Open source project manager (part time)

Open source project manager (part time) Overview Lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer death, and early detection is the most promising avenue to reduce the harm caused by this disease. Recent advances in machine learning and in particular image processing are making early detection significantly more reliable by helping radiologists to more accurately analyze CT scans. However, these advances are still limited to experimental code, for instance the open algorithms recently developed in association with the ​Data Science Bowl​. We are working with the Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) to launch a new kind of online challenge: an open source software development ​project​ with $100,000 in prize money to incentivize participation. The goal is to take promising machine learning models and develop a usable tool which can assist radiologists in detecting abnormal tissue and minimize false positives. This will be an exciting, fast-paced project where participation from many experts across different domains jumpstarts a new tool for clinicians. Like all open source projects, strong leadership and design vision — along with hands-on, detail oriented day-to-day management — is absolutely crucial to success. For this reason, we are looking for a part-time employee or contractor to be the on-the-ground coordinator of the project, spending a part of each day making sure the project stays on track, moderating discussions, and making periodic recommendations around participant contributions to a technical judging panel. This highly visible and well paid part time position is a great opportunity for a person who loves open source software development and wants to use that skillset in a socially beneficial and novel open source project.

About DrivenData DrivenData has a history of using ​machine learning challenges​ to develop algorithms that have a social impact. The team of data scientists and engineers has been using data to make a difference in public health, education, international development, and civic technology for the last three and a half years. This project is part of a vision for new, more collaborative approaches to getting data scientists and engineers involved in working together to make our world a better place.

Location Remote

Responsibilities ● ● ● ● ●

Assist with pre-challenge planning and development of rules, processes, and procedures. Moderate discussion threads taking place as comments on issues and pull requests in a firm and assertive but positive and welcoming manner. Review code and conduct hands-on QA testing to make sure pull requests are up to project code quality standards. Make clear and well-supported recommendations on prize awards and technical direction to the panel of technical experts. Collect and collate questions from participants into succinct and organized requests for information from the panel of clinical subject matter experts.

Required skills and experience All of these must be demonstrated by record as maintainer of at least one Github or Gitlab project, even if small: ● Python, expert and idiomatic usage, at least at level of senior developer or senior data scientist/data engineer. Familiarity with Python numerical stack (NumPy, Pandas, etc) and web frameworks (e.g. Django, Flask) ● Git, expert knowledge and experience ● Software project management; including (1) the operational side of software management (issue triage, realistic time estimation, code quality and testing evaluation), (2) judgment and taste about code quality and architecture, and (3) soft skills (the ability to collaboratively and collegially influence technical discussion, which will sometimes be opinionated and heated, using positive but assertive and facts-based dialogue) ● Familiarity with and interest in ML/statistics, at least from a software engineering perspective. Need not be an expert but must be conversant in the relevant terms of art (e.g. common metrics for accuracy evaluation)

Desired skills and experience ● ● ●

Experience maintaining a large, complex open source project Data science or data engineer projects or professional experience Community management, developer relations, or project management

Interested candidates should e-mail ​[email protected]​ with the job title as the subject line, a couple paragraphs about why they’re right for and want the position, and links to their relevant Git{hub,lab} OSS projects and contributions.