Staff Software Developer (Joint BioEnergy Institute)

About the role

JBEI is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Research Center dedicated to developing advanced biofuels. This position has an anticipated start date of August 1, 2026.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with researchers in JBEI's Lifecycle, Economics and Agronomy Division (LEAD) to develop, maintain, and enhance web applications for geospatial analysis, technoeconomic analysis, lifecycle assessment, and AI-enabled bioenergy modeling.
• Lead and mentor a small team developing web-based modeling and AI tools.
• Maintain secure, reliable, and high-performing servers, databases, and web applications through regular updates, debugging, and feature enhancements.
• Partner with scientific, academic, and industry users to improve application functionality, usability, and research impact.
• Implement user analytics and reporting systems to monitor application usage and engagement.
• Apply software engineering best practices, including code reviews, version control, testing, issue tracking, and iterative development.
• Develop computational, statistical, and machine learning methods to model and evaluate bioenergy and bioproduct production systems.
• Release datasets to public repositories, present project progress, deliver milestones on schedule, and foster a collaborative, inclusive team environment.

Requirements

• A Bachelor’s Degree (or equivalent knowledge/training) in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Life Sciences, Engineering or related field and a minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience programming in Python and R for the management of large environmental datasets or an equivalent combination of education and professional experience.
• Demonstrated success designing, implementing, and supporting moderately complex systems and software related to energy/environmental systems.
• Experience with JavaScript, HTML and CSS for developing frontend user interfaces for web applications.
• Experience with agentic AI applications, a variety of statistical analysis, and machine learning techniques.
• Experience using remote servers, and willingness to learn skills necessary for submitting batch jobs using supercomputing resources.
• Experience using parallel programming techniques to improve and optimize computational efficiency.
• Experience with containerization tools such as Docker and one or more of the following databases: PostgreSQL, SQLite, MongoDB.
• Demonstrated analytical skills, including experience identifying issues, problem solving, independently making sound judgments, and recommending creative solutions to complex problems.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, including experience organizing and presenting complex technical information and collaborating with stakeholders in a complex interdisciplinary environment.

Qualifications

• A Master’s Degree (or equivalent knowledge/training) in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Life Sciences, Engineering or related field is preferred.
• Experience with frontend web frameworks such as React, Vue or AngularJS for dynamic and scalable user interfaces is preferred.
• Experience with backend Python web application frameworks such as Flask or Django is preferred.
• Familiarity with Python libraries for machine learning such as TPOT, Tensorflow or Keras is preferred.
• Familiarity using custom Python or R code for processing of raw data, especially in geospatial formats is preferred.
• Familiarity with relational database concepts and SQL is preferred.
• Familiarity with web REST APIs is preferred.
• Strong level of command line comfort in a Unix-like environment is preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of agricultural and environmental concepts, data types, data analysis methods, and their representation in software systems is preferred.
• Solid understanding of data structures and algorithms is preferred.