Senior Developer

The University of Southern California (USC) Information Technology Services is seeking a Senior Developer to design, develop, and advance software solutions that support USC’s technology and research community. This is a hands-on opportunity to solve complex technical problems, build scalable applications, automate workflows, and help shape technology that supports researchers working in increasingly sophisticated computing environments.

You’ll play an important role in USC’s expanding secure computing initiative, including development of the user portal that will support researchers working with sensitive and regulated data. The broader environment is being developed to serve research projects with heightened security and compliance requirements, creating an opportunity to build technology with meaningful university-wide impact.

Working with ITS colleagues and university stakeholders, you’ll translate business and technical requirements into reliable software features and services. You’ll also partner closely with research data expertise on the team to turn complex research workflows into streamlined digital processes, reducing manual steps and making secure computing services easier for researchers to navigate.

If you enjoy building software, untangling complex systems, improving how technology works for users, and serving as a senior technical resource to others, this is an opportunity to bring your engineering expertise to technology that enables USC’s research and institutional mission.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Work closely faculty, researchers, and stakeholders on the campus, translating scientific goals into high-quality SW applications.

• Design and develop web applications, workflow, and data pipelines in HPC and Cloud environment in collaboration with research teams.

• Integrate ML/AI tools and technologies into SW development workflow to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and performance of services.

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable software applications and solutions that perform reliably upon implementation and can evolve with changing university and business requirements.

• Translate business requirements and technical specifications into effective software features and services in partnership with ITS and university stakeholders.

• Develop and enhance technology supporting USC’s secure computing initiative, including user portal functionality and automated workflows defined in partnership with research data and technical teams.

• Embed security standards, procedures, quality analysis, testing, and university compliance requirements into software development workflows and solutions.

• Lead troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement efforts to identify system issues, resolve defects, and improve application performance and reliability.

• Support project and task planning, technology standards, process improvements, and customer-focused solutions aligned with ITS objectives and university needs.

• Mentor and guide team members and peers by sharing technical expertise, problem-solving methodologies, frameworks, training resources, and current industry best practices.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.

• Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education.

• 5 years in information technology, software development, engineering, or relevant fields.

• Experience with ML/AI integration (working with LLM APIs, embeddings, and vector DB), experience with serverless cloud architecture.

• Proficiency in web programming with modern frameworks (React, Next.js, Angular, and Django, etc.), Knowledge of web security best practices.

• Foundational knowledge of security concepts, secure code development techniques, and the development and configuration of software solutions.

• Ability to understand and work with large, complex systems, write test cases for new and existing code to ensure compatibility and stability, and provide detailed information and summaries to peers and supervisors.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, and the ability to establish strong, positive working relationships and rapport with various groups of team members.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, or a related field.

• Eight years of experience in information technology, software development, engineering, or relevant fields.

• Demonstrated experience developing, maintaining, and supporting scalable software applications within large, complex technology environments.

• Expe