Software Development Manager II

  • University of Washington | Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
  • Nov 08, 2021
Full time Information Systems IT Manager Technology Information Technology Manager

Job Description

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research center at the University of Washington. Its mission is to deliver to the world timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice. IHME carries out its mission through a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors; Future Health Scenarios; Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations. Our vision is to provide policymakers, donors, and researchers with the highest-quality quantitative evidence base so all people live long lives in full health.

IHME is committed to providing the evidence base necessary to help solve the world’s most important health problems. This requires creativity and innovation, which are cultivated by an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment that respects and appreciates differences, embraces collaboration, and invites the voices of all IHME team members.

IHME has an outstanding opportunity for a Software Development Manager II on our Simulation Science team.


About the Role

The primary purpose of the position is to lead the development, support, and improvement of the team’s vast software portfolio. The Simulation Science team models the impact and cost effectiveness of health care interventions for a variety of stakeholders. The scope of our work is wide. We produce models to compare interventions on maternal and child health, to evaluate new drugs for the treatment of non-communicable diseases, and to gauge the impact of public policy interventions on disease dynamics. This modeling work is done using a flexible, open-source simulation framework run on IHME’s 20,000-core high-performance computing cluster. The SDM II role includes management of software dependencies, both within Simulation Science and across other research teams.

The Software Development Manager II is responsible for improving the efficiency and automation of Simulation Science processes and working with engineers to develop and implement best practices for software development and testing.

The Software Development Manager II sets the direction for software development for research. This role is instrumental in assuring the work maintains the highest quality, upholding the reputation of the Institute as setting the gold standard in quality for health metrics, data, and analytic support for policy. This individual will advise a team of engineers and analysts, and consult on the engineering priorities for IHME as a whole. This position will have autonomy to make decisions about software development priorities, design, and implementation. They will lead a group of engineers and supervise numerous staff, many of whom are also supervisors.


About our Team

The Simulation Science team models the impact and cost effectiveness of healthcare interventions for a variety of stakeholders.  The scope of our work is wide.  We produce models to compare interventions on maternal and child health, to evaluate new drugs for the treatment of non-communicable diseases, and to gauge the impact of public policy interventions on disease dynamics.  This modeling work is done using a flexible, open-source simulation framework run on the IHME’s 20,000-core high performance computing cluster.

This position is contingent upon project funding availability.


Responsibilities:

Supervision

  • Supervise and train engineers, providing guidance, coaching, and support.
  • Ensure the team delivers to the highest standards of the organization.
  • Ensure the team works effectively with other groups at IHME; promote cross-organization teamwork.
  • Advise on short- and long-term team structure, including providing input on recruitments.
  • Identify and foster opportunities to advance individuals’ knowledge and abilities.
  • Assess and map project deliverables to resource needs.

Management & Planning

  • Oversee ongoing software development, improvement, and maintenance of the team’s software portfolio.
  • Identify problems and direct optimizations and improvements to software to enable efficient updates and stable tools and pipelines.
  • Gather requirements and help prioritize across research and technical decisions, dependencies, integrated testing, and deployment to production.
  • Manage engineering projects such that they meet their timelines.
  • Work collaboratively to develop software engineering best practices, protocols, and processes for the full software development lifecycle.
  • Maintain coding standards, code reviews, source control management, deployment pipelines, automated testing, and operations for engineers within the team.
  • Assess and map project deliverables and timelines.

Research Learning

  • Become familiar with substantive areas of expertise at IHME and their comprehensive data needs in order to perform complex multidisciplinary analyses.
  • Understand the methods and technologies used in the storage, manipulation, and display of information.
  • Understand the mapping of complex research objectives into practical deliverables for the purpose of tracking accompanying work.

General

  • Perform additional duties as assigned that fall within the reasonable scope of this position.

As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here.


REQUIREMENTS

  • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, or related technical degree and five years’ related experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Additional Requirements:

  • A commitment to working to alongside others at IHME to illuminate the health impacts of systemic racism and to work within IHME to make our organization more diverse and inclusive. See IHME’s DEI statement here: http://www.healthdata.org/get-involved/careers/dei.
  • Established expertise in developer tools or software development lifecycle (SDLC) systems (continuous integration, version control, source code repositories, build systems, package management, deployment pipelines, test frameworks, etc.).
  • Experience supervising and coaching staff and directing prioritizing and monitoring projects and tasks.
  • Proven track record of building and managing high-performing engineering teams.
  • Experience in Python, R, SQL, pandas, numpy, and/or related programming languages and deploying software to Linux servers.
  • Experience with data and metadata standards and relational database development.
  • Thorough understanding of the software development lifecycle (e.g., requirements, design, development, testing) and implementing code in an agile environment or iterative SDLCs.
  • Demonstrated experience in gathering the true requirements underlying feature requests, managing stakeholder expectations, communicating with developers, and prioritizing development work to achieve project and organizational aims.
  • Ability to pay attention to details and maintain a strategic vision while operating in a fast-paced, energetic environment.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.

DESIRED

  • Experience with application containerization using Docker, Rancher.
  • Statistics and/or public health interest.
  • Automation experience and/or a desire to automate all the things.
  • Experience with distributed systems or HPC.


CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT


Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process.  These assessments may include Workforce Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others.  Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.