•Excellent written and spoken English. •Flexibility to travel nationally and
internationally. •Applicants must have an existing legal right to work in the UK. •
Driving ...
Assimila Ltd Reading Enterprise Centre The University of Reading Earley Gate Reading RG6 6BU
JOB DESCRIPTION: Scientific Software Engineer Assimila Ltd is has recently won a number of projects that require scientific software implementation. We are seeking to recruit a software engineer with a scientific background (ideally in Earth observation or physical sciences) and with experience in software engineering methods, and ideally with experience of ESA standards. We are a small company and are looking for someone with broadly based experience who can fulfil a number of roles including managing the software engineering process as well as some code implementation. The role offers an excellent opportunity to help build new applications in Earth Observation with opportunities to contribute to business development. Main duties and responsibilities:
Work collaboratively with project scientists to implement EO data processing algorithms
Take responsibility for software processes, testing and documentation
System specification and architectural design for new EO applications
Support the specification, procurement and maintenance of development environment and target implementation hardware
Salary and Conditions Full time, starting salary: c. £35,000 - 45,000 depending on experience. We will consider candidates at a range of levels of experience and would expect more experienced candidates also to have proven ability in business development. Location: Reading, UK Start date: ASAP Applications To apply, please send your CV, with a covering letter including:
A summary of your experience and suitability for the post
Your current role and salary
to:
[email protected] by February 10th 2014. Interviews will be held towards the end of February. If you have any questions or would like to have an informal discussion about the role, please drop us a line at
[email protected].
PERSON SPECIFICATION Job Title: Scientific Software Engineer
Criteria Education
Essential Degree in a quantitative / physical science
Desirable MSc or PhD in a quantitative / physical science Training in software engineering
Skills and Experience
Experience with formal software engineering methods and standards Fluency in one or more high level programming languages, and good knowledge of UNIX Experience in implementing numerically intensive scientific algorithms and models algorithms Excellent knowledge of the application of Earth observation to environmental science Experience in a commercial environment and / or working to contract milestones and schedules
Prior project experience working to ESA standards Experience in implementing in Python UNIX system administration experience Understanding of the basic concepts of Data Assimilation Experience of virtualisation / implementation in cloud environments Experience in proposal writing.
Disposition
Self-motivated, independent worker Good team-working and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with scientists Innovative and keen to help develop new EO applications
Other
Excellent written and spoken English Flexibility to travel nationally and internationally Applicants must have an existing legal right to work in the UK
Driving license
ANNEX: Example Project Descriptions 1. Land data assimilation This project is intended to advance the state of the art in EO data assimilation in land surface processes. The project will build on existing tools and research results to use EO data to improve estimation of some key environmental parameters, notably land surface and vegetation status, and carbon fluxes. We are building on a significant existing code base in Python which will be extended in the project, and implemented in a cloud environment. 2. Integrating EO and meteorological and environmental data for crop health monitoring Assimila will shortly be starting a new project to trial a system linking Earth observation and meteorological information with data on crop pests and diseases. The objective is to establish correlations between specific crop pests and antecedent environmental conditions and then to develop a predictive capability. The project is currently in a feasibility study phase which requires IT infrastructure and software definition and design. 3. Modelling Greenhouse Gas emissions Assimila is part of a team developing a service to improve estimates of greenhouse gas emissions by measurement of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. A chemical transport and data assimilation model to perform the emissions estimations has been implemented by a partner University. In the next phase of the project the model will need to be operationalised and implemented in a cloud computing environment.
