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We are seeking a Developer at METRC for a part-time, entry-level role embedded in our Data Engineering team. You will work under the direct guidance of our Senior Cloud Engineer and Developer II on the maintenance of existing research software and the support of new development efforts. We run multiple longitudinal randomized clinical multi-site trials and have built an in-house Data Engineering shop to support them — this role is an opportunity to grow inside that environment from the ground up.
Domain experience in clinical research is a plus but is not expected. If you are a developer with foundational skills in R and/or Python and a willingness to learn, you will find plenty of meaningful work here. We use Basecamp internally rather than JIRA; familiarity with either is welcome but neither is required.
As with our other developer roles, our software design patterns and development cycles naturally follow the rhythms of study life cycles — meaning you will be working on software that needs to remain functional and extensible across studies that may not yet be designed. We use a DataOps methodology rooted in Agile principles. At the Developer I level, your primary contribution will be in supporting and learning within that framework under close supervision, with increasing independence over time.
General summary
Support the creation, implementation, maintenance, performance, production support and documentation of various departmental and enterprise-wide application systems. This includes but is not limited to the installation, modification, and testing of new and/or upgraded applications (packages or home grown), operating systems, file structures, hardware, communication devices, and productivity tools. Assist with database maintenance and application system code support.
Job Scope/Complexity
Demonstrate a basic understanding of project life cycle and support sections of life cycle. Under direct supervision, assist with full life-cycle of small and/or parts of a large project. Once priorities are set, perform tasks under direct supervision with regular process updates. Examples can easily be found in existing code, methods or online. Typically, concepts used are simple and standard.
Specific Duties & Responsibilities
- The responsibilities listed below are typical examples of the work performed by this position.
- Not all duties assigned to this position are included, nor is it expected that everyone in this position will be assigned every job responsibility.
Analysis & Requirements Gathering
- Under direct supervision support business/clinical/education problems by meeting with clients and more Sr. IT colleagues to observe and understand current processes and the issues related to those processes. Contribute to written documentation of findings to share with the client and other IT colleagues.
- Review system requirements by meeting with clients and Sr. IT colleagues and researching existing technology to understand the business requirements for new applications.
Design & Development
- Contribute to the development of detailed tasks by analyzing project scope and milestones for projects in order to ensure product is delivered in a timely fashion according to software lifecycle standards.
- Contribute to functional/technical specifications by reviewing the provided system requirements, assist with putting them into functional and technical descriptions for use by programmers and business analysts to develop technical solutions.
- Assist with the development/change of data input, files/database structures, data transformation, algorithms, and data output by using appropriate computer language/tools to provide technical solution for application development tasks.
- Assist with documentation of code and associated processes by adhering to development methodologies, adding code comments and appropriate documentation to various knowledge-based system(s) to simplify code maintenance and to improve the support.
Testing & Documentation
- Assist with the creation and documentation of test scenarios using the appropriate testing tools to validate and verify application functionality.
- Assist with the testing of all changes by using the appropriate test scenarios to ensure all delivered solutions work as expected and errors are handled in a meaningful way.
- Contribute to the creation and maintenance of documentation by writing audience-appropriate materials to serve as technical and/or end-user references.
Implementation & Maintenance
- Assist with the Implementation of changes by adhering to the change management policies and procedures for any given project to communicate to all parties the nature, significance, and risk factors of the solution.
- Assist in the monitoring of changes and resolution of problems by responding to problems as they occur, by reviewing all processing and output of the newly implemented solution, and by proactively ensuring the solution works successfully to satisfy the customer requirements and to provide a smooth transition to the new solution.
- Provide support by triaging and resolving issues to ensure prompt, effective service.
In addition to the duties described above
- Assist in the development and maintenance of custom R packages that automate the cleaning, analysis, and distribution of METRC administrative and study data.
- Support ETL/ELT script updates as part of our ongoing migration away from GCP-hosted servers and toward our data warehouse infrastructure.
- Contribute to the testing and documentation of data pipeline components, helping ensure reproducibility and reliability across study datasets.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree.
- No prior professional experience required.
- Additional education may substitute for required experience, and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.
Preferred Qualifications
- Foundational programming experience in R and/or Python (coursework, independent projects, or internships accepted).
- Related classwork or internships with computer systems and applications preferred.
- Exposure to relational databases or data pipeline concepts; familiarity with version control (Git).
Classified Title: Developer
Role/Level/Range: ATO 40/E/03/OG
Starting Salary Range: $24.25 - $42.50 HRLY ($25.00 targeted; Commensurate w/exp.)
Employee group: Part-time
Schedule: Monday to Friday, 25 hours per week
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt
Location: Remote
Department name: Health Policy & Management -METRC
Personnel area: School of Public Health
