Assistant or Associate Project Scientist

Uc-SAN-Dieg; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

CAIDA, an independent research group at UC San Diego, is seeking an Assistant Project Scientist to lead scientific and technical aspects of CAIDA's program. You will contribute to publications, guide proposal development, and help shape research directions, alongside data systems that sustain ongoing work.

Responsibilities include data pipeline maintenance, dataset curation, metadata management, and collaboration with the systems team and external researchers running experiments on CAIDA's

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent terminal degree in a scientific/engineering/computational field.
• Demonstrated record of contributing to peer‑reviewed research publications.
• Experience working with large-scale scientific datasets.
• Proficiency in Python and scripting in a Unix/Linux environment.

Responsibilities

• Take scientific and technical responsibility for CAIDA research projects.
• Contribute to peer-reviewed publications and lead proposal development.
• Develop research directions and data systems that sustain the work.
• Manage and improve data collection and processing pipelines.
• Curate, index, and document datasets for internal and external use.
• Coordinate integration of third-party data sources and collaborate with staff.

Skills

Python

Unix/Linux

Large-scale datasets

Education

PhD (or equivalent terminal degree) in a scientific, engineering, quantitative, or computational field

Job description

The Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) is an independent research group at the UC San Diego San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) focused on the macroscopic structure, behavior, and security of global Internet infrastructure. CAIDA maintains one of the most comprehensive and longitudinal collections of Internet measurement data in the world, supporting both its own peer-reviewed scientific output and a broad external research community. The datasets span multiple measurement modalities, such as active probing, passive traffic capture, routing data, and DNS, collected continuously over many years across a globally distributed monitoring infrastructure.

This Assistant Project Scientist will take scientific and technical responsibility for research projects within CAIDA's program, contributing to its research agenda and working collaboratively with CAIDA's research and engineering team. The position carries substantial project execution responsibilities, including contributing to peer-reviewed publications, leading proposal development, and developing research directions, alongside direct responsibility for the data systems that sustain this work. Core operational responsibilities include managing and improving data collection and processing pipelines; curating, indexing, and documenting datasets for internal use and external dissemination; maintaining metadata systems and data inventories; and coordinating integration of third-party data sources.

The position also involves collaboration with CAIDA's systems administrator on platform maintenance, data capture workflows, and storage infrastructure, and direct engagement with the external research community — responding to dataset requests, incorporating user feedback into data collection design, and supporting researchers, visiting scholars, and external collaborators running experiments on CAIDA's measurement platforms.

• PhD (or equivalent terminal degree) in a scientific, engineering,quantitative, or computational field
• Demonstrated record of contributing to peer-reviewed research publications
• Experience working with large-scale scientific datasets
• Proficiency in Python and scripting in a Unix/Linux environment