Job Description

This competition is open to all applicants however; internal candidates and applicants who were former employees of the University of Alberta will be given priority consideration before external candidates. Please log in to verify your internal candidate status.

Location -This role is hybrid with a mix of remote and in-person.Work primarily takes place at North Campus, Edmonton.

Position Summary

Software Engineer for the Soda-Tap project, funded by the TMU-led CFREF Bridging Divides program.

Responsibilities

The incumbent will be responsible for the following software development activities.

Task1: Linking local services for seniors (obtained from the InformAlberta repository) with the platform.
The data is captured in the InformAlberta, and other databases are not consistently structured. Therefore, we will develop a systematic methodology and software tools to standardize the description of services so that they can be efficiently and effectively linked to the AVOID digital platform. This task involves:
(i) data cleaning
(ii) data alignment with a geographical model of Alberta and a conceptual/taxonomic
model of services, and
(iii) development of a multi-faceted user interface to query the repository, relying
on a conversational agent.

Task2: Evolution of the SoDa-TaP data-analysis platform.
SoDa-TaP imports social-platform posts in CSV format and process it through a data analysis and slicing and dicing pipeline. This task involves the following subtasks:
- extending the pipeline for CSVs from different social platforms, such as reddit and job postings from indeed, ziprecruiter, etc;
- integrating additional dictionaries for lexical analysis;
- integrating existing code for community analysis as an additional slicing function;
- integrating new agentic workflows, based on large language models, to link entities mentioned in the ingested data, such as, for example, service provider organizations, employers, and job postings, to posts on the online social platform.

The employee will regularly test the evolving platform based on a suite of data sets managed by Dr. Stroulia.

Qualifications

• BSc in Computer Science
• Documented coursework in Software Engineering, Machine learning, Algorithms & data structures, AI, Web Development
• Hands-on experience with as many of the following software tools and libraries as possible:

• D3JS, JavaScript, bootstrap, HTML, CSS and Webpack.
• Generative AI tools
• Python, PyTorch, Pandas, NumPy, TensorFlow

• Must have experience with testing environments
• Must have experience with auxiliary development tools such as modern IDEs, code repositories,
  collaborative software development tools, and the Unix command line.

This position is subject to all applicable terms and conditions of the collective agreement between the Governors of the University of Alberta and the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA).

This position offers a comprehensive benefits package.

About the Team

The Faculty of Science is internationally recognized for excellence in research and education. Through pioneering discovery and innovation, the faculty addresses global challenges across disciplines such as biology, chemistry, computing science, physics, mathematics, and earth sciences. Its work positions the university at the forefront of technological, environmental, and scientific advancement.