical archives. Beyond TAPchat, this role will identify and develop new applications for AI and large language models across IPAC's data archives and scientific workflows.

TAPchat uses large language models to translate natural-language questions into database queries, data analysis, and visualizations. The application is a working prototype built with Python/FastAPI and JavaScript that supports multiple LLM providers (Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Google Gemini, and local models via Ollama), authenticates users via OAuth2, and runs in Docker with PostgreSQL.

Essential Job Duties

• Take ownership of an existing Python/FastAPI + JavaScript codebase and bring it from prototype to production-quality service.
• Design and improve the AI agent loop - prompt engineering, tool design, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) over archive documentation, multi-model support, and evaluation of LLM responses for scientific accuracy.
• Design and implement secure code execution sandboxing to safely run user-initiated data analysis.
• Improve test coverage, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment automation.
• Optimize database performance and implement monitoring, logging, and alerting.
• Scale the application to support a growing user base.
• Implement rate limiting, security hardening, and operational tooling for a public-facing service.
• Collaborate with scientists across IPAC to add new archive integrations, improve the AI agent's tool suite, and enhance data visualization capabilities.
• Write and maintain deployment documentation, runbooks, and architecture decision records.
• Identify opportunities to apply AI and LLM technologies to other IPAC data archives and scientific workflows.
• Stay current with the rapidly evolving AI/LLM landscape.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's or equivalent degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Astronomy/Astrophysics, or related field.
• A minimum of 3 years of relevant professional experience.
• Proficiency in Python, including modern web frameworks (FastAPI, Flask, or similar).
• Experience integrating with LLM APIs and an understanding of prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and agentic AI patterns.
• Experience developing and deploying web applications.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL or similar).
• Experience with Docker, containerized deployments, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with REST API design and real-time data streaming.
• Comfort working with JavaScript for frontend development.
• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Data Science, Astronomy/Astrophysics, or related field.
• Experience building agentic AI applications with tool use, structured outputs, and evaluation frameworks.
• Familiarity with the Python scientific computing ecosystem.
• Experience with process sandboxing, security isolation, or task queue systems.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP) and infrastructure-as-code tools.
• Knowledge of OAuth2/OIDC authentication flows and web application security.
• Experience with Kubernetes or similar container orchestration at scale.
• Background in astronomy, astrophysics, or scientific data systems.
• Experience with interactive data visualization libraries (Bokeh, Plotly, D3.js).