[Neutron] Vacancy: Scientific Data Analysis Software Developer / Research Software Engineer

[Toby Perring - UKRI STFC]

Scientific Data Analysis Software Developer / Research Software Engineer
STFC, Didcot
£30,357 - £45,988 (dependent on skills and experience and inclusive of maximum annual role-based allowance)
Full Time or Part Time (minimum 28 hours per week)
Fixed term (3 years)
Job reference: IRC247308

About Us:
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is a partner organisation within UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a new entity that brings together nine partners to create an independent organisation with a strong voice for research and innovation and a vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation.

About the role:
ISIS is a world leading facility for condensed matter research using neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy, with a strong scientific user programme and extensive international links. It supports a national and international community of more than 2000 scientists for research into subjects across physics, chemistry, biology and materials science.

The ISIS Excitations Group operates four world-class neutron instruments at ISIS which are used to study numerous classes of materials, including superconductors, quantum and low dimensional magnets, thermoelectrics and other functional materials. It has just started a major software project to enable a step change the rapidity and quality of the data analysis of the experiments performed on the instruments in the Group. The project, christened PACE (Proper Analysis of Coherent Excitations), aims to provide an integrated visualisation, simulation and fitting environment on parallel and distributed computing, and which will interface to materials modelling codes.

The Group is seeking to employ two Research Software Engineers, or scientists with a strong programming background, to join the other members of the PACE development team and to work with members of the ISIS Excitations Group to implement PACE. This post is for a developer of scientific software for parallel and/or distributed computing environments to participate in the creation of the PACE data analysis framework, and to take particular responsibility for writing interfaces to third party materials modelling codes.

The position would suit a Computational Scientist, an experimental Scientist with parallel programming experience, or a Research Software Engineer with a strong technical or scientific background. The role offers the appointee an exciting opportunity to work in a high level research environment, with the chance to learn from and work together with scientists, researchers and software developers with a variety of backgrounds and skills.

The duties of the position include:

*            input to the design of PACE, with particular responsibility for the interface with third party modelling codes
*            implementation of the data analysis framework together with the other PACE developers
*            development of a generic API to third part modelling codes, in particular CASTEP (atomic vibrations) and SpinW (magnetic excitations), and other codes in response to the scientific needs of the instruments
*            development of parallel and distributed computing algorithms to compute neutron scattering cross-sections
*            integration of the operation of third party modelling codes into PACE
*            agile development of the first release of PACE in response to feedback from instrument scientists and users during the extended beta release period.

About you:
It is essential that you have a Master's degree or PhD (or equivalent) in one of the physical sciences (chemistry, physics, material science, earth science, etc.), or equivalent experience.

You will have experience of parallel programming in C++ for shared memory (e.g. OpenMP) and/or distributed computing (e.g. MPI) architectures for scientific software development.

Experience of using and writing scientific modelling code in a technical or research environment is also essential as well as excellent written communication skills.

What we offer:
In addition to the competitive salary, an excellent index linked pension scheme and generous leave allowance are offered. Full details of offered benefits can be found on STFC's careers pages.

Further information:
For more details about the PACE project, please visit the web page www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/Proper-analysis-of-coherent-excitations.aspx<http://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/Proper-analysis-of-coherent-excitations.aspx>, or contact Professor Toby Perring (toby.perring at stfc.ac.uk<mailto:toby.perring at stfc.ac.uk>, +44 (0)1235 445428, www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/Prof-Toby-Perring.aspx<http://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/Prof-Toby-Perring.aspx>).

How to Apply:
Applicants are required to include a cover letter outlining their suitability for this role.

Applications are handled by UK SBS; to apply please visit our job board at http://topcareer.jobs/Vacancy/irc247308_8994.aspx . Applicants who are unable to apply online should contact us by telephone on +44 (0)1793 867000.

The closing date for applications is 20 January 2018.


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