Software Engineer

We are seeking a Software Engineer to help modernize, maintain, and enhance critical visualization and data processing applications for NOAA weather models and dissemination pipelines. In this role, you will apply modern software engineering practices—clean code, automated testing, cloud integrations, and agile workflows—to deliver reliable scientific imaging systems.

While a background in meteorology or scientific data is preferred, strong software engineering capabilities with a willingness to learn atmospheric data concepts are key.

Work Location: Hybrid College Park, MD

Responsibilities:

• Software Development & Optimization: Design, build, test, and maintain robust Python-based services and scripting pipelines used for imaging weather model output and supporting dissemination systems.
• Code Modernization & Quality: Refactor legacy codebase, improve performance through benchmarking, and perform code reviews to maintain high standards of code readability and maintainability.
• Agile Collaboration: Participate actively in an Agile development environment—engaging in sprint planning, code reviews, and cross-functional alignment with product owners, designers, and project leads.
• Documentation & Delivery: Maintain clear technical documentation, release notes, and deployment plans to support seamless delivery and knowledge sharing across the team.
• AI-Assisted Engineering: Leverage modern AI tools to accelerate development, refactoring, and code analysis. 

• Meteorology / Domain Knowledge
• Bachelor’s degree in Meteorology, Atmospheric Science, Physics, Computer Science, or a related field—OR ~2+ years of experience working with meteorological data/systems.
• AI & Cloud AI: AWS Certified AI Practitioner or experience leveraging cloud-native AI tools.
• Software Development: 3+ years of software engineering experience focusing on production Python and Linux/Unix environments (Bash/shell scripting).
• Modern Development Practices: Proficiency with standard version control systems (Git), CI/CD practices, and Agile tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence).
• Cloud & Infrastructure: Fundamental knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) with a basic cloud certification (e.g., AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, Azure Fundamentals, or GCP Digital Leader).
• Communication: Excellent verbal and written technical communication skills for status updates and cross-team collaboration. 

Desired Skills

Scientific Data & Visualization:

• Hands-on experience with scientific data formats (NetCDF, HDF5, GRIB/GRIB2).
• Familiarity with meteorological visualization tools or packages (e.g., MetPy, Matplotlib, GEMPAK, GrADS, or NCL).
• Understanding of scientific data dissemination protocols (e.g., LDM).

Legacy & Language Familiarity: Reading/basic understanding of Fortran, Java, or PHP for refactoring/migration efforts. 

Additional Information:

• In order to meet the clearance requirements for this opportunity, candidates must be US Citizen and/or Current Green Card Holder.
• All candidates will be subject to a complete background check to include, but not limited to Criminal History, Education Verification, Professional Certification Verification, Verification of Previous Employment and Credit History.
• Public Trust background investigations can take approximately four to eight weeks and requires fingerprinting.

Other Information:

• The salary for this position is $75,000 - $105,000 annually
• For information on SFI's benefits please visit http://www.spatialfront.com/pages/career.html
• This is a full-time W2 position. 
• Please no agencies, third parties, or corp-to-corp.
• Spatial Front Inc. is an Equal-opportunity Employer, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.
• Spatial Front Inc. participates in E-Verify.