Job Purpose

Working directly with the TransiT (National Research Hub on Twinning for Decarbonising Transport) team, the Research Software Engineer (RSE) will take a leading role in the design, development, and maintenance of research software solutions to accelerate research and outcomes within TransiT.  The RSE will allocate a portion of time to training and mentoring the large PhD/Postdoctoral Research Assistant cohort as required.

The role demands excellent programming skills and software development experience. They will be proficient at testing and evaluating the utility, usability and integrity of software outputs, as well as ensuring the correct licensing, documentation and open access of outputs to enable wider impact.

The RSE will work directly with the newly appointed TransiT Head of Data to help shape the data strategy (how software assets should interface with this), the local TransiT Teams, as well as providing and additional interface to with other TransiT project institutes as required, e.g. to collaborate on the integration of Twins/Models.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1.  Lead the design, implementation and maintenance of high-quality research software that satisfies TransiT, and by extension College research needs, while conforming with University policies and more general best practice (e.g. as advocated by the Software Sustainability Institute).

2.  Develop and execute a research software strategy for TransiT, including identifying and prioritising development activities, determining suitable management of resources, and ensuring impact through open software avenues.

3.  Lead in development, maintenance, and innovation in research software with particular applications in Digital Twinning using industry-standard languages and frameworks such as iTwin (Javascript), MatSim (Java) and others.

4.  Translate complex research requirements to suitable software solutions, reporting progress to relevant research stakeholders as appropriate.

5.  Oversee multiple independent research software projects while ensuring they can be delivered on time to support world leading research.

6.  Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation of software designs, deployment, and standard operating procedures, ensuring the management, licensing, version control and deployment in suitable repositories of software outputs.

7.  Provide leadership for the adoption of sector best-practices for the development of new research software including through the training and mentoring of staff.

8.  Manage testing and quality assurance activities to ensure the reliability, security, and functionality of developed software, documenting test cases and results as needed.

9.  Keep up to date with new developments in research software engineering as part of continuous professional development to enhance the support for both the TransiT project and wider college RSE efforts. This includes through engagement and membership within international groups, e.g. the Society of RSE.

10.  Produce briefings, presentations and documents as required to keep the TransiT project informed of progress.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Knowledge and Qualifications

Essential 

A1  Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post having acquired the necessary knowledge and skills in a similar role. Or: Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 9, (Ordinary Degree, Scottish Vocational Qualification level 4), or equivalent (including professional accreditation with relevant formal training), and experience of personal development in a similar or related role(s).

A2  Expert Knowledge of the challenges and issues associated with building high quality research software or performing software based computational research within a Engineering/Computer Science or related discipline

A3  Knowledge of a range of research programming languages and technologies such as Python, C++, Java, and web technologies.

A4  Proven expert knowledge of developing software applications.

A5  Comprehensive knowledge of modern data management and processing techniques including collaborative development of data management plans[BA1] .

A6  Detailed knowledge of (research) software engineering workflows, e.g. version control, continuous integration, containerisation etc.

A7  Knowledge of software licensing and effective promotion of software to generate impact.

Desirable

B1  A degree in Computing, Software Engineering, Computer Programming or Engineering programming.

B2  Understanding of Trusted Research Environments.

B3  Knowledge of developing parallel software for high performance computing setups.

Skills

Essential

C1  Extensive software engineering skills gained over a substantial period, working at higher levels of complexity within research intensive environments.

C2  Proven technical problem-solving skills and attention to detail, with an expert ability to analyse complex requirements and design effective software solutions.

C3  Proficient in maintaining and manipulating datasets.

C4  Ability to deal with a large variety of end users with a range of technical knowledge including the ability to understand, conceptualise and interpret technical requirements to design and develop software solutions.

C5  Ability to learn and adapt to changing technologies, policies/procedures and cyber threats.

C6  Excellent analytical skills with confidence to challenge and continually improve, diving into the detail as necessary to understand issues (people, process, and technology).

C7  Project management skills to lead technical service to meet and develop long term strategic objectives, whilst delivering a day to day service.

C8  Highly effective communication and interpersonal skills, demonstrating creative and innovative thinking and influencing senior members of an organisation.

C9  Ability to effectively teach and mentor both experts and non-experts in areas of software engineering best practice.

C10  Provide accurate estimations of costs, including time, budget and resource, for significant software efforts to aid in long term TransiT project planning.

Desirable

D1  Knowledge of DevOps including platforms such as GitHub or GitLab to manage projects, and continuous integration processes.

D2  Software deployment such as via containers, cloud setups, and high performance computing as appropriate.

D3  Experience with Unreal Engine, particularly in the context of interactive or immersive game design, would be a valuable asset.

Experience

Essential

E1  Proven experience delivering sizable software projects in a (research) software engineering environment.

E2  Significant experience in developing and deploying fully functional applications using current programming languages while adhering to best practices and industry standards.

E3  Significant experience of testing and validation of software.

E4  Experience leading and managing software projects.

Desirable

F1  Prior experience of working in a university or Higher Education environment.

F2  Experience working on multiple software projects simultaneously.

F3  Experience supporting application development for a variety of systems, e.g. Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, iOS and hardware, e.g. GPU programming. E.g. with the data management lead.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 7, £41,064 - £46,049 per annum.

This post is full time (35 hours per week) and has funding available for up to 30 months in the first instance.

The University of Glasgow has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.  If you require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the UK, you will be required to meet the eligibility requirements of the visa route to be assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Please note that this post may be eligible to be sponsored under the Skilled Worker visa route if tradeable points can be used under the Skilled Worker visa rules. For more information please visit:  https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.

As part of Team UofG you will be a member of a world changing, inclusive community, which values ambition, excellence, integrity and curiosity.

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

1 A warm welcoming and engaging organisational culture, where your talents are developed and nurtured, and success is celebrated and shared.

2 An excellent employment package with generous terms and conditions including 41 days of leave for full time staff, pension , benefits and discount packages.

3 A flexible approach to working.

4 A commitment to support your health and wellbeing.

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community here.

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University.

We are investing in our organisation, and we will invest in you too. Please visit our website https://www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/benefits-salary-and-flexible-working for more information.

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Closing Date:  28 August 2025