Software Developer IV

[Texas_Community_Watershed_Part]

Houston (Clear Lake), TX • Full-time • Product Team

Position will be open until filled. Interviews will be scheduled on a rolling basis.

8 years of progressively responsible software developer experience.

Key words: urban planning, scenario planning, geospatial tools, mapping applications, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), data visualization, ESRI, ArcMap, Arc PRO.

Job Location: Houston-Clear Lake, TX. Optional full-time remote but must reside in Texas.

Salary range: $107,000-$120,480.

TO APPLY

Please send a resume or CV, a cover letter, and a three-page writing sample to crystal.lugo@ag.tamu.edu to apply. 

Position Description – Software Developer

Are you passionate about programming for ArcGIS platforms? Would you like to create projects that have a tangible impact? Interested in making a difference for communities and decision makers across the nation?

For more than a decade, the TCWP team has provided in-person mapping workshops using scenario planning and mapping technologies to provide an interactive, collaborative experience. These are designed for community staff, elected officials, and decision makers to engage in data driven, ‘what-if’ analysis of future land development scenarios. TCWP provides urban planning, hazard mitigation, and disaster recovery planning, consulting, and education for communities across the State of Texas and beyond. Our work focuses on practices that foster stakeholder-led, collaborative, and holistic solutions to reduce risks from flood and other hazards.

As a software developer with the Texas Community Watershed Partners Program (TCWP) you will help shape the next generation of community planning support software and applications. This is an outstanding opportunity for an early-career, very sharp, “T-shaped” (multi-talented) software application developer with strong professional skills and entrepreneurial spirit to contribute to a small, energetic team developing state-of-the-art solutions.

TCWP recently became the home to CommunityViz™ software, an award-winning GIS software providing a platform for planners and citizens to learn and make choices about the places they love. This software empowers GIS analysts and planners to generate complex, custom and highly accurate urban analytics, including scenarios, suitability analysis, build out potential, impact analysis, and more. CommunityViz™ supports geospatial planning and research efforts, and the software requires complex and challenging software needs.

YOUR ROLE

The Software Developer role will provide technical knowledge and in-house programming support for the evolution of a legacy commercial full-stack GIS desktop software transition to a new platform. The current environment is .NET and C# for the desktop environment and JavaScript for the web environment. As you are on-boarding, the legacy programming team will provide consult support to assist your examination and orientation to the legacy software.

You will lead the development of features and tools for this next generation planning applications. The software developer will assist in gathering requirements, support automation of data processing, implement geostatistical reporting and data visualizations for desktop and web environments. Working with our Product Team, the software developer will continue development of our open-source geospatial planning software to expand capabilities and refine code to take advantage of recent technical upgrades available through the ArcPro platform. This will be an exciting opportunity to work on complex and interactive data visualizations, use open-source geospatial and wrapper tools, and develop novel spatial algorithms for use in JavaScript.

The application will utilize an open framework modeling approach with wizard-led analytical capability to provide customized data visualization and urban planning scenarios.

YOUR SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

We are seeking a highly organized, solutions-oriented candidate with excellent communication and strong analytical skills. The candidate should be highly motivated, and detail oriented with successful and demonstrable experience in designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise applications and solutions in a structured programming environment. The candidate should have strong spatial conceptual, analytical, and reasoning abilities, with excellent written and oral communication skills. Candidates should be adaptable to the growth of the team and work well in virtual teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and maintenance of existing and new GIS applications that support community and residential planning.
• Create elegant and scalable software.
• Prepares reports on product programming activities.
• Contributes to other aspects of the product lifecycle, including planning, architecture, design, testing, documentation, and release.
• Review of contractual submissions supporting product development, beta testing, validation of completeness, and verification that scope of work and product intent has been met.
• Take initiative to solve complex development problems.
• Provide Tier 2 technical support for users.
• Be a founding team member, with the opportunity to guide our product, our culture, and the overall business.
• Use your passion for technology and solving users’ problems to drive product outcomes.
• As a member of the product team, collaboratively develop overall product vision, strategy, and roadmap.

Qualifications

Prior commercial development experience is highly desired. Additional criteria to include:

• BS in computer science, engineering, geography, GIS, or related field.
• 8+ years in developing applications, including 4+ years of experience developing applications with C# or VB .NET, and/or JavaScript.
• Strong knowledge of object-oriented design principles and Agile development approaches.
• Attention to detail and knowledge of software best practices.
• ArcGIS API for Python
• ArcGIS Pro or Enterprise SDK
• Experience developing custom applications/extensions with Esri’s ArcGIS ArcObjects, ArcGIS Pro SDK, or Esri’s JavaScript API/ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript. Experience with other Esri SDKs/APIs will also be considered.

Additional Desired Skills

• Knowledge of Esri products
• Experience in commercial-quality application development.
• Work with ArcGIS APIs such as Python, JavaScript, or REST.
• Experience with formats such as GeoJSON and some experience working with GeoTIFF or other geospatial raster formats preferred but not required.
• Knowledge of WPF/MVVM design patterns.
• Experience or past contribution to open-source projects on GitHub preferred, but not required.
• Familiarity with testing, such as writing tests for Python web applications using Pytest (or similar).
• Machine Learning or Natural Language Processing methodologies
• Artificial intelligence and ChatGPT API(s)
• C++ programming language
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Leaflet or MapBox GL
• Core areas of expertise in one or more of the listed fields: Digital Transformation, SaaS (software as a service), Low-Code/No-Code solutions, Emerging Technologies, Data analytics and Visualization, Information Assurance, Cloud Solutions, and Business Process Re-Engineering.

OUR PRODUCT TEAM

The newly formed product team will update and refine scenario planning technologies to support community and user-led workflows for planning, mitigation, project identification and impact assessments for both desktop and online applications. The product team members will collaborate to generate product development strategies, engage a broad array of stakeholders and users, develop requirements, identify prototype and incremental revision releases.

The product team is still forming. Multiple roles will be filled to support the expansion of our capabilities and team, and these roles include program director, project director, urban analyst, product manager, data engineer, business analyst, communications specialist, and operations support staff. A mix of in-house and contracted development work is envisioned to meet our team objectives.

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

Texas Community Watershed Partners (TCWP) provides urban planning, hazard mitigation and disaster recovery planning, consulting, and education for communities across the State of Texas. Our approaches focus on practices that foster collaboration and holistic solutions to reduce risks from flood and other hazards.

We engage the resources of Texas A&M University, AgriLife Extension Services, the Disaster Assessment & Recovery, other academic teams, State, and Federal agencies to aid and support community planning and preparedness – assessing impacts of development, identifying mitigation, and climate adaptation strategies.