We are excited to announce two new opportunities to join the eBird team at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The first position is to join our growing team of mobile application developers at the Lab, focusing on developing the Android eBird application. The second is to join our group of web application developers. Please read on to find out more about the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and these positions. We have had great success hiring people from the eBird community and hope it continues with these positions! We encourage you to share these positions with friends who have application development experience.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is the world’s leading resource for conservation, research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. The Lab is a vibrant unit within Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), where twelve world-class, mission-driven programs are directed by full-time faculty and other renowned professionals. Lab staff teach undergraduate courses, advise graduate students, collect and disseminate world-famous digital resources on biodiversity, and engage with partner organizations and citizens around the world to conduct scientific research and conservation actions. Our management and staff are committed to the highest standards of ethics and excellence in all areas of our work, and our Board leadership includes faculty from Cornell and other universities, successful entrepreneurs and managers from the business and non-profit sectors, and conservation-minded citizens from the United States and beyond.
The Information Science Program designs, develops, and maintains applications and services for citizen-science and education projects. These projects engage the public to collect, archive, analyze and disseminate information about birds and their environments. Maintains the supporting web, application, database servers, and associated storage devices, which support a number of the Lab’s web applications.
Developer-Android Apps-29984
- Develop and maintain Android applications and related services for the eBird and Merlin projects. eBird, a real-time, online bird checklist program, is the world’s largest and fastest growing biodiversity data resource, collecting millions of bird observations from the general public. Merlin is a bird identification system using eBird data, along with photos and recordings, to help novices identify birds. Upcoming projects include an ‘in the field’ data entry app for submitting bird observations to eBird, closely integrating native phone capabilities, including calendar, GPS, camera, and voice memos, and extending the Merlin Android app to add image-recognition functionality for identifying birds from a ‘just taken’ photo.
- Work closely with a dynamic team of biologists, UI designers, application developers, database administrators, and computer scientists within a collaborative development environment.
- Help guide overall Android development strategy and recommend best solutions for project requirements.
- Utilize Android software development tools, team code repositories, and open source libraries and is expected to stay current with Android practices and processes (Java for Android, Android SDK, ADT, test distributions, Google Play submission, and analytics).
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree with 3-5 years relevant experience or equivalent combination.
- A thorough understanding of object-oriented programming and web applications.
- Proven experience in java programming and Android application development.
- Experience using Android device features such as location, camera, and internet access.
- Experience integrating with APIs and web services.
- Demonstrable skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and written and verbal communication.
- Proven experience in documenting and testing code.
- Ability to learn technical material quickly.
- Must be able to work independently and function effectively as part of a larger team.
- Ability to establish realistic goals and deliver work on schedule.
- Proven experience in providing support to multiple areas.
- Must be able to use sound judgment in decision making and in accomplishing tasks that are urgent or of a sensitive or confidential nature, balance conflicting priorities, and make decisions from a range of choices.
- 5 years of experience in computer or information science preferred.
- 3-5 years of experience working on substantial computer software and collaborating with a team of programmers on software projects is desired.
- Experience designing and implementing responsive Android UI interfaces that accommodate multiple screen sizes, and degrade gracefully.
- Experience with CBTs such as Titanium and PhoneGap.
- Experience implementing rich internet applications.
- Experience with relational database table design, SQL programming and performance testing.
- Prior use and understanding of the eBird system.
- An interest in birds, nature, biology, science, and/or conservation helpful.
Web Developer–28452
- Develop, test, and maintain web sites, web-based applications, and visualizations focused on the eBird enterprise and other Lab projects.
- Develop, test, and maintain software, components, and services for related content management systems.
- Use technologies and development tools including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Eclipse-based IDEs, team code repositories, open source libraries, Java and JSP to extend and enhance the functionality of eBird-based projects.
- Provide consultation and training to staff and collaborators on the use of software and infrastructure.
- Create documentation and examples to help other developers use the infrastructure.
- Conduct functional tests, system tests, performance profiling, and security audits.
- Contribute to team brainstorming and problem-solving initiatives.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree with 1-2 years relevant experience or equivalent combination.
- A through understanding of object-oriented programming and web application development is essential.
- Experience developing Java based web applications is required.
- Must have experience working with designers to create and maintain scalable, responsive HTML/CSS/JavaScript systems across large web sites and applications.
- Must be proficient with web performance techniques for efficiently delivering front-end code, data, and assets.
- Experience with WordPress customization and administration is required.
- Candidate must show strong problem solving, critical thinking, and writing skills, work effectively on a team, learn technical material quickly, establish realistic goals, and deliver quality work on schedule with minimal supervision.
- The ability to prioritize activities and multitask is essential.
- 2-5 years experience in web development in a team setting is preferred.
- Experience and demonstrated expertise in: content management or web publishing systems; Java web application development using Springsource Tool Suite or Eclipse IDE; JSTL front-end templating; the PHP/Apache/MySQL web development stack; designing and implementing APIs and web services; interactive client-side data visualization (D3); CSS pre-processors (SASS/LESS); workflow (Grunt/Gulp), version control (Git), and deployment (Jenkins); JavaScript frameworks (Angular, Ember, Backbone); relational database table design, SQL programming and performance testing using Oracle.
- Prior use and understanding of the eBird system and interest in birding and ecology is highly desired.