Postdoctoral position: software infrastructure for widefield galaxy surveys

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position at Queen's University in Canada focussed on software development for widefield galaxy surveys under the supervision of Dr. Kristine Spekkens.

The successful candidate will join the Canadian Data Intensive Astrophysics PLatform (CanDIAPL) team. CanDIAPL is a pan-Canadian project to convert the enormous raw data streams from next-generation radio, optical and multi-messenger facilities (e.g., SKA and its pathfinders, LSST, and LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA) into sophisticated digital databases that astronomers can use to make new discoveries. The successful candidate will join a team of developers working to build software infrastructure to measure the structure and evolution of gas rich, star forming galaxies from widefield radio and optical surveys under the "Dynamic Datasets" theme, with a particular emphasis on the WALLABY widefield HI survey on the Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope.

Up to 25% of the successful candidate's time will be available for self-directed research. The candidate will join the Queen's Astrophysics Research Group (QUARG), comprising faculty, postdocs and graduate students with research interests in galactic and extragalactic astronomy, dark matter astrophysics, star formation and the ISM, and multimessenger astronomy. Scientific collaborations with Dr. Spekkens' group as well as other QUARG members are strongly encouraged.

The initial appointment will be for two years, with the possibility of extensions for additional years subject to performance and the availability of funds. The nominal starting date for the position is September 1, 2026, but flexibility is available.

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

Essential criteria:

- A PhD in astronomy, astrophysics, or a related field at the time the position starts;

- Experience in working with large observed or simulated datasets of galaxies;

- Experience in scientific software development and software product management;

- Experience debugging/bug-tracking/code review/documentation, e.g., with Git or a similar version control system;

- Proficiency in written and oral communication (as evidenced by outputs such as refereed journal publications, conference talks, grants, observing/computing proposals);

- Ability to work within a distributed team (as evidenced by prior experience within a team or by a team-oriented mindset).

Desirable criteria:

- Experience measuring structural properties of star-forming disk or dwarf galaxies;

- Experience calibrating, analysing, interpreting and/or validating galaxy maps from radio or optical telescopes;

- Experience with relational database design and maintenance;

- Knowledge of cluster computing and job scheduling systems (e.g. Slurm, HTCondor), containerisation (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes) and/or cloud infrastructures (e.g. OpenStack, AWS).

Queen's University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Queen's is strongly committed to employment equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace and encourages applications from Black, racialized persons, Indigenous people, women, persons with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQI+ persons.

The University provides support in its recruitment processes to all applicants who require accommodation due to a protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code, including those with disabilities.