Research Software Engineer

The role

The School of Geographical Sciences and the Jean Golding Institute at the University of Bristol are seeking a Research Software Engineer (RSE) to support two ESA-funded projects, working alongside environmental scientists, data scientists, and RSEs.

The School of Geographical Sciences is a leading centre for environmental research, and the Jean Golding Institute is the university’s hub for data science and data-intensive research. We host a team of data scientists and RSEs that work on projects across the University, supported by a Senior Data Scientist.

The position is funded for 12 months, through December 2025, with a strong likelihood of extension and potential for further appointments, based on skills and performance.

What will you be doing?

You will contribute equally to two ESA-funded projects.

The first project, led by Dr. Fabien Maussion, aims to develop a prototype Digital Twin Component for Glaciers, as part of the European Commission’s “Destination Earth” initiative. Key responsibilities include:

• Developing dashboards displaying real-time glacier data and metrics such as glacier runoff.
• Assisting in the development of the data storage infrastructure, including liaising with ESA and ensuring compliance with the Destination Earth Core Service Platform.
• Developing tests to ensure that specified user journeys perform as expected.
• Participating in ESA meetings (optional, based on interest).

The second project, led by Dr Rory Bingham, aims to develop novel techniques to extract oceanographic signals from simulations of future satellite gravimetry mission data, currently planned NASA and ESA, as part of the SING project (“Studying the Impact of NGGM and MAGIC missions”). Responsibilities include:

• Developing filtering strategies to extract oceanographic information from simulated noisy observations.
• Testing filtering strategies under different mission scenarios, configurations and specifications.
• Developing data fusion methods, possibly based on Bayesian Hierarchical Modelling, to combine heterogeneous observations.
• Contributing to the writing of reports and peer-reviewed publications.

You will also be expected to participate in activities supporting the JGI, including Bristol Data Week, workshops, and engage in professional development opportunities at the JGI.

You should apply if

You have a computer science, data science, or science background with expert knowledge in software development. You demonstrate experience in using key software development tools, such as scientific python and git. You have good communication skills, a wide range of interests, and the ability to work on multiple concurrent projects.

Additional information

Contract type: Open ended with fixed funding until 31/12/2025

This advert will close at 23:59 UK time on 27/11/2024

Interviews are anticipated to take place week commencing 2nd December 2024

For informal queries, please contact:

Fabien Maussion, fabien.maussion@bristol.ac.uk

Rory Bingham, rory.bingham@bristol.ac.uk

Our strategy and mission

We recently launched our strategy to 2030 tying together our mission, vision and values.

The University of Bristol aims to be a place where everyone feels able to be themselves and do their best in an inclusive working environment where all colleagues can thrive and reach their full potential. We want to attract, develop, and retain individuals with different experiences, backgrounds and perspectives – particularly people of colour, LGBT+ and disabled people - because diversity of people and ideas remains integral to our excellence as a global civic institution.

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