Performance Scientific Programmer

Overview

• Department: Physics and Astronomy - 319000
• Career Area: Research Professionals
• Posting Open Date: 01/27/2026
• Final date to receive applications: 01/30/2026
• Position Type: Temporary Staff (SHRA)
• Position Title: High-Performance Scientific Programmer
• Position Number:
• Vacancy : S026797
• Full-time/Part-time: Full-Time Temporary
• Hours per week: 40
• Work Schedule: Primarily Remote;
  Approximately 20% of work will be done in-person during visits to Chapel Hill
• Position Location: North Carolina, US
• Hiring Range: $31.25 per hour
• Proposed
  
  Start Date:
  
  02/02/2026
• Estimated Duration of Appointment: 6 months not to exceed 11 months

Our primary mission is providing instruction of the highest quality in physics and astronomy to undergraduate and graduate students at UNC-CH. Training in physics is fundamental among the natural sciences because it provides understanding of the forces governing the structure of matter, from subatomic particles to the large-scale structure of the universe. Our departmental instructional mission spans all segments of the student community.

Over 60% of all college graduates from UNC-CH have taken a course in our department. Among them: undergraduate liberal arts majors who should master the power of quantitative reasoning; undergraduates seeking a degree in another of the natural sciences, who need physics as a foundation for their advanced scientific training; the small number of undergraduates who major in physics, to whom we provide broad and rigorous training.

Our graduate education and research advances frontiers of knowledge at the two extremes of space and time, from the very small) the realm of particle physics) to the very large (the realm of astronomy, while expanding the boundaries of knowledge in the many subfields spanning length scales between. Forefront physics and astronomy research requires access to well-equipped laboratories and extensive computing capabilities;

it also must be supported by comprehensive and accessible library collections. Again, in research at this advanced level, the bridging aspect of physics provides basic interdisciplinary insight for many other sciences. This instructional mission is supported by a strong managerial, administrative, and technical staff. Duties of these employees range from budget planning and management for the numerous research grants held by faculty in the department to maintaining course and student records.

These activities are usually accomplished in a standard 40- hour week schedule.

A dedicated software researcher with experience in small N-body dynamics to add binary functionality to the Rodriguez group’s N-body code (KRIOS).

Demonstrated possession of the competencies necessary to perform the work.

Experience with small-N stellar dynamics and C++.

Not Applicable.