Student Support Assistant

Position OverviewJoin the Biodiversity Institute's Specify Software team (www.specifysoftware.org) as a Software Support Assistant! This is a hands-on, varied role at the intersection of technical support, quality assurance, and scientific informatics. You will work alongside a collaborative team of professional software engineers, support specialists, and museum scientists to help natural history collections worldwide get the most out of Specify, a leading open-source platform for managing biodiversity specimen data.

Day-to-day, this position divides roughly evenly between two complementary areas:

• Quality assurance — testing new features and bug fixes, reproducing reported issues, validating resolutions, and documenting findings in GitHub.
• User support — helping consortium members install, configure, and troubleshoot Specify; answering questions; writing documentation; and guiding institutions through software customization.
  
  

No prior experience with Specify or natural history collections is required. We provide comprehensive onboarding and ongoing mentoring. This is an ideal role for a detail-oriented student who enjoys solving problems, communicating clearly, and contributing to work that has real scientific impact. Little to no code development is involved in this position.Job Description30% – Quality Assurance Testing

• Execute test cases for new features, bug fixes, and software releases.
• Perform functional, usability, and exploratory testing across platforms and database configurations.
• Reproduce issues reported by users or developers and document clear reproduction steps.
• Validate that bug fixes and new features behave as expected before release.
  
  

30% – User Support & Troubleshooting

• Respond to support requests from consortium member institutions via email, ticketing system, and community forums.
• Diagnose and resolve installation, configuration, and usage issues.
• Guide users through software customization, including form layouts, interface configuration, and report templates.
• Escalate complex technical issues to senior staff with thorough documentation of steps already taken.
• Follow up with users to confirm resolutions and ensure satisfaction.
  
  

20% – Documentation

• Write and maintain user-facing help articles, step-by-step installation guides, and how-to tutorials.
• Produce internal QA documentation including test plans, test cases, and issue summaries.
• Update existing documentation to reflect new features, changed workflows, or common support patterns.
  
  

15% – Issue Tracking & Communication

• Create, update, and triage issue reports in GitHub and other project tracking tools.
• Communicate findings clearly to the development and support teams in written and verbal form.
• Participate in team meetings and contribute to support workflow improvement discussions.
  
  

5% – Special Projects & Administrative Tasks

• Assist with special projects, administrative reports, and other tasks as assigned.
• Contribute to onboarding materials or training resources for new team members.
  
  

Required Qualifications

• Undergraduate student in good standing at the University of Kansas.
• Eligible for Federal Work Study.
• Excellent communication skills, as evidenced by application materials and an informal interview.
• Prior work experience, ideally in a detail-oriented role (customer service, research, data entry, help desk, etc.) as evidenced by application materials.
• Demonstrated ability to explain technical concepts clearly in writing for a non-technical audience, as evidenced by application materials.
• Solid working knowledge of Windows, macOS, or Linux operating systems, as evidenced by application materials.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience providing technical support, help desk assistance, or end-user training, as evidenced by application materials.
• Knowledge of natural history collections or museum databasing practices, as evidenced by application materials.
• Familiarity with spreadsheet or database software (Excel, Access, SQL, etc.), as evidenced by application materials.
• Strong problem-solving skills and demonstrated ability to learn new software independently, as evidenced by application materials.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks, prioritize effectively, and meet deadlines, as evidenced by application materials.
  
  

Position RequirementsDuring the semester term of the appointment, the student hourly must be enrolled in no fewer than 6 credit hours. For summer periods the student hourly must: (1) have been enrolled in no less than 6 hours in the past spring semester or (2) be pre-enrolled in the upcoming fall semester in no less than 6 hours or (3) be enrolled in summer session or (4) be admitted to study in the upcoming fall semester. Student Hourlies may be undergraduate or graduate students. (Exceptions granted for GRA/GTA/GA appointments DO NOT apply to Student Hourly appointments).Employment Conditions(1) Student employees are not eligible for remote work arrangements unless an exception is approved by the unit leadership and HR.

• This is an hourly/non-exempt position. A student employee cannot hold an hourly/non-exempt position and a salaried/exempt graduate or undergraduate position (GRA/GTA/GA/RUA/RGA) concurrently.
• Must be available to work a minimum of 14 hours per week during the Fall and Spring semesters. A consistent weekly schedule (worked around coursework obligations) is required during the hours of 8 AM–5 PM, Monday through Friday; schedules can be adjusted as needed with advance notice. Must be available to begin Summer 2026. Planned vacations and breaks from campus are welcome.
• Graduate students are not eligible for this position.Additional Candidate Instructions
  
  

In addition to the online application, the following documents are required to be considered for this position:

• Resume
• Cover letter addressing how the required and preferred qualifications are met
  
  

To ensure consideration, apply before the application review starts on Monday, 6/29/2026. A review of applications will continue and is ongoing until a pool of qualified candidates is identified.Contact Information to ApplicantsGrant Fitzsimmons

grantfitzsimmons@ku.eduAdvertised Salary Range$15.00 per hourAnticipated Start DateMonday July 6, 2026Apply to Job