Research Programmer - HCII - School of Computer Science

Carnegie Mellon University is a private, global research university that challenges the curious and hardworking to deliver work that matters. Our extraordinary institution has distinctive areas of excellence and a culture marked by ambition and a deep, practical engagement with challenges facing society. We continue to produce talented alumni and draw faculty and staff eager to be a part of the university's creative, dedicated and close-knit community. We place emphasis on practical problem solving, interdisciplinary learning, a transformative spirit, and collaboration.

The PLUS - Personalized Learning Squared project, run by the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at CMU aims to double the rate of math learning in middle school students, particularly those who have been historically underserved. This project is operated in collaboration with Carnegie Learning and Stanford University and is led by Principal Investigator Prof. Ken Koedinger. PLUS features a hybrid tutoring platform that combines human and AI tutoring to deliver personalized learning for each student. We are currently working with school districts in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, and Oregon with plans for expanding in subsequent years.

The National Tutoring Observatory, is a research infrastructure led by Prof. Rene Kizilcec at Cornell University, along with researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and educational strategy company FreshCognate. The mission of the National Tutoring Observatory is to observe and record great teachers and tutors at work in one-on-one and small group interactions with learners. By partnering with a range of tutoring providers, we will create the world's largest repository of video and transcript data about tutoring interactions and the incredibly important work of teachers. The Observatory aspires to create a Million Tutor Moves dataset that records at least one million interactions between teachers and students. These new data will advance the science of instruction, provide important data for technologists developing AI tools, and allow the Observatory to create a pipeline for the creation of open-source AI tools.

Both teams consist of diverse individuals with backgrounds ranging from experienced researchers to high-tech to small startups, and we operate in a fast-paced and fun environment.

As a research software engineer, you will help us develop cutting-edge tools to enable tutors to double student math learning. You will work with a diverse team of researchers, designers, and learning engineers across both projects. At PLUS, you will support the development of tools to enable middle school math tutoring at scale. At the NTO, you will support data curation and assist with developing and evaluating AI tools for tutoring. We need our engineers to be knowledgeable and versatile, demonstrate leadership abilities, and be enthusiastic to take on new challenges.

• Owning and developing product features end-to-end: through conception, exploration, iteration, and maintenance.
• Documenting new designs, code, and modifications.
• Maintaining existing applications.
• Supporting business user questions/issues regarding applications and/or systems issues and availability.
• Participating in QA efforts, as needed.
• Processing audio transcriptions and AI-generated summaries of video recordings
• Data engineering and processing multimodal data at scale
• Applying LLM analysis and annotation methods to tutoring data and improving those methods through comparison with human annotation

Flexibility, excellence, and passion are vital qualities within CMU. Collaboration and cultural sensitivity are valued competencies. Therefore, we are in search of a team member who is able to effectively interact with a varied population of internal and external partners at a high level of integrity. We are looking for someone who shares our values and who will support the mission of the university through their work.

• Bachelor's degree required; A degree in Computer Science/Engineering, Information Technology, Information Systems, or related is preferred
• Master's degree preferred
• 1-3 years of professional or industry experience developing, maintaining, and supporting software.
• Strong proficiency in Java and/or Python for data-intensive applications.
• Proficiency in web application development and data-based engineering
• Proficiency in best practices in database design and knowledge of SQL queries and various SQL reporting tools
• Proficiency in JSP, HTML, CSS, and popular JavaScript frameworks
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms, specifically AWS (e.g., S3, EC2, Lambda, RDS).
• Experience building and maintaining ETL/ELT pipelines and data workflows.
• Solid understanding of SQL, data modeling, and database fundamentals.
• A combination of education and meaningful experience from which comparable knowledge is demonstrated may be considered.

• Successful Background Check Investigation

Joining the CMU team opens the door to an array of exceptional benefits.

Benefits eligible employees enjoy a wide array of benefits including comprehensive medical, prescription, dental, and vision insurance as well as a generous retirement savings program with employer contributions. Unlock your potential with tuition benefits, take well-deserved breaks with ample paid time off and observed holidays, and rest easy with life and accidental death and disability insurance.

Additional perks include a free Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus pass, access to our Family Concierge Team to help navigate childcare needs, fitness center access, and much more!

For a comprehensive overview of the benefits available, explore our Benefits page.

At Carnegie Mellon, we value the whole package when extending offers of employment. Beyond credentials, we evaluate the role and responsibilities, your valuable work experience, and the knowledge gained through education and training. We appreciate your unique skills and the perspective you bring. Your journey with us is about more than just a job; it's about finding the perfect fit for your professional growth and personal aspirations.

Are you interested in an exciting opportunity with an exceptional organization?! Apply today!

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