Lead Mobile Software Engineer

Lead Mobile Software Engineer (Remote/Hybrid)

About the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a tech-centered conservation organization with a mission to advance the understanding and protection of birds and biodiversity. By engaging millions of people across the globe who watch birds, producing scientific and technical resources, and partnering across governments, non-profits, and industry we are working to solve big environmental challenges. We rely on a small, dedicated team of engineers to curate more one billion bird sightings, and take creative approaches to building apps that help communities in all corners of the globe connect to birds and monitor bird populations.

The Opportunity

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is seeking a highly motivated mobile app developer to advance Merlin Bird ID and eBird apps that reach more than three million active users a month. This role will lead and direct an engineering team to design, implement, and maintain complex mobile applications for the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (CLO), external customers, and funding agencies. The Lead Mobile Software Engineer will be expected to: 1) manage software engineering projects with multiple, concurrent development efforts, interact with both internal and external customers and architect application solutions, 2) serve as a primary technical liaison between internal engineering teams, supporting coordination and integration of application infrastructure to meet strategic objectives, 3) supervise technical staff, conduct performance reviews, and mentor engineering team members, 4) develop applications in Swift, Objective-C, Java, and/or Kotlin, and 5) participate actively in the design and evolution of CLO technical infrastructure and hosting platforms, including the transition to more scalable, agile, cloud-based systems.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is an inclusive community, and we recognize that diverse, inclusive communities create more innovative and impactful work to address global challenges and benefit humanity and nature. The Cornell Lab is committed to fostering a healthy workplace that values diverse perspectives and backgrounds as well as supporting growth and advancement opportunities. The Lab welcomes staff who are still learning in their careers and who are motivated to take on new challenges.

What We Need

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and five (5) to seven (7) years relevant experience in mobile app development.
• Must be experienced leading an app development team in collaboration with product managers.
• Java and/or Python experience, including knowledge of numpy, pandas, Tensorflow, and/or Pytorch.
• Extensive Linux command line experience; comfortable with ssh, scp, rsync, parallel.
• Experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Experience with databases, both sql and non-sql.
• Demonstrated experience in managing complex information technology projects, including needs assessment, team organization, definition of standards and workflows, task planning and tracking, establishment of realistic goals, and delivery of products on time and within budget.
• Experience defining project requirements, including hardware and software.
• Experience designing, coding, testing, debugging, documenting, and integrating complex applications.
• Manage highly available production infrastructure with parallel systems for development and testing, and to perform or oversee installation, migration, and version management of all enterprise components.
• Strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Clearly communicate complex technical issues to leadership team, and to participate effectively as needed in management meetings at all levels.
• Work both independently and collaboratively.
• Build working relationships to solve problems and achieve common goals.
• Must be able to handle multiple concurrent tasks and priorities, and adapt to changing priorities, situations and demands.
• Create and foster an environment that fosters diversity, equity, and inclusion in all endeavors.

* A cover letter and resume are required for further consideration for this position.

* No Visa Sponsorship is available for this position.

* This position can be fully-remote or based in Ithaca, New York with hybrid work flexibility.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree preferred with more than seven (7) years’ experience.
• Prior use and thorough understanding of Merlin, eBird, or other Cornell Lab tools and resources.
• Understanding of and interest in conservation, birds, bird monitoring protocols, and related vocabulary.
• Experience with the following enterprise components: we