Adaptive Optics Senior Software Engineer

Submission Information
Publish Date: 
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Archive Date: 
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Job Summary
Job Category: 
Science Engineering
Institution Classification/Type: 
Other
Institution/Company: 
TMT International Observatory LLC
City: 
Pasadena
State/Province: 
CA
Country: 
United States of America
Announcement
Job Announcement Text: 

Background
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project has been established to design, build and operate a 30-meter diameter aperture optical/infrared telescope with fully integrated adaptive optics to lead to the next generation of telescopes with observation at the diffraction limit of its large aperture. TMT will be one of the successors of the present day 8-10 meter world class telescopes and when complete will be the most advanced optical/infrared telescope in the world providing the capability to study exciting astronomical problems from the nature of extra-solar planets to the first stars in the universe. An international collaboration consisting of the University of California, the California Institute of Technology, Canada, Japan, India and China has been formed to deliver this exciting observatory.

The TMT first light Adaptive Optics (AO) facility consists of the Narrow Field Infra-Red AO System (NFIRAOS), the Laser Guide Star Facility (LGSF) and the AO Executive Software (AOESW). NFIRAOS is a multi-conjugate laser guide star adaptive optics system, which provides uniform diffraction-limited light to up to 3 instruments and operates at -30°C to reduce thermal emission. It includes two deformable mirrors (DMs), one tip/tilt stage, six laser guide star wavefront sensors, one high order natural guide star wavefront sensor for operation without lasers, a real-time controller, and all components necessary for calibration, alignment and testing. The LGSF system can generate up to four different asterisms as required for NFIRAOS and future AO systems using up to eight commercial sodium lasers. The AO Executive Software automatically coordinates the operations of NFIRAOS, the wavefront sensors located in the instruments and the LGSF with the remainder of the observatory for safe and efficient observations. For more information, please see www.tmt.org.

Job Summary
The Adaptive Optics (AO) Senior Software Engineer will be a key member of the TMT Adaptive Optics Group and will report to the TMT Adaptive Optics Group Leader. It is an opportunity to bring extensive experience in developing high-standard AO software to an exciting science project. The Adaptive Optics Senior Software Engineer will oversee and monitor software work-packages for the first light AO Systems developed by partners and will be responsible for the successful delivery of these software to TMT. The Adaptive Optics Senior Software Engineer will actively participate in the development of the Adaptive Optics Executive Software which is performed in house.

The TMT project office is located in Pasadena, CA, USA. The primary work location for the Adaptive Optics Senior Software Engineer will be the TMT Project office in Pasadena, California. The position will require travels to the AO partner(s) and/or sub-contractor(s) location in Canada, China, U.S. and Europe.

Job Duties
The following is a list of job duties, qualifications, and skills for the Adaptive Optics Senior Software Engineer:

  • Oversee and monitor as the work-package manager software sub-systems of the first light AO Systems and AO components. This includes the technical monitoring of the partner, the review of the technical partner software design including the software requirements and interface requirements, the verification and acceptance testing of delivered software working closely with the partner software development team and using the TMT Software Test and Integration Lab (STIL) and following the TMT software quality assurance plan and software development process.
  • Participate in the design and development of the Adaptive Optics Executive Software. This includes the update of the requirements and interface requirements, the development of the design description document, the definition of the user story list, the development of the verification plan, and other system engineering deliverables, the software coding and test activities, as well as the development of the delivered software documentation.
  • Participate and/or organize software reviews for the TMT first light AO Systems and AO Components.
  • Support the Integration and Test effort of the TMT first light AO system or AO components at the partner / vendor site.
  • Support the Assembly, Integration and Verification effort of the TMT first light AO systems and AO components at the TMT Observatory site.
  • Prepare requirements and statements of work for new software development as needed for the future Adaptive Optics Systems.


Job requirements

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline, or equivalent experience. An advanced degree is preferred.
  • A minimum of 5 - 10 years of experience with software development, including all aspects of the software lifecycle: design, code, test, integration, and maintenance.
  • Strong technical knowledge and experience with one or more tools, including: Linux, C/C++, Cuda C, Scala/Java, scripting languages such as python, and browser-based user interfaces.
  • Firm understanding of and experience with software systems engineering and software quality assurance processes, including software configuration management.
  • Experience with Agile software development processes, methods and tools.
  • Experience with a Continuous Integration (CI) systems, preferably Jenkins, and frequent, incremental code testing and deployment. Experience using the CI system metrics to monitor development progress and software quality. Firm understanding of software test methods, including user interfaces.
  • Experience with design, development, test and operations of adaptive optics control systems at large telescope facility.
  • The project office is located in Monrovia and residence in the area is required.
  • Ability to travel to and spend time at partner’s location working with the partner or vendor software development team.


Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

  • Good interpersonal skills
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills
  • Ability to write clear and concise technical documents
  • A cooperative team-player who strives to make the team successful
  • Self-motivated and capable to perform and deliver with minimal direction
  • Practical problem solving skills
Included Benefits: 

TMT offers a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package, including impressive retirement plans. If you are interested in applying for employment with TMT, please apply online. 

TMT is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Application Deadline: 
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Current Status of Position: 
Accepting Applicants
Apply to Job
Attention To: 
Corinne Boyer
Title: 
Adaptive Optics Group Leader
Inquiries About Job