Software Engineer

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The Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), under the School of Foreign Service, is hiring a Software Engineer. The Software Engineer will be a generalist who can flex between full-stack web development, web scraping, data preparation, and deploying applications on the Google Cloud Platform. The Software Engineer will primarily support the CSET Data Science Team’s Emerging Technology Observatory (ETO) effort, working with other software engineers, data scientists, and researchers on a small but passionate team focused on building high-quality public tools and datasets to inform critical decisions on emerging technology issues.

About CSET:

A policy research organization within Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, CSET provides decision-makers with data-driven analysis on the security implications of emerging technologies. CSET is currently focusing on the effects of progress in artificial intelligence (AI), advanced computing, and biotechnology. We seek to prepare a new generation of decision-makers to address the challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies. CSET is located in Washington, DC near Union Station. CSET’s Emerging Technology Observatory is a free public platform for data and insight on critical emerging technology issues. Building on CSET’s unique data and analytic capabilities, the ETO team builds analytic tools and datasets  to help users across government, academia, nonprofits and the private sector understand and act on global emerging technology trends. 

CSET staff come from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, bringing extensive experience from the highest levels of government, industry, and academia to inform research at the intersection of technology and statecraft. We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and intellectual curiosity.

As a non-partisan organization, we produce rigorous, evidence-based, cross-functional analysis and public resources on emerging technology issues. CSET analysts seek to expose our assumptions, follow the data and serve as trusted advisors to national security policymakers. CSET data scientists and engineers collaborate closely with analysts to gather, process and interpret data at scale, including foreign-language and technical materials from diverse sources. 

Members of our team are challenged with meaningful work, offered ongoing opportunities for professional development and learning, and contribute to a collegial and engaging environment where they can thrive. We are deeply committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and encourage individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply.

About this position:

The Software Engineer will report to the Director of Data Science and Research. Their responsibilities will include:

  • Full-stack web development
  • Writing and automating webscrapers
  • Writing data pipelines
  • Writing SQL queries to retrieve and aggregate data
  • Writing code and data quality tests
  • Contributing to data documentation
  • Participating in code and data reviews

Requirements and Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree;
  • 3+ years of professional experience in software engineering or data science;
  • Experience with Git;
  • Proficiency with Python and Javascript;
  • Experience with SQL;
  • Comfort with regular expressions;
  • Experience with writing unit tests;
  • Commitment to writing high quality code;
  • Ability to work successfully in a highly collaborative team environment including people from nontechnical backgrounds;
  • High degree of flexibility as requirements and priorities evolve;
  • Clear written and verbal communication;
  • Motivated, enthusiastic, intellectually curious and self-driven 
  • Alignment with CSET’s mission, values and culture
  • Ability to work in the United States without employer sponsorship

Preferred Additional Qualifications: 

Our ideal applicant would have at least 1-2 of the following additional attributes:

  • Experience with React and frameworks like Next.js or Gatsby
  • Experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure (we use GCP)
  • Experience with Apache Airflow or interest in learning
  • Experience with webscraping libraries (Beautiful Soup, Selenium, etc)

In general, the Software Engineer is expected to earn an annual starting salary between $110,000 and $130,000 commensurate with experience.

Application Instructions:
Please note that we only consider complete applications, which include:

  • Resume/CV
  • Cover Letter
  • Code Sample(in any language) from a past project.
    • Code samples can be provided by linking to a GitHub repository or Google Drive folder in the cover letter. Applicants who proceed beyond the phone screen will be required to complete a take-home coding exercise. 

This position is based in the United States and offers no relocation assistance. This position is not eligible for a specialty-occupation sponsorship and, accordingly, this position requires that all applicants be legally eligible to work in the United States without sponsorship from Georgetown University.

If you have any questions with regard to completing and/or submitting your application, please email csetcareers@georgetown.edu.

Georgetown University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer fully dedicated to achieving a diverse faculty and staff.  All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation), disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.