Research Software Engineer

Job Description

Research Software Engineer£42,000 - £52,000Norwich Perks; Use of company facilities - Swimming Pool, Squash Court, Badminton and Basketball courts, Full-size Snooker Table. Opportunity to travel - UK, Europe, USA. Pension Contribution.We are looking to speak with experienced Research Software Engineers to work for a client of ours based in Norwich, the role is based in a Laboratory in the Digital Biology Programme at the Earlham Institute.Our clients institution is a UK hub for innovative Bioinformatics through research, analysis and interpretation of multiple, complex data sets. It hosts one of the largest computing hardware facilities dedicated to life science research in Europe. Thishas been boosted recently by an e-Infrastructure grant to expand the data storage capacity to a multi-petabyte unit, deploying a high-performance cluster and large-memory server enabling the allocation of processes requiring several terabytes of computingmemory.As a Research Software Engineer, you will be working in a professional team of Research Software Engineers, the role will be tasked with supporting the development and maintenance the "Collaborative OPen Omics" (COPO) platform, which is a data and metadatabrokering service for national and international communities such as Darwin Tree of Life and the European Reference Genome Atlas. COPO helps life science researchers to implement data and metadata management practices to submit research outputs to public repositories.This position is Monday to Friday, with flexible working arrangements.Main Activities & Responsibilities

• To work with colleagues in the group to develop COPO, as well as EIs tools for data and metadata management that are guided by strategic needs and technological advances.
• Reduce the burden of data management for researchers, enabling them to share their data and results more effectively by establishing interoperability solutions between a range of existing data services.
• To network widely with academic and industrial groups on the Norwich Research Park, throughout the UK and internationally, including the Darwin Tree of Life, European Reference Genome Atlas, and Earth BioGenome projects, the European Bioinformatics Institute,ELIXIR, other genomics facilities nationally and internationally, and with bioinformaticians globally, such as the CyVerse and Galaxy efforts.
• To provide an efficient and cost-effective data management platform to exploit EIs hardware and software expertise, promoting EI as a National Capability for UK bioscience.

• Continue to develop COPO to become a single point-of-access for end users, and a range of web services via APIs, that enable scientists to attribute metadata, deposit data into public repositories, ascribe accessions to these data, and link them with associatedpublications.
• Manage the strategic development and delivery of high-quality software solutions that provide essential tracking and lifecycle processing of data managed by the COPO platform.
• Devise and implement novel approaches to improve large-scale data description, deposition tools, and access across the UK and international life science research community.
• Engage with life scientists by attending national and international meetings to promote data management and related infrastructure, and by providing training on the COPO platform.

Key RelationshipsInternal: Reporting to the lead Research Software Engineer with a key role to play in the development and delivery of the COPO infrastructure. Working with the EI (Earlham Institute) Capabilities in Genomics, e-Infrastructure and Trainingto support data management, develop materials, and deliver training on the COPO platform.External: Data curators at key projects such as Darwin Tree of Life, European Genome Reference Atlas and Earth BioGenome Project, data repositories at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI); representatives of the UK and internationalbioscience community; UK and international data management scientists; API and service providers for data and analysis management services such as CyVerse and CyVerse UK, Galaxy, CKAN, figshare, etc.What were looking for:

• BSc, equivalent professional qualification, or convincing evidence of practical role in a suitable area of computer science or software development
• Up to date knowledge and experience of Python 3, with a focus on Django or similar web framework
• Experience of the JavaScript programming language and some associated libraries
• Experience of working in a rapidly changing technological environment
• Working knowledge and experience with MongoDB NoSQL database management systems (Desirable)
• Experience of Cloud architectures and Docker (Desirable)

Please apply now for immediate consideration. Alternatively, for additional information, please give us a call and ask for Georgia.