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At the Center for Open Science, we believe that transparent and reproducible research is better research, leading to better outcomes. Our mission is to make that a reality throughout the world of scholarly investigation.

 

We also believe in a fantastic work environment, awesome work-life balance, killer technology, and empowering our people to grow as professionals and people. Working at COS means that you’ll be surrounded by colleagues who are constantly striving to improve science and the tools that support it. We set high expectations for ourselves and are always trying to stay out in front of software and research trends. We are committed to quality design and architecture, an agile methodology, and contributing to the open-source community. Sound like you? Join us! 

COS is committed to building a research culture inclusive of all contributors and their skilled contributions. Please view the COS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement for details regarding how we maximize opportunity in our staffing, collaborative partnerships, and in the greater research community in order to advance research and technology.

Current Openings

Software Engineer

Background
The Center for Open Science (COS) is looking for an experienced software engineer to advance our mission of increasing the openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research.  We’re looking for someone to help us build new backend data models and API endpoints with opportunities to grow as a contributor to a user-facing Single-page Application (SPA) web app. In addition, we want someone with the experience to identify bottlenecks and optimize database throughput, code speed, and infrastructure reliability. The perfect candidate for this role has worked in the commercial software space for a while but would now like to use their engineering skill to positively impact the world. We are more interested in your communication skills, passion, and ability than we are in the specific technologies that you use. A great developer will be a great developer in any language.
 
Founded in 2013, COS is a non-profit organization that has pushed for meaningful change in the scientific community. We've initiated large-scale reproducibility studies, challenged the incentive models of science publication, and built the premier online framework for ensuring that science is open and available.  All of our software is free and open source, and we want to apply the same principles to science.
Responsibilities
  • Participate in planning and implementing new software features for the Open Science Framework (OSF)
  • Help triage customer issues and provide bug fixes
  • Support maintenance and refactoring of existing codebase
  • Provide reliable communication around progress and needs
  • Review code contributions of other engineers
Required skills
  • Experience with relational databases 
  • Great communication, including thoughtful listening skills, the ability to express complex ideas clearly and succinctly, and the ability to communicate well in writing
  • Demonstrate a mid-level understanding of at least one or more commonly used languages, such as Python, Ruby, Go, or JavaScript
  • Well versed in software design principles
  • Strong attention to detail
  • Ability to work independently, and passionate about software engineering concepts
Preferred skills
  • Extensive experience with relational databases, preferably PostgreSQL
  • Fluency in Python
  • Experience with Django and Django Rest Framework
  • Experience mentoring other engineers
  • Ability to make and drive technical decisions to completion
  • Experience with Front-end SPA frameworks is a plus
Core technologies we use
  • Back-End: Python, Django, Tornado, and Flask
  • Databases & Messaging: PostgreSQL, ElasticSearch, RabbitMQ
  • Authentication: CAS (Java)
  • Front-End: EmberJS and TypeScript
  • Google Cloud, Kubernetes, Jenkins, and Travis
Experience
  • 3 - 5 years experience in software development
Location
  • COS is located in Charlottesville, Virginia.
  • Open to remote work, except in Colorado
Benefits
  • 401(k) with employer match. COS offers a matching contribution of 100% up to 3% of pay and another 50% up to 5% of pay (the full match will be 4% if participants elect to defer 5%)
  • Health, dental, and vision insurance. COS covers 100% of employee premium and 50% of all dependent coverage costs under the base plan
  • 15 days vacation in year one in addition to paid holidays. Additional PTO days earned based on years of service. 
  • COS offers paid leave for up to three (3) months to all full-time, regular employees to care for their child after birth, after or during the adoption process, or to care for their spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition as well as for the employee’s own serious health condition.
  • Modern office space and other amenities with options for hybrid/remote work.
Applying
Please apply here by submitting a resume/CV as well as a one page cover letter that articulates your interest in COS and its mission as well as your software development experience, particularly with open source software and any contributions you may have made. Questions about the position and COS are welcome and can be directed to jobs@cos.io.
 
COS is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We also strongly encourage applications from members of groups underrepresented in science and technology industries. 

Director of Marketing and Communications

Background
The Center for Open Science is looking for a Director of Marketing and Communications to lead the design, development, and execution of a full-scale, multi-channel marketing and communications strategy. We seek an experienced marketing and communications leader who will work with the leadership team and members of our Product, Policy, Research, and Development/Fundraising teams to plan, execute, report, and iterate on high-quality marketing acquisition, awareness and advocacy campaigns, and retention strategies to engage target audiences in the use, development, and evaluation of our range of products, services, and community efforts.
 
The Director of Marketing and Communications will drive consistent focus on the most impactful strategies that can address a range of stakeholders across the research community with varied yet complementary use cases for our products, services, policy supports, and research. This leadership role will be responsible for setting the tone and vision for organizational communication and brand strategy, maintaining a strong pulse on industry trends and using market data and insights to translate opportunities into actionable campaigns. The role also directs public relations efforts, supporting COS’s position as a thought leader in metascience and change accelerant across open scholarship. If you are passionate about helping science to be more open, transparent, reproducible, and thus effective and efficient, and can apply relevant leadership experience to drive research culture change, we want to hear from you. 
 
Founded in 2013, COS is a non-profit organization that exists to improve the research culture. COS provides technology to make it possible and easy for researchers to increase rigor and transparency of their research; delivers education, training and services to change norms, incentives, and policies that shape the research culture, and conducts research to assess where friction is occurring in the research process and whether interventions to improve are working. We operate with transparency, openness, and inclusivity, and use the same principles as we enact change through our outreach and communication.
Responsibilities
  • Develop and lead the execution of the marketing and communications strategy for COS, inclusive of brand development, products and services marketing and promotions, philanthropic campaign efforts, thought leadership, and other key activities and initiatives in collaboration with stakeholders across the organization
  • Monitor and continuously improve outcomes against key performance indicators and related industry or domain-specific metrics 
  • Collaborate with Product, Development/Fundraising, Policy and Research teams to design and conduct customer, industry, and market research to support and inform strategies to meet organizational and team goals
  • Partner with leadership across the organization to strategize and manage a content calendar informed by performance and market data and that attracts a qualified audience (including webinars, blog posts, whitepapers, reports, infographics, etc.)
  • Create and oversee the annual and rolling marketing budget
  • Create, manage, and execute multi-channel marketing campaigns leveraging SEO, social, inbound marketing, stakeholder relations, email, campaigns, and events to drive customer acquisition
  • Optimize marketing automation and lead nurturing processes through integrated website workflows, email, content, and social channels
  • Collaborate with the leadership team on key organizational decisions to inform and guide the current and future direction of COS
  • Supervise and mentor new and existing marketing and communications staff
Required skills
  • Strategic leadership, initiative, and adaptability
  • Development of cross-organizational strategic marketing plans
  • Experience recruiting, motivating, and supervising staff 
  • Budget creation and management
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
  • Creative thinking and problem solving
  • Efficient organizational and time management skills
  • Data-driven, customer-centric, and research-oriented
  • Proficient in marketing automation
  • Proficiency in leveraging social media and other digital tools
  • Experience using HubSpot software and workflows or other integrated marketing platform
  • Knowledge of HTML/CSS, Adobe Creative Suite is ideal
Education and experience
  • Seven to ten years of marketing experience (public relations experience a plus)
  • Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or equivalent work experience
  • Background in nonprofit marketing and communications strategy
  • Familiarity with academic research stakeholders 
  • Understanding of and experience with open science a plus
Location
  • COS is located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Open to remote work, except in Colorado
Benefits
  • 401(k) with employer match. COS offers a matching contribution of 100% up to 3% of pay and another 50% up to 5% of pay (the full match will be 4% if participants elect to defer 5%)
  • Health, dental, and vision insurance. COS covers 100% of employee premium and 50% of all dependent coverage costs under the base plan
  • 15 days vacation in year one
  • COS offers paid leave for up to three (3) months to all full-time, regular employees to care for their child after birth, after or during the adoption process, or to care for their spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition as well as for the employee’s own serious health condition.
  • Modern office space and other amenities
Applying
Please apply here by submitting a resume, cover letter explaining your background and interest in the position, as well as a writing sample. Questions about the position and COS are welcome and can be directed to jobs@cos.io.
 
COS is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We also strongly encourage applications from members of groups underrepresented in science and technology industries. 

Where We Live

From hikes and rides atop the peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains, to navigating the taps of the BrewRidge Trail, Charlottesville boasts both urban culture and rural adventure. The pedestrian mall downtown offers local shopping, a range of restaurants from French fine dining to sushi rolls to take-away crepes, weekend farmer’s markets, and a music scene to suit tastes for both jazz piano and garage rock. Steeped with history, Charlottesville and the surrounding area offers many landmarks of its own. 

To branch out beyond the local without leaving the city, however, there are museums like the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum and the Special Collections Library at UVA. And, if you want to get out of town, DC is just two hours away and the state capital, Richmond, is a mere one-hour drive. See why the New York Times loves Charlottesville! Read this article in The Guardian about Charlottesville's great community. Or, check out the local events calendar.

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Our Work

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Research Software and Storage

COS has developed a variety of software tools and workflows based on our free Open Science Framework to help researchers manage and archive their research, privately or publicly. We work with a great technology stack and the latest tools. 

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Community Development

COS helps connect and build open science communities of researchers, their affiliated institutions, their funders, and the publishers of research outcomes.

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Metascience and Research

COS supports and conducts research on scientific practices. Our team members are thought leaders on open science and our tools serve as critical research platforms.

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Check out our Employee Manual and Policies and Procedures for more information.

Contact Us

Center for Open Science
210 Ridge McIntire Road
Suite 500
Charlottesville, VA 22903-5083
Email: contact@cos.io

Work With Us

Current positions are here. 

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COS has consistently earned a Guidestar rating of Platinum for its financial transparency, the highest rating available. You can see our profile on Guidestar here. 

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