Research Software Engineer / Senior Research Software Engineer

About us: King’s Digital Lab (KDL - https://kdl.kcl.ac.uk/) is a Research Software Engineering (RSE) team embedded within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at King’s College London. We design and implement systems, infrastructure, tools, and processes needed to produce a heterogeneous range of high quality digital scholarly outputs. As an RSE laboratory, KDL is deeply committed to co-research and is constantly evolving as new tools and methods appear. We have an open, collaborative culture, both within the Lab and with our research partners.

We are a small team that emphasises inclusivity and trust in our staff. We embrace flexible working, including flexible hours and extensive hybrid working – 80% remote and 20% on campus is typical. In‑person work is based in a small open‑plan office on King’s busy Strand campus, operating on a hot‑desking basis in line with our hybrid approach. Whether remote or in-person, we support our staff to ensure they have the right equipment to work safely and effectively.

This flexibility requires mutual trust. Our team members do much of their work independently and we rely on each other to work collaboratively at a distance, checking in and coordinating according to project and team needs.

We encourage applicants to read our blogs to understand more about the culture and working environment.

About the role: Your main responsibility is to develop high-quality code to support product specifications and requirements in collaboration with research leads and the RSE team. You will have expertise in at least one programming language and proficiency in others, along with a keen interest in software development. Your role involves producing research solutions, from algorithms to web applications; you may have specialised skills in areas such as immersive/XR, machine learning, devops, or web development.

You'll have the ability to work independently or as part of large research projects or software engineering teams. A crucial aspect of the role is contributing to e-Research capability within your department, research group, or lab, as well as across the university. Awareness of best practices in software development, digital research methods, and data management is essential.

If you are appointed as a Senior Research Software Engineer, you will have advanced expertise and take a leading role in planning and decision-making related to the research solutions KDL produces.

Within this role, you will have opportunities to expand your skills working with new and emerging technologies across multiple disciplines and sectors. In addition to your core design and development responsibilities, you will be encouraged to develop a personal research agenda and explore opportunities for external funding and collaboration with academic colleagues. Our projects typically span several years, with periods of high and low activity. This means you will be engaged with multiple projects at any given time, across a range of disciplines, supporting academic partners to explore their research questions. Combined with an Agile approach to project management, this offers variety – both in the projects themselves and in the approaches and tools you use.

Success metrics are related to the research question the project is seeking to answer. Most of our work is funded by public research councils; while this means complying with regulatory reporting requirements (e.g. tracking time for charging purposes), it also means you will have opportunities for significant intellectual engagement. You will work with partners to determine the best approaches to meet their requirements, adapting as the project develops.

Interest in and/or skills related to one or more of KDL’s priority Research Themes, particularly in the area of Digital Creativity, would be desirable.

Collaborative engagement is central to our work, and we believe that diversity strengthens our team and the research we support. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and career paths, and encourage candidates to think broadly about their transferable skills, including those gained outside traditional academic or technical routes. We particularly welcome applications from women and gender‑minoritised candidates, candidates from minoritised ethnic backgrounds, and disabled candidates, as they are underrepresented within King’s in this type of role. We are happy to discuss reasonable adjustments at any stage of the process. Alongside our established hybrid working and flexible hours, we are open to conversations, within the scope of the role, about less traditional working arrangements to support individual needs.

Additional references: https://github.com/kingsdigitallab/sdlc-for-rse/wiki/RS-engineer

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract

About you: To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria Expertise with modern web development stacks (Python/Django, JavaScript/TypeScript/Node.js, containerisation, CI/CD pipelines, cloud platforms) and ability to write performant, maintainable, well-tested code following best practices. Experience of making well‑reasoned technical decisions in design, architecture, and development, using appropriate technologies and methodologies. Senior RSE: Advanced skills enabling responsibility for complex technical decisions and technical direction within a project or service. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to handle complex, novel research challenges, with flexibility to thrive in a fast-paced research environment with changing requirements. Excellent collaboration and communication skills, including an inclusive approach, supporting a positive and open team culture and enabling effective collaboration with researchers and team members; Senior RSE: including ability to guide/mentor others. Skills in data modelling for database design for research applications, ensuring flexible, extensible data schemas. Motivation for learning and adopting new technologies when appropriate. Understanding of accessibility, security, privacy, and other critical concerns for research apps. Senior RSE: Advanced proficiency, alongside the ability to provide effective and inclusive leadership, strategic perspective and to advocate for quality in architecture/code.

Desirable criteria Understanding of agile software methodologies and experience leading or participating in sprints/timeboxes. Experience contributing to training, workshops, or knowledge-sharing activities related to software engineering practices, advanced research methods, technical tools, design approaches or accessibility. Knowledge of or experience working in digital humanities, social sciences, or research development within higher education or cultural heritage contexts. Experience with composable architectures (e.g. Jamstack), static web development, progressive enhancement and/or minimal computing. Knowledge of/experience with tools and practices related to one or more KDL’s priority Research Themes, such as: a. Machine learning: methods and how to responsibly apply in applications. b. Data visualisation: methods and techniques to enhance access to complex datasets. c. Digital Creativity: immersive/XR tools such as real time engines (e.g. Godot/Unity/Unreal), WebXR libraries (e.g. three.js,) and 3D modelling tools (e.g. Blender, Maya.) d. Indigenous Digital Humanities: approaches and considerations appropriate for working in a range of cultural contexts and/or with culturally sensitive data.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit: • a copy of your CV • a supporting statement, detailing how you meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description and specifying whether you are primarily applying for the Senior (grade 7) or non-Senior role (grade 6). • A sample of code (in any relevant language) you are proud of writing yourself, along with a brief explanation of your contribution including an account of the main decision you had to make while designing it (with a clear reference to any specific code you mention). o The code sample may be submitted as a URL (web link) or as a document. o Maximum word count for explanation: 100 words. o Acceptable formats are non-prescriptive but could be a link to a public repository, a code sample from previous work (with permission if required), a Jupyter notebook from a past analysis, a published paper technical appendix, or similar.