Classification & Regular Hours

Hours per Week: 35

Salary Grade 13

The base salary will be $62,480 - $89,040 per annum. Starting salary will be aligned with the successful candidate’s experience, skills, and demonstrated qualifications.

Please note, this is a 1-year temporary full-time contract opportunity.

About Western

Since 1878, Western University has been committed to serving our communities through the pursuit of academic excellence and by providing students, faculty, and community members with life-long opportunities for intellectual, social, and cultural growth. We seek excellent students, faculty, and staff to join us in what has become known as the "Western Experience" - an opportunity to contribute to a better world through the development of new knowledge, new abilities, new connections, and new ways to make a difference.

About Us

The Department of Physics and Astronomy’s mission is to be a cornerstone of society’s development through physics and astronomy education of students, the creation and dissemination of knowledge, innovative partnerships with industry, government, and other educational institutions in the global community.

The mission of Dr. Vida’s research is to leverage a global network of over 1,500 ground-based cameras across 45 countries to provide large-scale, high-resolution observations of contrail formation. This research addresses a critical gap in existing satellite-based monitoring by creating a robust ground-truth dataset designed to improve flight-contrail attribution algorithms and enhance atmospheric model accuracy.

Responsibilities

The Research Programmer/Analyst will work in close collaboration with the Principal Investigator to define, develop, test, analyze, and maintain custom research software and computational systems that support automated contrail detection and flight association research. The role is responsible for developing Python-based image processing, computer vision, machine learning, and data-pipeline solutions, maintaining Linux-based research computing environments, and providing ongoing support through troubleshooting, optimization, and software enhancements. In addition, the role supports research teams and student contributors through technical guidance and documentation, collaborates with external partners on contractual deliverables, and applies current best practices to ensure that research software is robust, reproducible, and aligned with funded research objectives.

Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a closely related field, ideally with a focus or specialization in Machine Learning or Computer Vision, preferred

Experience:

• 2 years of experience developing, testing, and maintaining software in an academic, research or technical environment
• Experience in machine learning, computer vision, or AI-related techniques
• Experience with Python programming
• Experience working in Linux-based computing environments would be an asset

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• In-depth knowledge of programming languages including Python
• Ability to build and maintain machine learning models and data-processing pipelines
• Familiarity with PyTorch, TensorFlow, OpenCV, or other libraries for computer vision and image processing tasks
• Proficiency with Git and collaborative development workflows