Research Software Engineer

Research Software Engineer

HT - Human Technopole

Milan, Italy

Job description

APPLICATION CLOSING DATE: October 30^th, 2023

About the Institute

Human Technopole (HT) is a new interdisciplinary life science research institute, created and supported by the Italian government, with the aim of developing innovative strategies to improve human health. HT has the mission of conducting cutting-edge research and translating innovation into methods available to the entire National scientific community. To this end, HT is opening National Facilities that will provide state-of-the-art research infrastructure for Structural Biology, Light Imaging, Genomics, Genome Engineering, and Data Handling and Analysis.

The Image Analysis Facility at Human Technopole is recruiting one Research Software Engineers (RSE) to add to our creative and interdisciplinary National Facility for Data Handling and Analysis at the Human Technopole (HT) in Milan, Italy.

About the Image Analysis Infrastructure Unit

The Image Analysis Infrastructure Unit, part of the National Facility for Data Handling and Analysis, is offering bleeding-edge scientific image analysis services to researchers from all public institutions in Italy, as well as to the wider international science community. Our service portfolio includes technical consultation with users, building and deploying suitable analysis pipelines, quality control, publishing support, visualization and rendering services, as well as maintenance of existing tools and development of new ones. Our analyses rely almost entirely on open-source projects, many of which we maintain and share with the community.

About the position

We seek open-minded and motivated candidates to join a team of research software engineers focused on improving the software landscape for bioimage analysis. Our research software engineering team is working at the interface between research groups and bioimage analysts, and focuses on creating, improving and maintaining image analysis tools used in the Image Analysis Infrastructure Unit and by the wider biomedical research community.

Key tasks and responsibilities

• Tightly collaborate with the other research software engineers on existing projects;
• Interact with both research groups and our team of bioimage analysts to turn state-of-the-art analysis methods into useful and professional open-source tools for the biomedical research community;
• Contribute to the ongoing maintenance of existing software repositories, ensuring sustained usability by the research community;
• Develop strategies for deployment of analysis tools and pipelines to our users (i.e. containerization).

Our software development is mostly conducted in Python and Java and requires employing modern software-engineering practices such as test-driven development, version control, continuous integration and containerization to ensure that our software modules can be easily deployed. The work in the image analysis facility will be tightly coupled to the research conducted in the Jug Lab at HT. The Jug Lab is developing novel computer vision and machine learning methods for a broad array of image-based biomedical research.

The position comes with the opportunity to visit other members of the community of bioimage analysts and research software engineers around the world and will bring you in touch with the latest algorithms and software tools, as well as microscopy hardware and technology.

Job requirements

Mandatory Requirements

• Have a Bachelor’s degree + 2 years of industry or research experience when applying;
• Expertise in at least one programming language (Python, Java, C++, or similar) employed in a professional environment;
• Fluency in English – HT is an international research institute.

Preferential requirements

• Having a MSc, or higher, in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Physics, Mathematics or a related field, or equivalent industry experience (3+ years) when applying;
• Expertise in software engineering tools and methods is strongly recommended (version control, continuous integration, test-driven development etc.);
• Experience with containerization, pipelining, and deployment of methods and workflows.

Organizational and social skills

• Excellent communication skills;
• Eagerness to learn and teach;
• Proactivity;
• Team player.

Application instructions

Please apply by sending

• a CV;
• a motivation letter in English;
• names and contacts of at least 2 referees.

Any questions concerning the role and/or queries regarding the relevant terms and conditions should be addressed to recruitment@fht.org (this email address should not be used to send applications).

Why Human Technopole

• HT seeks scientific excellence, we recruit the best scientific talents through international, open calls;
• Our working environment is international, friendly and inclusive. Our scientists work together across disciplines on research topics of biomedical relevance, leveraging synergies between their diverse skillsets and methodological approaches;
• We believe that highly diverse teams yield the best and most innovative results;
• We engage in outward-facing scientific activities aimed at benefiting the national and international research community. Training is also at the heart of our activity, with initiatives and opportunities for our staff, including scientific courses, conferences and workshops.

Main benefits

• Welfare plans;
• Canteen service;
• Work-life balance provisions;
• Italian language training for foreigners;
• Parental leave up to 1 year and other support for new parents;
• Counseling;
• Flexible working hours;
• Remote working policy;
• Support for relocation;
• Researchers coming to Italy for the first time, or returning after residing abroad, benefit from very attractive income tax benefits.

Special consideration will be given to candidates who are part of the protected categories list, according to L. 68/99.

Number of positions offered: 1

Hiring date starts from January 2024.

Contract offered: CCNL Chimico Farmaceutico, Fixed-term 3 years - employee level.

The position is based in Milan.

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