Job Purpose

Are you an experienced Research Software Engineer who thrives on solving complex problems through hands-on development and technical leadership? The Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC) is seeking a Senior RSE Lead to play a central role in designing and delivering innovative software and data science solutions that unlock the potential of urban data for research, policy, and public impact. This is a strategic yet technical role, ideal for someone who enjoys collaborating with researchers and end-users, architecting systems, and building tools that make complex datasets accessible, interactive, and actionable.

As Senior RSE Lead, you will be responsible for the end-to-end development of robust data analytics pipelines, scalable applications, and intuitive user interfaces. You will work directly with interdisciplinary teams of researchers, data scientists, and external partners to co-create impactful solutions that support data-intensive social research. Your work will span the full software lifecycle—from requirements gathering and design to implementation, testing, and deployment—ensuring that research outputs are reproducible, user-friendly, and technically sound. You will also contribute to the design of research projects and funding proposals, embedding software engineering expertise into the heart of UBDC’s research strategy.

In addition to your technical contributions, you will manage UBDC’s technician team, providing leadership, mentorship, and coordination across multiple projects. You will foster a collaborative and inclusive working environment, ensuring that the team delivers high-quality software and support services to the UBDC research community. You will also act as a key liaison with infrastructure providers, helping researchers make optimal use of high-performance computing resources, including cloud platforms and university services.

This is a unique opportunity to join a mission-driven organisation that values innovation, technical excellence, and real-world impact. At UBDC, you’ll be part of a dynamic environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning. You will also be associated with a team of Research Software Engineers working across the University through a close relationship with the university-wide Research Computing as a Service. We’re looking for someone who thrives in a fast-paced research setting, brings strong leadership and software engineering skills, and is excited to contribute to meaningful societal change through thoughtful, user-focused software engineering.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1.  Provide leadership of research software engineering and data science services managed and delivered by the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC), planning, managing and delivering technical services to facilitate the outcomes of University of Glasgow’s world changing research agenda.

2.  Develop and refine a strategic vision and operational plans, including policies and procedures, for the delivery of UBDC projects and services.

3.  Apply and direct the use of state-of-the-art novel software engineering (including data science and artificial intelligence) techniques to address challenges faced by University of Glasgow researchers.

4.  Liaise with UBDC and external researchers, administrators, and end-user stakeholders to capture requirements and translate them into effective technical solutions.

5.  Document developed systems and provide training, client manuals, and technical workshops as needed.

6.  Present, disseminate and explain the work of UBDC via presentations, reports and well-documented software packages.

7.  Support research colleagues to access and make the most of external cloud providers and University of Glasgow’s research computing infrastructure services, including provisions for high-performance computing and research data management services.

8.  Make a significant expert contribution to major funding bids, internal business cases and related activities where social research software engineering is a core dimension.

9.  Provide technical project management and leadership for multiple concurrent projects, liaising with clients and colleagues to understand and prioritise project goals, balancing the value of contribution with limitations on team resources.

10.  Provide line management for other staff within the UBDC RSE team, supporting their performance and development, and managing workload allocations.

11.  Support and contribute to open research, such as by applying FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) principles of research data and tools.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Knowledge / Qualifications

Essential:

A1 Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 9, 10 or 11 (Ordinary/Honours Degree, Post Graduate Qualification), or equivalent including being professionally qualified in relevant discipline, with a broad range of professional experience in management role(s),

OR Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post, having acquired the necessary professional knowledge and management skills in a similar or a number of different specialist roles.

A2 Strong programming skills in more than one modern programming language used in research (typically Python, R, JavaScript/React/Next.js, Node)

A3 Excellent understanding of best practices in project management for producing reliable software and reproducible analyses, including version control, issue and backlog tracking, automated testing and package management.

A4 Experience with designing, developing, deploying and maintaining production-ready web systems.

A5 Excellent knowledge of software tools and computational resources associated with multiple research disciplines.

A6 Excellent communication skills and ability to work in interdisciplinary teams.

Desirable:

B1 Knowledge of geospatial data structures and visualisation tools.

B2 Skills in user-centred design, including working with collaborative design software such as Figma or Adobe Creative Suite.

B3 Familiarity with SCRUM project management, including backlog tracking and sprint planning.

B4 Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) and containerisation/orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).

Skills

Essential:

C1 Excellent team leadership, planning, organisation, time and workload management skills with proven ability to prioritise demands and meet deadlines, with an understanding of the importance of equality and diversity and a commitment to help create an inclusive culture.

C2 Excellent written and verbal communication skills including authoring of technical reports or research papers and aptitude for delivering presentations or leading training or education sessions.

C3 Ability to work independently including planning and delivery, and to collaborate proactively as part of a team, including taking a leading role.

C4 Ability to rapidly comprehend new complex research requirements and quickly establish an understanding of feasibility and associated resourcing requirements, offering credible and robust technical solutions.

C5 Ability to quickly evaluate new computational and technical opportunities and their suitability for deployment in support of research goals.

C6 Excellent analytical skills with confidence to challenge and continuously improve.

C7 Ability to build and maintain broad network of relationships with diverse stakeholder groups including researchers, IT professionals and management and administrative teams.

C8 Display role model behaviours with the ability to inspire and motivate operational colleagues to deliver service excellence.

C9 Ability to lead the development and growth of an institution-wide software engineering service, supporting audiences with varying capabilities across multiple disciplines.

Desirable:

D1 Excellent user interface / user experience design and implementation skills.

Experience

Essential:

E1 Experience in providing technical project management and leadership for multiple research or software projects, ensuring successful outcomes.

E2 Experience of collaborating with colleagues to develop and maintain high-quality, well-tested data-intensive software.

E3 Experience of managing, prioritising and resourcing a project portfolio.

E4 Experience mentoring and evaluating the work of others, either as a formal line manager or with significant evidence of experience of informal mentorship.

Desirable:

F1 Experience in data-intensive social research and digital humanities.

F2 Experience of multi-developer collaborative software development and client support, using a range of tools.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 8, £50,253 - £58,225 per annum.

This post is full time (35 hours per week), and has funding for up to 3 years in the first instance.  Relocation assistance will be provided where necessary.

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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.

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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 - pensions handbook https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/payandpensions/pensions/, benefits and discount packages.

3 A flexible approach to working.

4 A commitment to support your health and wellbeing, including a free 6-month UofG Sport membership for all new staff joining the University  https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/staff/healthwellbeing/.

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 https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/.

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/athenaswan/ 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.gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs/ for more information.

Closing Date:  4 January 2026 at 23:45