Job description: Profs. Stefano DellaVigna (UC Berkeley) and Eva Vivalt (University of Toronto) are looking to hire a senior software developer with web development experience to take the lead in updating and expanding the
Social Science Prediction Platform (SSPP) at scale. The SSPP facilitates the collection and cataloging of forecasts of research results. It uses the Qualtrics API to integrate surveys programmed in Qualtrics on the SSPP interface and a relational database to connect survey responses to project objects and user data such as contact information, demographics, and preferences. The platform generates complex, large data sets which must be kept confidential.
The developer must have work authorization in Canada or the United States.
The SSPP requires significant extensions and updates to efficiently scale up, including:
- Improving the usability and navigability of the database structure for users with admin privileges;
- Improving navigability of the project catalog;
- Improving the visual presentation of survey results;
- Automated notification to respondents according to their preferences and past completion of forecasting surveys;
- Ensuring the Qualtrics and Sendgrid APIs continue to function well with evolvingĀ platform features;
- Enabling users to edit Qualtrics .qsf files dynamically online;
- Implementing a secure single sign-on system in collaboration with external platforms;
- Developing a systemized approach to measuring the accuracy of forecasts and providing these accuracy measures to forecasters;
- Developing a system to automatically pay forecasters according to their performance and ensuring the security of this system;
- Identifying and merging duplicate accounts;Ā
- Building a dynamic āleaderboardā to publicly reward forecasters that provide accurate forecasts.
Required qualifications:
- Experience with Python/Django/JavaScript (we use Django/Jinja2 as our main framework);
- Experience with DevOps (we use Docker locally for development and deploy using Heroku, though we would also like the developer to be responsible for migrating the site to AWS);
- Ability to design and work with REST APIs (e.g., our platform calls Qualtrics APIs to work with survey data, and SendGrid APIs to enable communication with users and stakeholders);
- Experience with database management, specifically Postgres;Ā
- Excellent understanding of architectural frameworks and data warehousing to design solutions for large, complex data sets;
- Excellent SQL and data manipulation skills;
- Experience with SSO providers;
- Experience developing secure payment systems;
- Back-end development experience, including experience building the back-end of a database or website in which datasets are being queried, manipulated, and transferred to users;
- Front-end development experience (e.g., building out intuitive user interfaces, SSR, React, cross-origin communication);
- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to assess and communicate technical challenges and design decisions.
Preferred qualifications:
- Some understanding of empirical economic/data science methods;
- Commitment to producing clean, well-documented code (e.g., as evidenced by public GitHub repos).
Start date: as soon as possible
Location:
- Option to work remotely: meetings during U.S. Pacific Time hours
- Option to work in Berkeley, CA or Toronto, ON
- Must have legal ability to work in the United States or CanadaĀ
Competitive salary.
How to apply: please e-mail a CV/resume and expression of interest to Eva Vivalt at
eva.vivalt@utoronto.ca with the subject line ādeveloper applicationā.