Software Engineer, Penn Wharton Budget Model

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn's distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America's Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title
Software Engineer, Penn Wharton Budget Model

Job Profile Title
Application Architect

Job Description Summary
Wharton School Overview
Founded in 1881 as the world's first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With campuses in both Philadelphia and San Francisco, Wharton has over 850 staff, a faculty population of more than 235 renowned professors, and 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year 13,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education's individual, company-customized, and online programs. More than 104,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. Wharton is home to a dynamic community of staff, bringing a wide range of skills, experiences, and perspectives. To learn more, visit www.wharton.upenn.edu.

The Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM) is a non-partisan, research-based initiative that provides analysis to policymakers to assess the effects of policy on budgetary outcomes (government revenues and costs) and various economic variables. PWBM's work is widely cited and has been influential in many key recent policy discussions, including tax reform, infrastructure, budget reconciliation, pre-K education, paid family leave, universal income, debt, Social Security, and health care. The PWBM team consists of roughly 30 Ph.D. economists, policy analysts, research analysts, software engineers, and developers.

PWBM uses micro- and macro-economic models to analyze and forecast the impact of policies on budgetary outcomes and other economic variables for policymakers. Large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations are performed with structural microeconomic models, and their results are aggregated into an overlapping generations (OLG) model for longer-term dynamic forecasting and distributional analysis. Models are frequently updated to reflect the latest economics and empirical research. The PWBM software stack is mostly written in Python. Some of the models require large datasets to calibrate them, and some rely on computationally expensive techniques for forecasts.

The Software Engineer works closely with a team of economists responsible for improving and maintaining the OLG model which adds dynamic behavior to macroeconomic forecasts by allowing households, corporations, and government to optimize their behavior based on planned policy changes. The Software Engineer receives guidance from domain experts to ensure a thorough understanding of the economic model, and they must communicate effectively with the team to debug the model.

The OLG model codebase is technically challenging and computationally demanding. For example, it solves dynamic programming problems with GPU acceleration to make forecasts within a reasonable amount of time. The Software Engineer improves the OLG model codebase by enhancing features and improving the design to make it more readable, efficient, and capable of simulating policy analyses more quickly. They model and champion best practices in software engineering-such as adopting better tools, automated testing, and continuous integration-within the team. Finally, they perform limited project management (e.g. create a short- and long-term roadmap) in conjunction with the OLG team leader and the Director of Engineering and Data; and serve as a mentor to junior engineers, research analysts, economists and graduate students regarding proper software engineering practices.

More information about the existing team and projects can be found here: https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/

*Position contingent upon continued available funding

Job Description

DUTIES:

• Implement new features to the OLG model. Understand cutting-edge models from academic literature, with help from domain experts, and translate them into efficient and maintainable code. This requires knowledge in (or the ability to learn) macroeconomics, a good foundation in (optimization) algorithms, and the ability to effectively parallelize code, in addition to proficiency in Python and general software engineering skills.
• Improve software quality for non-functional requirements, such as readability and performance. The Software Engineer will be responsible for maintaining high standards around code quality via improving design, pair programming, code reviews, etc. The code should take advantage of parallel processing to run efficiently. We expect that the run time will be reduced over time as (s)he improves the parallel-processing approach.
• Implement best practices in software engineering within the OLG team. This includes training team members, adopting helpful tools, automated testing, code reviews, pair programming, and continuous integration
• Perform project management, such as building short- and long-term roadmaps, with the OLG team leader and the Director of Engineering and Data.
• Mentor junior engineers, research analysts, economists, and graduate students.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Required:

• A bachelor's degree in a relevant field, such as computer science, software engineering, economics, public policy, or mathematics, and 3-5 years experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
• More than 2-years experience building software professionally after the bachelor's degree in either academia or industry is required.
• The ability to understand mathematical models (based on difference or differential equations) is required.
• Ability to communicate (written and oral) effectively with engineers and highly educated stakeholders in non-engineering fields is required.
• Basic knowledge in mathematical optimization (e.g. first-order optimality, gradient descent algorithms, and basic linear or nonlinear programming) is required.
• Object-oriented programming experience is required.
• Experience in parallelizing code is required.

Preferred:

• An advanced degree in economics or public policy or experience working directly with economists or in an economics-related application is strongly preferred.
• Experience with modern software-engineering best practices, e.g. automated testing, pair programming, and continuous integration is preferred.
• Experience working with highly numerical software (e.g. code written for data science) is highly preferred.
• Knowledge in economic growth models is preferred.
• Advanced knowledge in optimization, such as convex optimization and dynamic programming is preferred.
• Experience in GPU-based code acceleration, Apache Spark, or MPI is preferred.
• A deep knowledge of Python is preferred.
• Experience with DevOps is preferred.

Job Location - City, State
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Two-year position subject to renewal based on the discretion of faculty director and available funds

Department / School
Wharton School

Pay Range
$100,000.00 - $165,000.00 Annual Rate
Salary offers are made based on the candidate's qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, and in alignment with salary ranges based on external market data for the job's level. Internal organization and peer data at Penn are also considered.

Equal Opportunity Statement

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin (including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics), citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any class protected under applicable federal, state or local law.

Special Requirements
Background checks may be required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

University Benefits

• Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts: Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family's health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.
  
• Tuition: Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits. You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.
  
• Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn's Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.
  
• Time Away from Work: Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family-whatever your personal needs may be.
  
• Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you're newly hired, you won't have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting.
  
• Wellness and Work-life Resources: Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That's why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance.
  
• Professional and Personal Development: Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally.
  
• University Resources: As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University's libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There's always something going on at Penn, whether it's a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you're right in the middle of the excitement-and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free.
  
• Discounts and Special Services: From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks.
  
• Flexible Work Hours: Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures.
  
• Penn Home Ownership Services: Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements.
  
• Adoption Assistance: Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household.
  

To learn more, please visit: https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay


Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin (including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics), citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any class protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.
To apply, visit https://wd1.myworkdaysite.com/en-US/recruiting/upenn/careers-at-penn/job/3440-Market-Street/Software-Engineer--Penn-Wharton-Budget-Model_JR00105884









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