Research Software Engineer – Software Impact Team

Research Software Engineer – Software Impact Team

The Netherlands eScience Center is constantly looking for enthusiastic research software engineers (RSEs) to join the eScience Center Team. We are currently looking for candidates for our software impact team for a variety of current and future projects.

If you have the drive to continuously improve software, are creative, communicative, and enjoy tackling complex challenges, this is the job for you.

Who are we?

The Netherlands eScience Center is the national centre for innovative software solutions in academic research. We aim to bridge the gap in knowledge and expertise between digital technologies on the one hand and scientific and scholarly inquiry on the other. We create the tools and digital methodologies that enable researchers across all disciplines to answer research questions, harnessing our unique blend of academic expertise and software development skills. We attach great importance to software quality and sustainability, and academic recognition of research software.

We stand for a research-focused, professional, collaborative, open and resourceful approach to everything we do, and we require that our staff can identify with these eScience Center values. Our people have a diverse background in education, gender, nationality and ethnicity. Together, we form an inclusive group with a common drive.

The Netherlands eScience Center is divided into four sections: Life Sciences, Natural Sciences & Engineering, Social Sciences & Humanities and Sustainability & Environment. We also have the Software Impact team. Its goal is to improve, reuse and to increase the adoption of our software within and across domains.

What does your work look like?

As an Research Software Engineer, you will operate in a multidisciplinary team consisting of both Research Software Engineers and researchers from partner institutions. Your goal will be to improve the quality, sustainability and impact of research software, leading to increased adoption by a broad academic audience. You will be a part of the Netherlands eScience Center software impact team.

You will work on several diverse tools developed during research projects for a wide variety of scientific domains. Important challenges include improving the reusability and ease-of-adoption of such tools.

You will work closely with other eScience Research Software Engineers in and outside the team and facilitate knowledge transfer between scientific disciplines. Good soft skills for communicating and collaborating with colleagues and external partners are essential, as are technical skills.

RSEs in the eScience Center are explicitly encouraged to explore scientific fields outside of their main expertise and can develop themselves by following external training, developing dedicated software, leading projects, conferences, and community events.

Who are you?

You are intrinsically motivated to solve complex research problems using digital methods. You are passionate about working at the border between research and technology, helping scientists solve cutting-edge research questions with advanced technology. In addition, you can communicate effectively (in English) with both academic researchers and technical experts. Furthermore:

• You are in possession of a vocational or academic degree in computer science, data science, applied mathematics, AI, or have an equivalent technically oriented background or experience;
• Willing and able to learn new programming languages & technologies;
• A minimum of 3 years work experience with professional software development, including API design, version control, testing, code reviews, continuous integration, documentation, packaging, deployment;
• A minimum of 3 years experience with at least two of the following programming languages: Python, R, Rust, Julia, Go, Java, Fortran, C++, JavaScript, TypeScript, SQL;
• Interest in open-source software community building, user engagement and dissemination;
• The following skills are a plus:
• Experience with designing and developing scalable back-end applications;
• Experience with modernization of legacy code;
• Familiarity with software engineering tools such as static analysis methods;
• Experience in developing solutions in a public cloud, e.g., Microsoft Azure, AWS, GCP.

Why join us?

• We work at the forefront of cutting-edge international research.
• You will be part of a team of intelligent, collaborative, and ambitious people with a passion for academic research.
• You will be given extensive opportunities to further develop your professional and personal capacities.
• Salary scales (between 9 and 12) based on our Collective Labour Agreement (WVOI Cao-OI) depending on qualifications and expertise.
• Excellent secondary benefits: the possibility to work part time, an allowance for travel and mobile expenses, a holiday allowance (8%), 42 holidays and an end year bonus (8,33%).
• Incoming international employees could benefit from significant government tax relief (30% ruling) for a set number of years.

Want to apply?

Please click here to apply. Your application must contain a CV, a letter of motivation, applicable references, and a code sample, i.e., a piece of code that you wrote for a previous assignment and/or a link to your GitHub account or equivalent. The closing date to apply is 20 March 2022.

For more information about job opportunities at the eScience Center or about the hiring process, send an e-mail to [email protected].

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