Principal Software Engineer

Employment Type Full Time Salary Non Exempt TemporaryPermanent Permanent Deadline to Apply This application will remain open until 1159pm on Tuesday April 7 2026 Rate of Pay 7200000 9200000 commensurate with experience This wage band is set and not subject to negotiation Job Purpose The Principal Software Engineer will lead the design development and deployment of digital platforms supporting museum collections research driven data services and scientific registries including ZooBank the official registry of zoological nomenclature This position is responsible for architecting a modern stable and futureproof digital infrastructure that supports global research workflows persistent identifiers open data standards and high availability public access The Systems Engineer will design backend services APIs database structures search indexing authentication layers and a new public facing interface capable of supporting researchers curators taxonomists publishers collection managers and the broader scholarly community This role is central to transforming legacy systems into robust scalable and sustainable digital platforms that meet international standards for scientific data management long term preservation and open science Duties and Responsibilities Platform Architecture & System Design Design and build a completely new online framework for a museum or research registry platform including backend architecture relational databases and scalable web services Develop system requirements in consultation with domain experts curators researchers IT leadership and external partners Architect solutions that ensure high availability strong performance and long term sustainability for globally significant scientific and collections data Implement secure modular API driven infrastructure capable of integrating with publishers journals collection management systems aggregators and external registries Database & Data Model Development Design a modernized database schema to support collections data such as objects or specimens scientific names or concepts authors and agents publications events and persistent identifiers Migrate legacy data into the new platform with careful attention to data integrity provenance versioning citations and audit trails Implement automated quality checks validation rules and monitoring tools to ensure accuracy consistency and trustworthiness of records APIs & Interoperability Standards Develop RESTful APIs to support machine readable access system integrations and automated submission or registration workflows Implement interoperability using community and research data standards eg Darwin Core Dublin Core GBIF standards DOIPID frameworks ORCID Ensure the platform fully supports persistent identifiers ARK DOI LSID or successor PID technologies for long term reference and citation Frontend & User Experience Support Collaborate with UXUI designers to build an intuitive modern public facing portal enabling search browsing submission curation and data export Implement efficient search indexing eg Elasticsearch Solr optimized for scholarly queries and high volume access Ensure accessibility responsive design and WCAG compliance across user interfaces Security Reliability & Preservation Implement secure authentication role based access controls and audit trails for sensitive curated or controlled submissions Build redundancy backup routines and disaster recovery procedures to ensure uninterrupted public and research access Establish digital preservation strategies supporting long term sustainability fixity checking version tracking and archival integrity DevOps Deployment & Maintenance Manage cloud infrastructure containerization and CICD pipelines for continuous integration and deployment Monitor system performance uptime and error reporting; optimize platform stability and load handling Produce and maintain documentation covering system architecture workflows APIs and maintenance strategies Collaboration & Community Engagement Work with researchers curators publishers data networks and open science partners to align platform functionality with community needs Represent technical components of the platform in meetings workshops and collaborative projects Train staff and community users on new tools APIs and workflows Qualifications Required Qualifications Bachelors degree in Computer Science Information Systems Engineering or a related field or equivalent professional experience Minimum of 5 years of experience building and deploying largescale web platforms or data intensive systems Expertise with relational databases PostgreSQL preferred and database modeling Strong experience with backend development Nodejs Python Java or equivalent Experience architecting APIs and integrating with external systems Experience implementing search technologies Elasticsearch OpenSearch Solr Familiarity with cloud platforms AWS Azure or GCP containerization Docker and CICD workflows Experience building secure high availability high throughput systems Preferred Qualifications Experience with museum library or research data systems biodiversity informatics or scientific data standards Familiarity with global identifier systems DOI ORCID ARK LSID Knowledge of collections management taxonomy nomenclature or natural science data structures Familiarity with semantic web technologies linked data or ontology management Experience with long term digital preservation strategies and digital repositories Other Requirements The position is based on Oahu and requires regular on site presence for leadership and coordination of Museum operations Must be willing to work a flexible schedule including evenings and weekends to meet the needs of the organization and respond to operational priorities Direct Reports None Working Conditions Occasional evening or weekend work may be required to support system maintenance releases and ensure reliable uninterrupted operation of websites and systems Physical Requirements This position primarily involves sedentary work in an office environment and requires extended periods of sitting working at a computer and performing repetitive hand and wrist movements associated with typing and use of standard office equipment The role requires effective communication including speaking and hearing and sufficient visual acuity to perform detailed computer based work Occasional standing walking and movement between work areas may be required as well as the ability to lift and carry materials weighing up to 15 pounds Disclaimer The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by incumbents assigned to this job This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the responsibilities duties and skills required The incumbent may be expected to perform other duties as assigned Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities Please contact us at hrbishopmuseumorg or 808 848 4107 if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job or to perform your job Examples of reasonable accommodation include making a change to the application process or work procedures providing documents in an alternate format using a sign language interpreter or using specialized equipment Equal Opportunity Employer We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age ancestry citizenship or immigration status color disability ethnicity familial status gender identity andor expression genetic information marital status national origin race religion sex sexual orientation veteran status or any other protected status