Job Details

New ideas are all around us, but only a few will change the world. That’s our focus at JPL. We ask the biggest questions, then search the universe for answers—literally. We build upon ideas that have guided generations, then share our discoveries to inspire generations to come. Your mission—your opportunity—is to seek out the answers that bring us one step closer. If you’re driven to discover, create, and inspire something that lasts a lifetime and beyond, you’re ready for JPL.

Located in Pasadena, California, JPL has a campus-like environment situated on 177 acres in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and offers a work environment unlike any other: we inspire passion, foster innovation, build collaboration, and reward excellence.

Will be a member of the Information and Technology Solutions Directorate (ITSD) under the Application Consulting, Development and Engineering Section and will report to the Web and Mobile Application Development Group (172B) supporting the Web Enterprise Search Team. Will support and develop software for a wide array of institutional tools and applications including the Laboratory’s project formulation platform, collaboration tools, various internal and external facing applications and web-based, cloud-based engineering sites. Will join and contribute to a technical team using agile development methodologies in order to write, test, and deploy software applications, and provide supporting documentation and/or procedures for development and operations. Will utilize extensive knowledge of scalable and modular systems to develop system architectures and help steer technical planning and decision making. This position can be fully remote.

Qualifications/Required Skills

• Typically requires a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related discipline with a minimum of 3 years of related experience; or a Master’s degree in Computer Science with a minimum of 1 year related experience.

• Experience contributing to building and architecting scalable enterprise search applications and data aggregation systems

• Extensive knowledge of web application development frameworks (e.g. Django, Flask, Rails, Spring or similar frameworks)

• Knowledge of relational and NoSQL databases (e.g Postgres, Mongodb, Elasticsearch is a plus)

• Knowledge of front-end languages and JavaScrip frameworks (e.g. React, Node.js and Angular)

• Experience of automation testing, continuous integration, continuous delivery tools and concepts

• Practical knowledge and relevant experience deploying services in a containerized cloud infrastructure

• Experience maintaining legacy systems and reducing technical debt

Desired Skills

• Knowledge or willingness to learn about text analysis, query understanding, ranking or other aspects of search relevance engineering

• Evidence of building search engines or search-driven applications

• Experience with Elasticsearch or Opensearch

• Experience in using issue-tracking systems (e.g. JIRA, ZenHub, etc.)

• Experience working in an Agile/Scrum environment in multiple roles

• Experience with software versioning control systems and peer review process (e.g. Git/GitHub)

• Experience with cloud orchestration tools (e.g. Kubernetes, Helm package management, AWS CDK, etc)

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

• Demonstrates initiative and autonomy is a plus

• Experience working with workflow management software (e.g. Apache Airflow, Azkaban, Apache Flume)

JPL has a catalog of benefits and perks that span from the traditional to the unique. This includes a variety of health, dental, vision, wellbeing, and retirement plans, paid time off, learning, rideshare, childcare, flexible schedule, parental leave and many more. Our focus is on work-life balance, and living healthy, fulfilling lives as we Dare Mighty Things Together. For benefits eligible positions, benefits are effective the first day of the month coincident with or immediately following the employee’s start date.

For further benefits information click Benefits and Perks

The hiring range displayed below is specifically for those who will work in or reside in the location listed. In extending an offer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory considers factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s job related skills, experience, knowledge, and relevant education/training. Hiring range for this job may be adjusted based on primary work location outside of Pasadena, California. This adjusted range will be provided to candidates by the Recruiter when applicable.

The typical full time equivalent annual hiring range for this job in Pasadena, California.

JPL is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy or perceived pregnancy, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, protected military or veteran status or any other characteristic or condition protected by Federal, state or local law.

In addition, JPL is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.

EEO is the Law.

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Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federal facility. Due to rules imposed by NASA, JPL will not accept applications from citizens of designated countries or those born in a designated country unless they are Legal Permanent Residents of the U.S or have other protected status under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). The Designated Countries List is available here.