Position Open for Senior Software Developer

OPEN SOURCE PROJECT FOR A NETWORK DATA ACCESS PROTOCOL, THE; Butte (MT); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Retirement plan (12% employer contrib)

Paid time off (15 days + 10 holidays)

Job summary

OPeNDAP is seeking a Senior Software Developer to lead development of the data server and related open-source projects. You will mentor team members and partner with the Product Owner on NASA contracts within Earthdata Cloud, shaping software across design, testing, and deployment.

You will write C++, Python, and Java while guiding projects in a SAFe environment, traveling for group planning with NASA and coordinating R&D with researchers. Remote-friendly with on-site options in Butte, MT.

Qualifications

• Must have 10+ years in software development.
• Master’s in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Experience in scientific software development or research environments to support Earth/Environmental sciences.

Responsibilities

• Plan, design, develop, test, coordinate, and deploy features for the OPeNDAP data server and related software.
• Collaborate with internal/external scientists to translate data access requirements into software solutions.
• Write clean, well-documented code in C++, Python, and Java.

Skills

C++

Python

Java

Team leadership

Mentorship

Software design

SAFe

Communication

Education

Master’s degree in Computer Science

Equivalent experience

Tools

Git/GitHub

Unit testing

NetCDF

HDF5

Job description

Employer: OPeNDAP

Work Commitment: Full-time

Application deadline: Open until filled; Interviews begin on July 15, 2026

Location: Remote or On-Site at Butte, MT

Salary range: $90,000 – $120,000 plus benefits

The Opportunity

Do you thrive on crafting innovative solutions for scientific data access? Are you passionate about accelerating scientific workflows to enable data-driven discovery?

We’re seeking a talented and passionate Senior Software Developer to join our team at OPeNDAP. In this upper-level position, you’ll play a key role across the entire software development lifecycle, from design and testing to deployment, for our open-source OPeNDAP data server and related projects. Your leadership skills will be crucial, as you’ll mentor colleagues and collaborate with external contributors to the projects. Your primary focus will be to work with the OPeNDAP Product Owner on a NASA contract to help develop systems that work within NASA’s Earthdata Cloud software ecosystem.

About OPeNDAP

OPeNDAP, a 501(c)3 non-profit founded in 2000, provides an open software protocol that allows users to access and subset remote data regardless of the local storage format. Currently, OPeNDAP plays a leading role in providing fast, efficient, and performant access to NASA’s Earth Science data in the cloud, enabling seamless data exploration and accelerating scientific workflows. OPeNDAP’s user-friendly approach is supported by a small, remote, and full-time team of six, along with a committed six-person Board of Directors. NASA is currently OPeNDAP’s main funder, with past contributions coming from U.S. federal agencies NOAA and NSF, and agencies in France and Australia.

Why it’s Great to Work at OPeNDAP?

• You’ll have an opportunity to work on cutting-edge technologies that have a real impact on scientific research and translation.
• Enjoy a flexible work-from-home schedule. Fun fact: OPeNDAP has been a remote company since its inception. Our team today is fully remote with members located across the U.S.
• With such a small team, our work environment is collaborative and supportive. We work fairly independently, but ask each other for help as needed.
• OPeNDAP is community oriented. You’ll get to be part of a creative and enthusiastic community dedicated to open-source software development and supporting science.
• We offer a generous benefits package, including medical, dental, retirement (12% employer contributions – fully vested), and paid time off (15 days + 10 federal holidays).
• We offer competitive pay, especially within the academic software development sector. The salary for this position ranges from $90,000-$120,000.

Requirements

• Be a U.S. Citizen or U.S.Permanent Resident
• Be U.S. based
• Pass a background check

Responsibilities

• Plan, design, develop, test, coordinate, and deploy features for the OPeNDAP data server and associated software.
• Collaborate with both external and internal scientists and engineers to understand data access requirements and translate them into software solutions.
• Write clean, well-documented, and maintainable code in C++, Python, and Java.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of the OPeNDAP codebase through code reviews and testing.
• Advise on the latest advancements in scientific data access technologies.
• Work effectively in a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) environment.
• Transition seamlessly between research and development (R&D) activities.
• Develop procedures and operating instructions.
• Experience with team leadership, management, and development.
• Experience with project leadership and management.
• Travel to required group planning meetings run by NASA.
• Be generally available and online from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Mountain Time, Monday through Friday.

Desired Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in software development.
• Strong proficiency in C++, Python, and Java.
• Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• A background working directly in or adjacent to scientific research, especially in the Earth and Environmental Sciences. This includes conducting software development in support of scientific research and collaborating on research teams. y in the Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Desired Skills/experience

• Experience with software development methodologies, including Agile and traditional waterfall approaches.
• Excellent understanding of software design principles and best practices.
• Experience with version control systems (e.g., git/GitHub).
• Experience with unit testing frameworks.
• Experience with scientific data formats (e.g., NetCDF, HDF5, Zarr).
• Experience with web development technologies (e.g., HTTP, REST APIs).
• Experience with cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS).
• Experience with reproducible environments (i.e. JupyterLab)
• Experience with parallel computing (e.g. MPI, Dask)
• Experience working in an open-source development environment.
• Experience working with extending and refactoring existing software.
• Excellent project management and organizational skills and experience, including leading, developing, completing, and assessing projects.
• Excellent communication skills including giving presentations and writing articles/blog posts.
• Excellent collaboration, team leadership, and mentorship skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Experience with training and teaching others.
• Experience with or interest in strategic organizational development and management.

OPeNDAP is an open-source software company with a mission to help serve open-access data to all. To better support this mission, we recognize that social diversity amongst our team is important. We highly encourage applicants of any race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status to apply.