HET Resident Astronomer, McDonald Observatory

Job Posting Title:

HET Resident Astronomer, McDonald Observatory

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Hiring Department:

McDonald Observatory

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Position Open To:

All Applicants

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Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

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FLSA Status:

Exempt

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Earliest Start Date:

Immediately

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue

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Location:

MCDONALD OBSERVATORY

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Job Details:

General Notes

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) is one of the world's largest optical telescopes, with its 10-meter mirror. It is optimized for spectroscopy, the decoding of light from stars and galaxies to study their properties. This makes it ideal for searching for planets around other stars, studying distant galaxies, exploding stars, black holes and more. The HET is a joint project of The University of Texas at Austin, The Pennsylvania State University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. See https://mcdonald.utexas.edu/research-facilities/HET.

The HET operates on a 24/7 schedule and is located at McDonald Observatory, 16 miles from Ft. Davis, Texas (440 miles west of the UT Austin campus). Frequent night, weekend, and holiday duties are required, along with occasional on-call responsibilities. Residence within the Observatory's residential community is available and may be required. This position may be subject to "call-back" as an essential employee for emergencies or critical responses. 

You must be eligible to work in the U.S. full-time and permanently for any employer without requiring sponsorship from the employer.

UT Austin, recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Large Employers, provides outstanding employee benefits and total rewards packages that include:

• Competitive health benefits (employee premiums covered at 100%, family premiums at 50%)

• Voluntary Vision, Dental, Life, and Disability insurance options

• Paid vacation, sick time, and holidays

• Teachers Retirement System of Texas, a defined benefit retirement plan with employer-matching funds

• Additional Voluntary Retirement Programs: Tax Sheltered Annuity 403(b) and a Deferred Compensation program 457(b)

• Flexible spending account options for medical and childcare expenses

Purpose

The resident astronomer (RA) acts as the on-site scientific observing specialist for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) at McDonald Observatory. The RA employs various facility instruments and has the opportunity to conduct personal research while contributing to the scientific community at McDonald Observatory.

Responsibilities

• Science Operations. Lead nightly science operations safely and efficiently from sunset to sunrise, selecting and executing observations of targets from the queue.  Observations are taken on facility instruments based on weather constraints and queue priorities as set by the principal investigator (PI) and Telescope Allocation Committee (TAC). Evaluate the scientific quality of all observations based on the needs of various research projects and communicate effectively with HET partner scientists. Verifies the integrity and quality of the observations and helps optimize the scientific productivity of the facility.

• Night Operations. Communicate with the telescope operator regarding scientific, facility, and weather constraints. Maintain accurate, professional, and clear night report and problem report logs. Foster a productive and efficient working environment.

• Engineering Operations. Conduct projects to characterize and/or improve night operations. Work with instrument scientists and engineering staff to support, maintain, and document the performance of the HET and its instruments. Coordinate with visiting and remote engineering staff to complete engineering, instrument commissioning, and observing goals. Provide support and advice to maximize observing run outputs. Monitor the condition of the facility’s science instruments. Document the current status of science operations and the facility through wikis and web pages.

• Day Operations. Support night operations by preparing the facility for science operations, including testing and calibrating equipment and software and communicating with the resident astronomer on night duty regarding the status of the facility and queue.

• Research Environment. Conduct personal research to become an active user of the observatory instruments and contribute to the scientific life at the observatory. Prepare and present scientific papers at astronomical meetings. Participate in outreach activities such as giving public talks, giving tours of the facility, and attending colloquiums.

• Administrative Operations. Work with other resident astronomers to maintain a fully staffed work schedule every night of the year. Attend general and night-time operation staff meetings. Keep accurate and updated time sheets and complete required training and paperwork in a timely manner. Perform other duties as assigned to meet business operations.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in astronomy or physics, or equivalent.

• Two years of instrumentation, observations, or data reduction experience with 1+m class telescopes collecting science-grade astronomical data.

• A strong demonstrated commitment to service astronomy.

• Research experience in any area of astronomy.

• At least two years of experience with a scientific programming language.

• Ability to organize and prioritize work and to meet deadlines and expectations.

• Self-driven individual with keen technical ability and a systematic and detail-oriented approach.

• Positive attitude, strong work ethic, and strong team player.

• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills. 

• Ability to communicate effectively at all scientific, engineering, and administrative levels.

• Ability to work efficiently and productively with small teams (listen, seek clarification, and take feedback) during time-critical science operations.

• Proficient computer skills.

• Ability to be adaptable, work independently, and as an integral member of a project team.

• Demonstrable good judgment.

• Competencies include accuracy and attention to detail, decision making and critical thinking, effective communication, initiative, interpersonal relationships, problem-solving, and service excellence.

• Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in astronomy or physics, or equivalent.

• Two years of instrumentation, observations, or data reduction experience working on 3+m class telescopes in optical and/or near infrared spectroscopy.

• Postdoctoral research experience and a strong track record of research outputs and publications.

• Capacity to oversee software development related to data acquisition, reduction, and analysis.

• Proficiency in using Linux operating systems; experience writing code in Python or C++.

• Ability to conduct personal research projects with the HET or other McDonald telescopes.

• A strong demonstrated commitment to service astronomy.

Salary Range

$68,000 + depending on qualifications and experience

Working Conditions

• Position is located at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, McDonald Observatory, Ft. Davis, Texas. If you do not live in the surrounding areas, you will need to relocate.

• May work in all weather conditions and extreme temperatures. McDonald Observatory is located at approximately 6900 ft. above sea level. Environmental conditions can be unpredictable; temperatures can range from -10˚F and +95˚F. Inclement winter weather can be expected, which requires comfortable driving in wintry conditions on mountain grades.

• Works around standard office conditions with repetitive use of a keyboard at a workstation.

• Use of manual dexterity.

• Climbing of stairs and ladders, free climbing on/around heavy equipment.

• Lifting and moving up to 35 pounds.

• Since we are a 24/7 operation, may be expected to work at all hours of the day or night, weekends or holidays (when needed and within limits) to serve the needs of the Observatory and specifically the HET.

• Staff living on-site in the residential community serve as essential employees and will participate as members of the McDonald Observatory's Emergency Response Team (ERT), responding to fires, medical emergencies, and other incidents that threaten or interfere with normal operations.

Work Shift

• Required to work extended hours (sunset to sunrise) and on-call

• Night, weekend, and holiday duty required

• Flexibility is essential, given that we operate 24/7/365

Required Materials

• Resume/CV

• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor

• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you can multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded.  Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left-hand navigation menu, and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled into your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) noted above.

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Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

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Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

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Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

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Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

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Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

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Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form.  You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States.  Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment.  Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

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E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

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Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.