NASA MSFC Astrophysics Branch is hiring soon!

Have you longed to be doing cutting-edge research, instrumentation, and mission development in astronomy? Do you want to be part of a dynamic and collaborative team enabling paradigm-shifting advances and discoveries? NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s (MSFC) Astrophysics Branch (APB) is an epicenter of the world’s foremost expertise in high-energy astrophysics including research, instrumentation, and mission development. MSFC APB’s Relativistic Group includes both gamma-ray and gravitational wave astrophysics. In gamma-rays, this group leads the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and is currently building StarBurst – a pioneering gamma-ray observatory. In gravitational waves, the Relativistic Group actively collaborates with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) scientific collaboration and is instrumental to the development of data analysis pipelines for the European Space Agency’s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Dr. Colleen Wilson-Hodge and the GBM team received the American Astronomical Society’s Bruno Rossi prize for their pioneering work marking the first joint detection of electromagnetic and gravitational wave emission from a neutron star merger event and establishing the era of multi–messenger astronomy. MSFC APB’s X-ray Group is developing the next generation of X-ray optics and instrumentation and is preparing for the launch of NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). IXPE is the first space mission dedicated to imaging polarized X-rays from extreme objects such as neutron stars, stellar, and super massive black holes. More information can be found at https://science.msfc.nasa.gov/astrophysics-branch-home/.

The 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey was released on 4 November 2021. The report’s recommendations chart the future of Astrophysics for the next 10 years, guiding science priorities in and their implementation at NASA. The MSFC APB looks forward to realizing those Decadal scientific recommendations through building a vibrant program of missions, technology development, theoretical modeling, and data analysis. That effort requires a diverse, inclusive, and knowledgeable scientific team. MSFC expects to have several new civil servant positions, both permanent and term (2-6 years), early, mid, and senior level, with a focus on Decadal science priorities. We also welcome working with outstanding recent PhD recipients to host and enable your Hubble or NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) fellowship research.

This announcement is to alert the community of upcoming employment opportunities for U.S. citizens, which will be advertised for very short windows in USAJobs (release of the first opportunity is anticipated in December 2021). We are seeking statements of interest and CVs/resumes. We will make sure all those expressing interest will be informed when any formal job announcements are advertised.

We want to hear from you. Send us your resume or CV, and a letter stating your research interests and describing their alignment with MSFC expertise, to Dr. Debra Wallace, acting APB Chief, at the following email address: [email protected], with the Subject: Hiring in APB. The formal announcement on USAJobs will require a more detailed submission, but the submitted information ensures you will receive notification of the official application window.

U.S. citizenship is required for civil servant positions at the time of response. If you do not have U.S. citizenship, other job opportunities are available through our partner institutions, and many key members of our research teams are not civil servants. NASA MSFC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.