Agentic Systems Researcher

Department

Globus Labs

About the Department

Globus (www.globus.org) is a sustainable, non-profit unit within The University of Chicago delivering solutions to the research community worldwide. Globus develops and provides critical services that support scientific research for governmental, academic, and commercial organizations in a wide range of disciplines including life sciences, physics, and astronomy. We develop and operate commercial-quality, cloud-based software application and platform services used by 10s of thousands of researchers to manage their large–and growing–data management challenges. We have offices located at the NBC Tower in the heart of downtown Chicago and remote employees who work-from-home. Globus, together with Globus Labs, a research group within the University of Chicago, and part of the Data Science and Learning Division at Argonne National Labs, develop and deploy cutting edge technologies to solve new challenges facing the scientific community and enable break-through scientific discoveries.

Job Summary

As a member of the Globus team, the focus of this position will be to conduct research and development to 1) create agentic systems to address domain-specific problems in materials science, chemistry, biology, X-ray science and other domains, and 2) to deliver new software and services that will be used by thousands of researchers and will be seen as critical components of key US cross-agency data and AI for Science efforts and initiatives. We seek a candidate with specialized knowledge developing AI/ML solutions in the sciences, developing software to these challenges, working with high performance and distributed computing environments, working with large-scale machine learning models, and a proven research record of scholarly contributions through publications. The successful candidate will lead the development of agentic systems, working with a team of researchers and professional staff responsible for scientific research projects and research facilities; ensure compliance of research activities with institutional, state, and federal regulatory policies, procedures, directives, and mandates; manage the production of articles, reports, and manuscripts; and present research findings at meetings and/ or conferences. Further, the successful candidate will be responsible for independently initiating new efforts, in collaboration with the Globus and Globus Labs teams, from problem identification, to project conceptualization, successful proposal development, to implementation and delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of software infrastructure to support creation of agentic systems.

• Build relationships with other AI/ML and data infrastructure community efforts.

• Define key directions to keep UChicago at the forefront of AI/ML and national data infrastructure.

• Ensure compliance of research activities with institutional, state, and federal regulatory policies, procedures, directives, and mandates.

• Manage the production of articles, reports, and manuscripts.

• Present research findings at meetings and/ or conferences.

• Define and develop high-level research goals and initiatives, and manage the production of articles, reports, and manuscripts, as well as presentations of research findings at meetings and/ or conferences.

• Lead the definition and documentation of requirements, architecture and design of secure, scalable, asynchronous, agentic systems, based on knowledge of principles of API design, asynchronous processes, service deployment and delivering highly available services. Define technical direction, and provide leadership for product initiatives. Engage with other leaders in the organization to develop end-to-end architecture and high-level systems designs. Prepare plans to translate business requirements into well-designed applications while balancing user and business needs, technical competencies, industry developments, and time constraints. 

• Maintain a leadership role in the AI/ML and data infrastructure community. Build and maintain knowledge of relevant software technologies being developed and/or used in scientific and commercial communities; contribute to team coordination and development activities, including project planning, project reporting, and recruitment.

• Serves as a resource for collecting data and performing analysis. Facilitates and promotes a research project by providing scientific or intellectual information.

• Creates first drafts for scientific writing and publications, including protocols and grants.

• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a PhD in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science strongly preferred.

Experience:

• Experience leading the design, development and publication of innovative projects in AI/ML solutions.

• Experience building agentic systems and applying them to scientific problems.

• Proven record of scholarly accomplishment, e.g., evidenced by journal publications, research presentations,  open source software development and contributions.

• Experience training ML models using large-scale and specialized hardware.

• Relevant programming experience developing, implementing, debugging, and maintaining applications with Python.

• Experience training ML models using large-scale and specialized hardware.

• Experience working with high performance computers (e.g., parallelizing and distributing code).

• Experience in distributed data management and workflow systems.

Preferred Competencies

• Ability to work independently and within teams.

• Ability to work effectively across multiple projects.

• Excellent organizational skills and strong attention to detail.

• Demonstrated excellent oral and written communication skills.

Working Conditions

• Option available for remote work with occasional required attendance at in-person meetings.

• Occasional travel may be required.

Application Documents

• Resume/CV (required)

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Research

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Pay Rate Type

Salary

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FLSA Status

Exempt

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Pay Range

$125,000.00 - $165,000.00

The included pay rate or range represents the University’s good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible

Yes

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

 

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

 

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history.  A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment.  Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

 

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