Are you ready to drive innovation at the intersection of cutting-edge software engineering and sustainable aviation research? The Aviation Impact Accelerator (AIA) at the University of Cambridge is seeking a Senior Research Software Engineer to join our team. Based at the Whittle Laboratory in West Cambridge, you'll lead efforts to develop robust, interactive tools that disseminate our analyses and transform aviation research, while engaging with key stakeholders to drive meaningful impact.
The Aviation Impact Accelerator (AIA) uses a combination of physics-based and data-driven modelling to develop its first-order models of the aviation sector and beyond. These models compose to create a single comprehensive systems-of-systems model. In contrast to most academic modelling, we lean heavily on functional programming as a paradigm as this, along with computer algebra, immutability, and more, allows the computational implementations of our models to align more closely with their mathematics. The AIA's modelling toolboxes (there is broadly one per aviation system being modelled) are written in modern typed Python. About 90% of our current software development is greenfield, meaning that everyone helps shape the architecture of, and idioms used in, our codebases.
The role involves leading and contributing to the design, development, and maintenance of the AIA's software platform for building and analysing complex systems models. Working within a multidisciplinary team of researchers, modellers, analysts, and software engineers, you will help shape engineering standards and best practices across the software lifecycle. You will contribute to impactful industrial and government-facing research projects with opportunities to influence both research direction and production-grade software.
The work is technically demanding and intellectually engaging: the software platform spans scientific and high-performance computing, data-intensive pipelines, cloud infrastructure, and interactive web applications for visualising high-dimensional data.
The role also offers opportunities to mentor students and colleagues, contribute to reports and publications, and engage with external partners and software contractors where appropriate. We value code quality, testability, automation, and maintainable research software. This role is suitable for engineers looking to deepen their expertise in scientific and data-intensive software while maintaining industry-aligned practices.
What You'll Do
* Lead the design and delivery of robust, scalable scientific software systems.
* Develop high-quality, maintainable Python code aligned with the AIA's mission.
* Design and optimise data pipelines and cloud-based infrastructures for performance and cost efficiency.
* Mentor and up-skill modellers and analysts, fostering a culture of technical excellence.
* Collaborate with researchers and external stakeholders to align software solutions with project goals.
* Manage small software teams and oversee the delivery of strategic projects on time and within budget.
* Drive continuous integration, testing, documentation, and deployment to maintain the highest software standards.
* Communicate technical concepts effectively to diverse audiences, including non-technical stakeholders.
What We're Looking For
Essential Skills & Experience
* Experience developing scientific software alongside researchers as part of a team, a portion of this experience may have been as part of a software-oriented postgraduate degree.
* Demonstrable success in managing the work programme of a small software team and the delivery of projects to deadlines.
* A record of designing and delivering complex, performant, and maintainable scientific software.
* A passion for mentoring and upskilling other developers.
* An undergraduate degree in a STEM subject like engineering, maths, physics, chemistry, computer science, or similar.
* A deep understanding of Python, particularly more modern features like type hints and up-to-date approaches to packaging.
* Familiarity with packages from the scientific Python ecosystem like NumPy, SciPy, SymPy, JAX, Pandas etc.
* Competence with version control software, specifically Git, and its use as part of a team alongside GitHub.
* A motivation to write and maintain clear, well designed, high quality, best practice software that adheres to our programming standards (both architectural and stylistic), and familiarity with continuous integration (ideally GitHub Actions) and linters/formatters (e.g. Ruff) and static type checkers (e.g. mypy) to achieve this.
* Experience architecting and provisioning simple cloud infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code; we use AWS alongside Terraform.
* An understanding of how to use AI programming tools effectively and when not to use them.
* Enthusiasm to get stuck in assisting with infrequent development and maintenance of simple web apps written in JavaScript/TypeScript.
* Experience or interest in functional programming, graph algorithms, compilers/code generation, numerical methods, or mathematical optimisation is desirable but not essential.
* Evidence of working strategically to develop and deliver technical plans that drive department-wide change.
* Evidence of acquiring an understanding of, and applying, the potential of new technology to deliver business results.
* Ability to develop and maintain their own knowledge in their field.
* Demonstrable track record of shaping, as relevant, policy, strategy and practise in their area.
* Excellent team working skills as well as the ability to work independently.
Education & qualifications
Educated to degree/postgraduate level education/level 7 vocational qualification or possess an equivalent level of experience.
Why Join Us?
At the Whittle Laboratory, you'll join a world-leading team driving sustainable aviation innovation. You'll have the opportunity to:
* Shape the architecture of modern greenfield projects with significant global impact.
* Work alongside pioneering researchers and external collaborators to deliver transformative tools.
* Influence the direction of cutting-edge research through your software expertise.
Ready to Apply?
If you're eager to contribute your skills to a meaningful mission, we'd love to hear from you. Apply now to join the AIA team and play a key role in advancing sustainable aviation solutions.