Job Details

University of Colorado | Denver

Faculty Level/Title: Professional Research Assistant

Working Title: Professional Research Assistant -Data Monitoring & Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Research

FTE: Full time. (Part-time employment may be an option)

Salary Range: $54,000 – $64,000 at 1.0 FTE (pro-rated for part-time) | Hybrid or Remote

Position # 00673883 – Requisition # 37763

Join the University of Colorado Denver

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Job Description

Dr. Roberts is a member of the Physics department at CU Denver and works to detect dark matter and to build tools that increase the trust in results from this discipline. This position focuses on monitoring the data quality quickly enough that shifters can intervene as issues arise. This job will require you work with the SuperCDMS data quality monitoring software, processing software, data acquisition software, and multiple databases to deliver usable science data.

Professional Research Assistant

What you will do:

• Approximately 20% of your time will be spent learning about the data quality system and related subsystems. This will involve: Participating in remote team meetings with PI and graduate students where the focus is debugging code and/or the computing environment; Meeting weekly with the PI and sometimes graduate students and postdocs to learn about the MIDAS data acquisition system deployed for the experiment, the databases in use, the network underground at SNOLAB, the data quality system, the data catalog, and other systems that integrate with the data quality system; Attending remote training sessions to learn how to take a remote shift running the CDMS detectors.
• Approximately 50% of your time will be spent developing the data quality monitoring system. This will involve: Individually debugging and implementing features in data quality codebase; Individually learning and testing the data quality system on test installation; Individually updating and testing data quality code on the primary installation at SNOLAB.
• Approximately 30% of your time will be spent supporting facilities in run efforts. This will involve: Taking shifts as a data quality expert when we turn on the experiment. This will involve monitoring the slack chat for issues and checking that webpages are populating correctly. You will need to report bugs and, when they are severe, contact the PI and arrange a schedule for immediate fixes; The candidate may have the opportunity to take shifts at the experiment site, an active mine in Ontario.

Qualifications you already possess (Minimum Qualifications)

• Applicants must meet minimum qualifications at the time of hire: Bachelor's degree or higher in Physics or related field; Minimum of two years of experience in each of the following: taking a lead or principal role in software projects; writing and debugging both C++ and Python for medium-scale applications (larger than 75,000 lines of code); using distributed version control (e.g. Git, Mercurial) with a team of two or more developers; Development experience in a unix/linux shell (must include familiarity with a terminal-based text editor); Written at least one Dockerfile, singularity/apptainer definition file, or Nix/Guix package; Have built tests for a codebase of any size (unit tests or end-to-end tests); Used or interfaced with SQL databases for at least one project.

Preferred Qualification to possess (Preferred Qualifications)

• Experience with creating, testing, and improving technical documentation; Experience using a container as your development environment; Experience using and maintaining job schedulers (HTCondor, Slurm, etc.); Experience using profiling and debugging software to improve performance of C++ code; Experience maintaining basic web applications; Experience with serving web content over https including setting up certificates, configuring web servers, etc.; Experience performing analysis with ROOT files.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Excellent communication skills; Knowledge and understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript; Knowledge and understanding of network debugging; Familiarity with a terminal-based text editor; Familiarity with subsystems of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search such as Data Acquisition, Reconstruction, Cryogenics, or Calibration.

Conditions of Employment

• Occasional work during the evening and/or weekends may be required; This position can be either full remote or hybrid; Candidates who wish to work fully remotely can work anywhere in the United States; Candidates who prefer a hybrid work structure can work remotely or from the office, as needed; Working from the office is encouraged when working on tasks that require a high degree of collaboration; Candidates who choose to take shifts at the experiment site should be able to walk up to two miles per day and perform tasks requiring moderate physical flexibility.

Mental, Physical, and/or Environmental Requirements

• The ability to use a computer for several hours, several times a day.

CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. The University will provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities.

Employment Sponsorship: This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Compensation and Benefits: The salary range for this position is $54,000 – $64,000 at 1.0 FTE. Benefits are available as per university policy.

Application Deadline: Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, with preference for those received by October 3, 2025.

Required Application Materials: To apply, visit www.cu.edu/cu-careers and attach: A letter of interest; Curriculum vitae / Resume; Three professional references.

Questions should be directed to Amy Roberts at amy.roberts@ucdenver.edu.