UT Astronomy - Employment

Employment

A full list of employment opportunities with both the Department of Astronomy and McDonald Observatory can be found at http://utdirect.utexas.edu/pnjobs/. For openings at the Observatory, enter McDonald as the Hiring Department. Listings will include both Austin and Fort Davis, TX.

Please also see Fellowships.

Site Manager
HET Software System Analyst
(Systems Analyst)
Mechanical Engineer
(Research Engineering/Scientist Associate III)

SITE MANAGER

McDonald Observatory (Ft. Davis, TX)

The University of Texas McDonald Observatory seeks highly qualified and strongly motivated applicants for the position of Site Manager, McDonald Observatory. The position primarily involves management and oversight of operations at McDonald Observatory, located near Fort Davis, Texas. The Observatory consists of four optical telescopes (2.7m, 2.1m, 0.9m and 0.76m). The qualified applicant will lead a staff of approximately 50 employees who operate and maintain the telescopes and associated instrumentation, physical plant facilities, visiting astronomer dormitory, and public outreach facilities. The successful applicant will be expected to reside on site in McDonald Observatory housing.

The Site Manager is in charge of operations at the west Texas site, including personnel management, oversight of observing support and physical plant operations, and coordination of technical operations; acts as the scientific and operational liason between the west Texas and staff on the Austin campus; interfaces with Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) Site Manager and personnel; works with senior management to further the goals of the observatory as set forth by the Director and has a lead role in facility development and safety. The Site Manager reports to the McDonald Observatory Director at the University of Texas at Austin.

In addition, the Superintendent will be expected to work with visiting official and special visitors to the Observatory. The Observatory functions as a small community and the Site Manager will be responsible for establishing an environment conducive to the mission of the Observatory, including maintaining resident morale and Observatory relations with the surrounding towns and communities.

Required qualifications include a Bachelors degree and at least 5 years of management experience. A Masters or PhD in Astronomy or related technical discipline is preferred. Operational familiarity with advanced instrumentation, especially telescopes, is desireable, as is the ability to communicate with the public, the press, official visitors, governmental officials, and UT Austin officials.

Applicants should apply via the University of Texas Employment web site at http://www.utexas.edu/hr/prospective/ and refer to job number 09-10-08-01-0415. For further information, contact Dr. David L. Lambert, The University of Texas, McDonald Observatory, 1 University Station C1402, Austin, TX 78712-0259 (director@astro.as.utexas.edu).

This is a security sensitive position. Conviction verification conducted on applicant selected. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER.

HET SOFTWARE SYSTEM ANALYST (SYSTEMS ANALYST)

The University of Texas McDonald Observatory seeks outstanding candidates for a new Systems Analyst position at the Observatory near Ft. Davis, West Texas.

The successful candidate will serve as a lead programmer in the development of new software products directly related to the operation of telescope and instrument control systems for the Hobby Eberly Telescope. This position will also maintain existing software, resolve software problems and will continuously develop familiarity with the over-all code base.

The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree and at least one year experience in systems design, analysis and programming with demonstrated knowledge of C/C++ software development in a GNU/Linux environment. A demonstrated ability to handle complex mathematical/statistical concepts and author software which applies these concepts is essential. Familiarity with mechanical systems and process control concepts, programmable logic devices (PLDs. CPLDs, FPGAs), stepper motors and encoders, computer hardware and communications protocols on various operating systems including Linux, Solaris, and Windows will be a distinct advantage. Experience in analyzing and debugging Tcl/TK, PYTHON, MySQL, PHP, PERL and LabVIEW code and routines will also be advantageous.

Together with excellent system analyst experience and ability, comprehensive verbal and written communications skills are essential.

To view a complete job description, salary, benefits and application instructions go to: http://utdirect.utexas.edu/pnjobs/pnjobs.WBX

Job Posting Number: 09-10-05-01-9322

Security sensitive position; conviction verification conducted on applicant selected.

The University of Texas at Austin is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

MECHANICAL ENGINEER
(RESEARCH ENGINEERING/SCIENTIST ASSOCIATE III)

The University of Texas McDonald Observatory seeks outstanding candidates for a new Mechanical Engineering position at the Observatory near Ft. Davis, West Texas. The successful candidate will work in a hands-on, operations team environment to engineer and design solutions supporting the operation and maintenance of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope's equipment and facility infrastructure.

The ideal candidate will have a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering (ME) and four years related experience in a hi-tech development and or operational environment. Hands-on experience in designing, building, and troubleshooting mechanical equipment and instrumentation is essential together with demonstrated competence with professional level engineering design software, machine tools and workshop equipment. Experience in opto-mechanical engineering including basic knowledge of optics will be a distinct advantage. All weather conditions and working at height (100 feet) are typical of the work environment. Together with excellent engineering design experience and ability, comprehensive verbal and written communications skills are essential.

To view a complete job description, salary, benefits and application instructions go to: http://utdirect.utexas.edu/pnjobs/pnjobs.WBX

Job Posting Number: 09-10-05-01-4209.

Security sensitive position; conviction verification conducted on applicant selected.

The University of Texas at Austin is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.