Job description
Join the Flagstaff Astronomical Institute as an Astronomy Data Scientist and help transform telescope data into discovery. You will work within a multidisciplinary team supporting open science, education, and public outreach. This full-time role offers access to world-class facilities, collaborative projects with universities, and opportunities to contribute to cutting-edge surveys.
You'll be embedded in a dynamic environment that values curiosity, rigorous analysis, and clear scientific communication. If you are passionate about turning complex data into insights that advance our understanding of the universe, we want to hear from you.
Location: Flagstaff, AZ, with occasional field support for observation campaigns. Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits.
Responsibility
- Develop and maintain robust data processing pipelines for telescope and survey data.
- Collaborate with astronomers to design analysis plans for observational data and simulations.
- Implement statistical methods, ML models, and time-domain analysis to classify sources and detect events.
- Ensure data quality, metadata provenance, versioning, and reproducible workflows (Git, CI).
- Design and generate scientific visualizations and executive summaries for varied audiences.
- Present findings at team meetings, journals, and national/international conferences.
- Mentor students and junior staff; contribute to grant writing and open science initiatives.
Qualification
- PhD in Astronomy, Astrophysics, Data Science, or a closely related field; or MS with strong research track record and 5+ years experience.
- Proven experience with Python for scientific computing and data analysis (NumPy, SciPy, Astropy).
- Experience with SQL/NoSQL, data pipelines, and big data tools (Spark, Hadoop) a plus.
- Strong background in statistics and machine learning as applied to astronomy data.
- Familiarity with astronomical data formats (FITS, VO tables) and observation planning concepts.
- Excellent scientific communication skills; ability to write and present results clearly.
- Ability to work collaboratively in cross-disciplinary teams in a fast-paced environment.