Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions. We thrive on finding and cultivating talented people who are passionate about what they do. Join us and be a part of the diverse Caltech community.
Job Summary
IPAC at the California Institute of Technology invites applications for one or more Quality Assurance Scientists to work on the Near-Earth Object Surveyor (NEOS) program. NEOS is a NASA Planetary Defense mission, scheduled for launch in late 2027, that will detect, track, and characterize solar system small bodies that pose a hazard to the Earth. The NEOS observatory consists of a passively cooled 50 cm telescope located near Sun-Earth L1 equipped with a wide-field camera that will image the sky simultaneously in two mid-infrared bands. NEOS will detect approximately 200,000 Main Belt Asteroids, NEOs, and comets each day against a background of hundreds of millions of distant stars and galaxies.
IPAC is developing and will operate the NEOS Survey Data System (NSDS) that ingests raw data from the flight system, processes those data into calibrated images and source detections, performs automated searches for moving solar system objects, assesses the quality of the survey data, and distributes data products to NASA archives and the user community. The NSDS QA Scientists will be part of the Team who are the final arbiters for the daily NEOS data processing, and who vet the NEOS data products prior to their release to the user community.
Essential Job Duties
As a Quality Assurance Scientist, you will report to the NSDS Lead Scientist and Lead Quality Assurance Scientist. Your duties will include:
The Quality Assurance Scientists are expected to be active participants in the general activities of the IPAC Staff, and to conduct a research program that ideally makes use of data from the NEO Surveyor mission.
Basic Qualifications
Preferred Qualifications
Besides these basic qualifications, there are a set of skills and experience that will enhance your contributions as the NEOS Quality Assurance Scientist. The following might give you a head start, but even if these don’t describe you or your experience, we would still like to hear from you.
Required Documents
IPAC, part of the Physics, Math, and Astronomy Division at Caltech (www.caltech.edu), partners with NASA, NSF, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, operated for NASA by Caltech), and the world-wide research community to advance exploration of our universe. IPAC provides science operations, user support, data and archive services, and scientific vision to maximize discovery with observatories both in space and on the ground. Scientists at IPAC have access to Palomar Observatory and other research facilities.
$71,000 - $105,500 Per Year
The salary of the finalist(s) selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to, internal equity, experience, education, specialty and training.
As one of the largest employers in Pasadena, CA, Caltech is committed to providing comprehensive benefits to eligible employees and their eligible dependents. Our benefits package includes competitive compensation, health, dental, and vision insurance, retirement savings plans, generous paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick time, parental leave, bereavement, etc.), tuition reimbursement, and more. Non-benefit eligible employees will have access to some benefits such as onsite counseling and sick time. Learn more about our benefits and staff perks.
We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Caltech is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.
To read more Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) go to eeoc_self_print_poster.pdf.
If you would like to request an accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to Caltech Recruiting at employment@caltech.edu.