Research Associate / Research Software Engineer (m/f/x) job with TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT DRESDEN (TU DRESDEN)

TUD Dresden University of Technology, as a University of Excellence, is one of the leading and most dynamic research institutions in the country. Founded in 1828, today it is a globally oriented, regionally anchored top university as it focuses on the grand challenges of the 21st century. lt develops innovative solutions for the world’s most pressing issues. In research and academic programs, the university unites the natural and engineering sciences with the humanities, social sciences and medicine. This wide range of disciplines is a special feature, facilitating interdisciplinarity and transfer of science to society. As a modern employer, it offers attractive working conditions to all employees in teaching, research, technology and administration. The goal is to promote and develop their individual abilities while empowering everyone to reach their full potential. TUD embodies a university culture that is characterized by cosmopolitanism, mutual appreciation, thriving innovation and active participation. For TUD diversity is an essential feature and a quality criterion of an excellent university. Accordingly, we welcome all applicants who would like to commit themselves, their achievements and productivity to the success of the whole institution.

At the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Geosciences, the Chair of Geoinformatics offers, subject to the availability of resources, a position as

Research Associate / Research Software Engineer (RSE) (m/f/x)

(subject to personal qualification employees are remunerated according to salary group E 13 TV-L)

starting as soon as possible. The position is limited until September 30, 2026 and offers the chance to obtain further academic qualification (usually PhD). The period of employment is governed by the Fixed Term Research Contracts Act (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz – WissZeitVG).

Tasks: In the context of developing the next generation of research infrastructures, the position combines interesting scientific challenges with software development capabilities. You will help to shape the way researchers in the Earth System Sciences and beyond will share their work and collaborate in the contexts of research data management (RDM) and scholarly communication.

In the BMBF-funded project ‘KOMET’ you will develop a platform for research articles enriched with geospatial metadata to enable novel discovery mechanisms for research outputs across scientific disciplines. Furthermore, you will extend Open Journal Systems (OJS), the world’s most widely used open source software for open access journals, with new features to collect and share meaningful article metadata (e.g., persistent identifiers, geospatial metadata) to increase findability and connections between research findings. This work is embedded in the framework of the ’NFDI4Earth’ – a joint research project, in which more than 60 partners from all over Germany are involved coordinated by TU Dresden. It develops a new platform and semantic knowledge hub to connect research infra­structures in the Earth System Sciences in Germany.

NFDI4Earth works on establishing new practices for FAIR and open data and modern research data management. You will co-develop a sustainable software architecture and work on technological as well as social constructs to enable a cultural change in academia towards improved RDM practices. In addition, you will participate in inter- and trans-disciplinary working groups within the NFDI community and connect with diverse stakeholders to achieve the project goals, and contribute to the coordination of a large-scale research project.

All software developed in the projects is published as Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and is deployed into production in close collaboration with partner journals respectively infrastructure experts under your participation.

Requirements: university degree (Bachelor, Master, Diploma) in geoinformatics, computer science or related fields (geography, environmental sciences, data science) with experiences in geospatial data handling; very good knowledge of software development in at least one widespread programming language (e.g., Python, R); experience in programming web-based GI applications (HTML, JavaScript) and APIs, geospatial data infrastructures, testing, and continuous integration; optional experiences in PHP, (Geo)Django, and in the development of FOSS on platforms such as GitHub or GitLab welcome; very good knowledge of English and advanced communication skills; high level of motivation; independent, structured scientific approach; ability to work in a team.

We offer you the opportunity to work on current and exciting geoinformatics research questions and applications in the field of environmental sciences and provide an environment to help you start a scientific career in an innovative, interdisciplinary, nationally and internationally well-connected team. You work together with experienced scientists and software developers. The TU Dresden supports you in many ways, for example within the framework of the graduate academy and through further education offerings.

TUD strives to employ more women in academia and research. We therefore expressly encourage women to apply. The University is a certified family-friendly university and offers a Dual Career Service. We welcome applications from candidates with disabilities. If multiple candidates prove to be equally qualified, those with disabilities or with equivalent status pursuant to the German Social Code IX (SGB IX) will receive priority for employment.

Please submit your detailed application with the usual documents and a listing of your previous research experiences and software development projects by September 18, 2023 (stamped arrival date of the university central mail service or the time stamp on the email server of TUD applies), preferably via the TUD SecureMail Portal https://securemail.tu-dresden.de by sending it as a single PDF file to [email protected] or to: TU Dresden, Fakultät Umweltwissenschaften, Fachrichtung Geowissenschaften, Professur für Geoinformatik, z. Hd. Herrn Dr. Daniel Nüst, Helmholtzstr. 10, 01069 Dresden, Germany. Please submit copies only, as your application will not be returned to you. Expenses incurred in attending interviews cannot be reimbursed.

Reference to data protection: Your data protection rights, the purpose for which your data will be processed, as well as further information about data protection is available to you on the website: https://tu-dresden.de/karriere/datenschutzhinweis.