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Open Positions at the Berkeley Seismology Lab
Software Engineer | Assistant Project Scientist | Network Engineer
Software Engineer (7300U)
Application Review Date
- The Next Review Date for this job is: September 12, 2025 - Open Until Filled
Position Description
The Berkeley Seismological Laboratory conducts essential research on earthquakes and solid earth processes while collecting and delivering high quality geophysical data. We provide robust earthquake and hazard information including real-time alerts to the public, in collaboration with our partners. We enable the broad consumption of earthquake information by everyone while educating and training students at all levels and from all backgrounds. This position exists for the development and support of back-end software (server-side) primarily for the MyShake Earthquake Early Warning application.
This is a 100% FTE, 2-year contract with the possibility for extension and/or conversion to career based on available funding.
Responsibilities
- 40%: Designs, develops, modifies, debugs, and evaluates code for backend services and real-time processes that support applications, primarily MyShake, as well as other BSL products.
- 15%: Develops and executes performance/integration testing and coordinated deployment of backend services, both cloud-based and on-premise.
- 15%: Provides analysis for the design and use of databases within the project, recommends and implements changes in development, maintenance and system standards, and understands industry practices and department policies and procedures relating to work assignments.
- 10%: Troubleshoots the overall health of back-end services and processes, assisting with operational support.
- 10%: Interacts with senior level internal personnel and meets with other team members, including the training and assisting of users in the use of custom administrative and research tools.
- 5%: Gathers, analyzes, prepares documentation.
- 5%: Other tasks as assigned.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in related area and / or equivalent experience / training.
- Good computer science fundamentals and programming concepts.
- Advanced skills in Scala/Java.
- Proficient knowledge of REST concepts, server-side distributed application programming concepts.
- Proficient knowledge of databases and messaging brokers (knowledge of SQL and Kafka desired).
- Demonstrated effective communication and interpersonal skills.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate technical information to technical and non-technical personnel at various levels in the organization.
- Self-motivated and works independently and as part of a team. Able to learn effectively and meet deadlines.
- Demonstrated broad problem solving skills.
Salary & Benefits
The budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position is $82,800 to $130,000 yearly. This is a 100% FTE, 2-year contract position eligible for benefits. This position is FLSA Exempt and paid monthly.
Apply Here
Software Engineer (7300U) - Berkeley Seismology Lab
Assistant Project Scientist (JPF05030)
Application Review Date
- The Next Review Date for this job is: August 30, 2025 11:59 pm (Pacific Time) - Open Until Filled
Position Description
The Global Seismology Research Group resides at UC Berkeley, within the Department of Earth and Planetary Science and the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory. Our research focuses on improving our understanding of the present day structure and internal dynamics of our planet, from the crust to the inner core, using seismic imaging approaches. We tackle the development and application of new methods for the computation of the seismic wavefield in complex 3D media, with a focus on complex structure in the deep mantle, and for tomographic imaging of elastic and anelastic structure using full waveform inversion (FWI), at the global and regional scale. For our applications, we make use HPC supercomputing facilities at NERSC and ACCESS. One of our recent interests is in the development and implementation of "Box Tomography", i.e. how to perform FWI of remote target regions in the deep earth at the short periods relevant to teleseismic observations, while keeping the computational cost manageable.
One of our more exotic research directions concerns the Earth's "hum" and the insights it brings to ocean/atmosphere/solid earth interactions. In order to better understand the chemical and thermal state of the mantle and the processes operating therein, we also seek to apply the latest findings of the mineral physics community within the context of our seismic probing and geodynamic modeling.
We also have an interest in the of study earthquake source mechanisms and scaling laws, as well as global seismic moment release and its relation to plate tectonics. Our research is supported through a variety of sources, mostly through grants from NSF.
The incumbent will implement a scalable version of the Distributed Finite Difference Method (DFDM, Masson, 2023; Masson and Virieux, 2024; Masson et al., 2024) for seismic wave propagation in a global 3D elastic and attenuating Earth, for implementation in the new HPC facility “Doudna” at NERSC (National Energy Research Scientific Computing center). They will coordinate with collaborators at NERSC on this project and test and benchmark the new code against the Spectral Element Method, specifically the widely used and optimized SPECFEM3D_Globe code. They will also add features necessary for the application to real case scenarios (moment tensor source, anelastic attenuation) and demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy for deep earth modeling applications.
The candidate will participate in the development of an azimuthally anisotropic shear velocity model of the extended upper mantle transition zone in the southwest Pacific using full waveform inversion and shear wave splitting data. Additionally, the candidate will be expected to attend conferences, participate in developing grant proposals/reports and authoring or co-authoring technical papers.
Basic Qualifications (required at time of application)
- PhD or equivalent international degree
Preferred Qualifications
- PhD in Geophysics
- At least 4 years experience in quantitative seismology beyond the PhD.
- Experience with numerical methods for the computation of the seismic wavefield.
- Evidence for the successful development of methodologies for the computation of the seismic excitation and propagation of seismic waves in 3D visco-elastic and acoustic media and in particular handling solid-solid and solid-fluid boundaries with topography.
- Experience with the use of the spectral element SPECFEM suite of codes.
- Experience with seismic velocity imaging techniques.
Application Requirements
Document Requirements
- Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.
- Research Statement - Please discuss research accomplishments and proposed plans. This can include, for example, your publication record, awards, presentations, inclusive research practices that promote the excellence of your research, and areas for future research.
Reference Requirements
- 3 required (contact information only)
Apply Here:
Project Scientist (JPF05030) - https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05030
Help Contact: emartinez24@berkeley.edu
Network Engineer (7566U)
Application Review Date
- The First Review Date for this job is: September 16, 2025 - Open Until Filled
Position Description
The Berkeley Seismology Lab (BSL) operates a large seismic and geophysical network across northern California to collect, analyze, and archive data, for the purposes of earthquake monitoring, early warning and scientific research. In collaboration with the USGS Earthquake Management Project, the BSL jointly operates the northern California component of the USGS Advanced National Seismic System to provide public earthquake information, earthquake early warnings (ShakeAlert system/MyShake app), and long-term earthquake monitoring. For these and other related projects, the BSL is also responsible for training, education, and outreach activities.
BSL operates a network of continuous real-time data collection from remote geophysical stations to centralized processing and archival. Networking infrastructure, with equipment ranging from routers and switches to cellular modems and digital radios, operates across diverse environments, ranging from inside data centers to last-mile station telemetry. Data paths include cellular, radio, microwave, WiFi, Ethernet, and VPN tunnels. This position exists to ensure the performance and resiliency of networking infrastructure, which is vital to earthquake early warning, earthquake monitoring and scientific research.
This is a 100% FTE, 2-year contract with the possibility for extension and/or conversion to career based on available funding.
The primary responsibilities for this position are:
- 30%: Leads the design, specification, configuration, installation, management and troubleshooting of data communications equipment for the flow of data from approximately 200 geophysical field stations to, between, and within multiple data centers, both on-prem and in the cloud. This includes equipment such as cell modems, digital radios, routers/switches, microwave networking infrastructure, and cloud technologies. Oversees, configures, secures, manages, and troubleshoots data communication (ex. Ethernet, T1s, microwave links, VPNs, firewalls, etc.) with outside partners and the public. Develops and implements monitoring and diagnostic tools, software, and procedures.
- 20%: Troubleshoots throughout the data communications network, interacting with a diverse set of contacts, collaborators and service providers to resolve problems. Troubleshooting responsibilities include the hardware, software and security of equipment in the field and data center, but also includes problems with data communications service providers, such as telemetry outages. Reviews and responds to network performance degradation, bandwidth usage, and data flow issues.
- 15%: Oversees, configures, secures, manages and troubleshoots data communications hardware and software within the data center, including redundant VPN gateways, routers, and switches. Works directly with vendor/manufacturer/technical support to isolate and resolve complex hardware and software issues. Configures and troubleshoots systems that support network services.
- 15%: Consults with other units and outside collaborators on planning, implementation and security for jointly used data communications systems. Works with outside partner organizations and stakeholders to ensure compatibility & conformance with their standards for data paths that cross their networks. Participates in cross-functional group discussions, activities and efforts. Provide advice and guidance on data communications infrastructure. Provides expert advice to users/units on data communication issues.
- 15%: Collaboratively reviews with other staff the data flow needs of the organization. Coordinates all phases of multiple, complex network projects: planning, design, procurement, implementation and documentation of completed infrastructure, including maps, figures, and updating database records. Evaluates and tests new, or enhanced, data communications electronics and services, including for security, reliability, robustness, and performance. Explores, develops and manages options for redundant communications paths from remote stations.
- 5%: Other tasks as assigned.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in related area and / or equivalent experience / training.
- Thorough understanding of various network hardware platforms, network related protocols and software including understanding of OSI layer 3 protocols and layer 2 protocols at a complex level and related technical standards critical to the operation of interconnected networks.
- In-depth experience with network diagnostic and performance management tools and software, including proactive monitoring and resiliency assessments.
- Thorough and broad knowledge and experience working with network management systems, including configuration revision control, automating tasks, and remote deployments.
- Ability to gather, organize and analyze data in the completion of a variety of functional assignments.
- Able to learn effectively and meet deadlines.
- Demonstrated ability to communicate technical information to technical and non-technical personnel at various levels in the organization.
- Self-motivated and works independently and as part of a team.
- Demonstrated diverse problem-solving skills.
Salary & Benefits
The budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position is $100,000 to $150,000 yearly ($8,333.33 to $12,500.00 monthly). This is a 100% FTE, 2-year contract position eligible for benefits. This position is FLSA Exempt and paid monthly.
Job Location
Berkeley, CA