Dr. Susan Ustin’s Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing (CSTARS) at UC Davis Institute of Environment is known for nearly 30 years as one of strongest environmental remote sensing groups in the United States, with a decade-long expertise in developing, prototyping, and operating automated satellite data processing algorithms and research prototype software systems and platforms supporting scientific research and operational decision making by the state and federal natural resource management agencies.

CSTARS faculty and staff scientists come from all over the world and variety of disciplines, including GIS, Computer Science, Applied Math, Geography, Botany, Ecology, Soil, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences. We foster flexible, empowering, inclusive, and enjoyable work environment and constantly strive to make best available science better.

Job Summary

The Programmer will work under direction of the PIs to technically support ongoing research and help design, develop, implement, and maintain remote sensing analytical systems and tools, following agile development processes and science/engineering principles. The Programmer is expected to be able to work on complex assignments with assistance from team members and independently under general guidance from PIs. The position requires flexibility in technical solutions and novel development, to support our researchers’ needs.

This position under a high-stake project funded by the State of California will involve close collaboration with scientists at CSTARS and other UC Davis departments and our federal and state agency sponsors and partners, providing excellent opportunities for growing one’s hands-on experience with advanced remote sensing and machine learning methods and models, participating in scientific publications, and making lasting impact on land and water resource management in California and beyond.

In addition, the position will provide an opportunity to play a central role in informing directions of systems’ design, implementation, and future transition to a cloud computing environment.

POSITION INFORMATION

** Foreign candidates may be eligible for US Visa sponsorship.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Attendance, Sitting, Speaking, Squatting, Stooping, Bending, Standing, Twisting, Walking, Writing, Grasp, Talk or Hear

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• The Smoke and Tobacco Free Environment policy is intended to provide a healthier, safer, and more productive work and learning environment for the entire UC community. The University of California prohibits smoking and tobacco use at all University owned or leased properties, or facilities operated by UC staff or faculty. Smoking and tobacco use are strictly prohibited in indoor and outdoor spaces, parking lots, residential space, and University vehicles. https://ucdavispolicy.ellucid.com/documents/view/271

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum Education/Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics, GIS, Remote Sensing, Physics, Math, or a related field, with a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience; or Master’s/Ph.D. degree in a related field with a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience.
• Excellent MATLAB programming skills acquired by routinely programming for at least 3 (THREE) years in an academic or industry environment, including but not limited to:
  • Demonstrated ability to read, understand, maintain, and improve fairly complex MATLAB code written by others.
  • History of proficiently leveraging a wide range of high- and low-level MATLAB language features, graphics tools, data structures, and fundamental datatypes/classes.
  • Evidence of using best practices in MATLAB programming; solid knowledge of and extensive experience designing and writing object-oriented and procedural/modular code.
  • Experience with implementing scientific computations in MATLAB, including appropriate resource/ performance optimization techniques.
  • Hands-on experience with various MATLAB developer’s environments and tools, debugging environment, and ability to utilize them in learning, developing and testing complex systems with various dependencies.
• Evidence of following sound software and systems engineering practices to write efficient, maintainable, modular, compact, and re-usable code; ability to effectively utilize code version control and manage codebase complexity.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA) :

• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills and competencies in common basic statistical and mathematical algorithms and procedures used in image processing.
• Ability and willingness to efficiently learn advanced statistical, mathematical, engineering, and remote sensing models, algorithms and concepts, by requesting guidance from team members in a timely manner, and through self-learning.
• Excellent communication skills (reading, writing, and speaking) in English, including the abilities to effectively and efficiently document programs and other work, communicate with a multi-cultural team of experts from various technical disciplines and discuss technical subjects with diverse audiences, including via video-conference and online tools.
• Customer service oriented, with excellent interpersonal skills establishing and maintaining positive and cooperative working relationships across interdisciplinary teams.
• Ability to work effectively in a shared decision-making environment, by appropriately taking initiative, or seeking guidance, working independently or collaboratively, and helping others succeed.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Preferred Education/Experience:

• Experience with agile software development principles and processes.
• Education or work experience related to algorithms for Remote Sensing, particularly for hyperspectral or multitemporal image analysis.
• Record of developing interactive modeling or visualizations toolboxes or standalone applications for imagery, video, time series, tabular and geospatial data; or developing automated processing pipelines for large datasets.
• Experience with models and methods in any of these topics: Remote Sensing, GIS, AI, Machine Learning, Statistics, Time Series, Image Processing, Signal Processing, Computer Vision.
• Experience writing production quality code.
• Experience with common commercial software packages used for manipulating and visualizing geospatial data, such as ArcGIS Pro, ENVI, and Google Earth, and with their respective data formats.
• Advanced knowledge/experience with version control (source code management) principles or software (e.g. SVN, Git).

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA) :

• Additional MATLAB competencies, such as familiarity with past releases, Parallel Processing environments, large-data and batch processing approaches, particularly under Windows OS, using interfaces to external libraries and languages, MATLAB engine, Live Scripts, App Designer, knowledge of specific and 3rd party apps/tools and other MathWorks Toolboxes, as relevant to the project needs.
• Attention to detail and self-organization skills enabling timely delivery of quality results within reasonable timelines in an agile research environment.
• Ability to program in multiple languages and environments.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

Background Check

This position is a critical position and subject to a background check. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of background investigation including criminal history and identity checks.

The University of California has implemented a SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Vaccination Program SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Policy (ucop.edu) covering all employees. To be compliant with the policy, employees must submit proof of vaccination or a University-approved exception or deferral.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

At UC Davis, we’re solving life’s most urgent challenges to bring a fuller, healthier, and more resilient world within reach. We grow from every challenge we take on and we don’t just maintain - we improve.

We recognize that creating an inclusive and intellectually vibrant organization means understanding and valuing both our individual differences and our common ground. The most comprehensive solutions come from the most diverse minds and you belong here.

As you consider joining UC Davis, please explore our Principles of Community, our Clinical Strategic Plan and strategic vision for research and education, and our latest efforts to outgrow the expected.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.