Senior Research Software Engineer – Breakthrough Listen
2026-10-17T00:00:00
Location: South East England
Region: South East England
Country: GB
Postal Code: KT19 8GY
Type: Any
Institution: University of Oxford
Application Deadline: 2026-11-17T10:00:30.67
Position Overview
Senior Research Software Engineer – Breakthrough Listen
MPLS Doctoral Training Centre, 1-4 Keble Road
The Oxford Research Software Engineering Group (OxRSE – ) is looking to recruit a Senior Research Software Engineer (RSE) to join our team. We work with other research groups across the University of Oxford to create, improve and maintain software used for scientific research and translational projects, as well as providing consulting and training to other researchers on best practices in software development and reproducible research. This post is part of OxRSE’s embedded RSE group within the Department of Physics.
This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing team and work as a Senior RSE on world-leading and impactful projects. For at least the first two years, the RSE will work exclusively on the Breakthrough Listen project in the Department of Physics.
About Breakthrough Listen
Breakthrough Listen (BL) is the world’s most comprehensive Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, operating wideband receivers on leading radio telescopes including the Green Bank Telescope, Parkes, MeerKAT, the Very Large Array, and the Allen Telescope Array. BL is collecting multi-petabyte datasets and developing state-of-the-art pipelines to detect technosignatures (indicators of technology as a proxy for the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence). A primary goal of BL is also to make the data accessible and usable by the broader astronomy and scientific communities, and by the general public. This is a high-impact role at the frontier of astronomy, machine learning, and large-scale scientific computing.
Opportunities and Responsibilities
- Advance your career and contribute to the development of good software practices at a world-leading university.
- After the initial two years, work on a variety of research projects across the Physics subject area and the broader University of Oxford.
- Deliver workshops and training in software development best practices.
- Develop your own technical and research skills, including project management and consultancy.
- Manage projects and supervise RSEs in your senior role.
Candidate Requirements
We are looking for candidates who hold a doctoral degree with a significant software development component, with post-qualification research and software engineering experience. Candidates without a doctoral degree but with substantial software engineering experience in a research environment will also be considered.
You must be able to collaborate effectively with other researchers to design and implement reliable and maintainable software solutions. You should be able to rapidly acquire new skills in programming languages, libraries, and technologies.
Required Skills and Experience
- Substantial experience in Python and web frameworks (especially Django) programming.
- REST API development.
- Linux and shell scripting.
- Implementation, deployment, and management of large (multi-billion row) relational databases.
- Containers and orchestration.
- AI-assisted software development.
- Distributed systems (e.g., Slurm, Kubernetes) and high-performance computing.
Additional Information
This is an open-ended position subject to external funding. It is full-time, but flexible options such as part-time or job sharing will be considered.
Contacts
For further information, please contact Kaustubh Rajwade. Contact Person: Daniel Blanche
Vacancy ID: Contact Phone: Closing Date & Time: 23-Oct-:00
Pay Scale: RESEARCH GRADE 8
Contact Email:
#s1-Gen
The Oxford Research Software Engineering Group (OxRSE – ) is looking to recruit a Senior Research Software Engineer (RSE) to join our team. We work with other research groups across the University of Oxford to create, improve and maintain software used for scientific research and translational projects, as well as providing consulting and training to other researchers on best practices in software development and reproducible research. This post is part of OxRSE’s embedded RSE group within the Department of Physics.This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing team and work as a Senior RSE on world-leading and impactful projects. For at least the first two years, the RSE will work exclusively on the Breakthrough Listen project in the Department of Physics. Breakthrough Listen (BL) is the world’s most comprehensive Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, operating wideband receivers on leading radio telescopes including the Green Bank Telescope, Parkes, MeerKAT, the Very LargeArray, and the Allen Telescope Array. BL is collecting multi-petabyte datasets and developing state-of-the-art pipelines to detect technosignatures (indicators of technology as a proxy for the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence). A primary goal of BL is also to make the data accessible and usable by the broader astronomy and scientific communities, and by the general public. This is a high-impact role at the frontier of astronomy, machine learning, and large-scale scientific computing.We offer RSEs the potential to advance their career and to make a significant contribution to the development of good software practices at a world-leading university. The successful candidate will, following the initial two year period, have the opportunity to work on a variety of research projects across the Physics subject area and the broader University of Oxford. They will also have the opportunity to deliver workshops and training in software development best practices, and further
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