Job Opportunity for Consultant – Backend Development at World Resource Institute

Who we are and what we do:

World Resources Institute (WRI) is an independent, non-profit global research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity and human well-being. Our work focuses on building sustainable and livable cities and working towards a low carbon economy. Through research, analysis, and recommendations, World Resources Institute puts ideas into action to build transformative solutions to protect the earth, promote livelihoods, and enhance human well-being.

WRI India has the capacity to convene key stakeholders, and forge strategic partnerships with governments, business, foundations, civil society organizations, institutes and NGOs, to scale-up solutions that can bring game-changing results for the sustainable management of natural resources in India.

Overview of the Sustainable Cities and Transport program

At WRI India Ross Center we focus on 10 integrated solutions to urban challenges. Through applied research, tools, hands-on advice, and by tapping our network of global experts, we accelerate transformative urban initiatives that have the power to change Indian cities into thriving, equitable, and low-carbon places that are good for people and the planet.

Working at WRI India Ross Center’s Sustainable Cities and Transport program offers you the unique opportunity to learn and grow as you collaborate with a diverse set of change agents targeting urban affairs – across our offices in Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai. As India’s biggest urban-focused think- and do-tank, we seek thoughtful, enterprise-minded, and sensitive individuals who can help us support this transformation and make a positive difference to citizens’ everyday lives.

About your role:

The main objective of this consultancy is to support development of  a “Strategic E-Bus Planning and Scheduling Tool” to enable agencies to simulate key operational strategies and visualize its impact while generating operationally ready E-bus schedules. The tool will be designed to achieve the following outcomes:

• Help prepare e-Bus deployment plan including bus type, battery size, charging and power strategy – power demand, energy consumption, cost of electricity
• To assess the economic viability of the proposed deployment plan – estimate the total capital cost and operations cost, and the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Prioritize routes for deploying electric buses
• Develop bus schedules taking into consideration route characteristics, crew schedule, depot location, travel time, battery size, charging infrastructure availability
• Develop charging schedule plan and determine number of chargers required (Both overnight chargers and opportunity chargers)
• Pilot deployment in up to two project cities

How your day will unfold:

• Support the team to conceptualize and detail use cases, specific components, integration with other modules and user interface for the tool.
• Research and review existing methodologies/ algorithms/ programs used in the market for solving vehicle scheduling optimization
• Review existing allocation and distribution modules used by WRI and improve functionality/integration with tool
• Create APIs to communicate and access data from varied systems used by the transit agencies
• Code, debug and troubleshoot system errors for the following modules: Calibration, Core Optimization and Operationalizing Module
• Support testing and pilot implementation of tool based on real world data during pilots with 2 project cities
• Support documentation of the project for future reference and maintenance purposes
• To provide training/capacity development on maintenance and management of the too.
• Review and select EV route optimization and scheduling based research articles and algorithms and develop methodology for application to the core optimization module.
• Develop and test an interactive web application for the planned use cases. The web application manages all the databases and run algorithms/logics for the planned use cases under the Calibration, core optimization and operationalization.
• Integrate the modules with the Strategic E-Bus Planning and Scheduling Tool and test pilot implementation in up to 2 cities.

Qualifications and Requirements we seek:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology or relevant disciplines.
• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in engineering and developing backend and production ready software modules and integration into larger tools/ suites
• Expertise in programming languages including Python (Django and Flask), Java, PHP and .Net.
• Additional knowledge of frontend languages such as Javascript, HTML, CSS is favourable
• Experience in database management and technology MySQL, MongoDB or Oracle
• Experience in optimization algorithms, real-time scheduling with preference to candidates
• experienced in working on geolocation-based dataset and integration with Maps APIs.
• Server management and deployment for relevant environments
• Good problem-solving and analytical skills with an eye for detail-oriented work, generating new ideas and approaches to address bottlenecks and challenges
• Experience working on projects with a track record of delivering at or ahead of deadlines.
• Strong organizational and project management skills with ability to plan projects and activities, work to tight deadlines, and manage conflicting priorities.
• Ability to work in a team towards achieving a larger organizational level goal.

Duration: One Year (Part time)

Location: Remote (Travel to different cities may be required)

Start date: As soon as possible

List of Documents to be attached:

• Cover Letter
• Resume

Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for further interview(s) and scrutiny.

Equal employment @WRI India

We believe in equal employment, it is our policy to recruit, and provide opportunities for advancement in all job classifications without regard to caste, religion, sex, age, marital status, sexual preference, parental status, or disability.