Diamond Light Source is a new synchrotron and a leading scientific facility of its type in the world. Located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in South Oxfordshire, we host facilities supporting cutting edge research in all fields of science. 

You will be working with leading scientists in the field of Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) and within a strong team of software engineers to develop software and graphical user interfaces for the collection and initial evaluation of data leading to the knowledge of the structures and functions of proteins and related materials. This will involve the implementation of leading edge Java software to allow fast, user friendly and efficient data collection and evaluation techniques. A further component will be to assist in the incorporation of a variety of advanced data analysis software into the overall systems.

We are looking for an individual of graduate calibre with a sound grasp of Java. Experience of C++, Python and the Eclipse framework would be an advantage. You should also be capable of working as part of a multidisciplinary, multi-site team and willing to travel in the UK and overseas.

Implement, support and enhance software for Data Acquisition applicable to all Diamond Beamlines but mainly to those for Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) initially. The role holder will work closely with the beamline scientists and users of Diamond to examine their user operation, firstly to establish requirements for data acquisition and then ensure that they are implemented.

• Share the first line support of the software for MX interacting closely with both beamline staff and external users;
• Participate in the implementation of the data acquisition software for one or more Diamond beamlines under the mentoring of more senior members (initially for MX)
• Use particular scientific experience to participate actively in the use and direct support of Diamond’s Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) beamlines first to establish requirements and then to manage the implementation of software to improve and extend functionality;
• Writing and implementation of software on MX beamlines under the mentoring of more senior group members;
• Writing scripting software for the control of instrumentation associated with MX;
• Core GDA code development where appropriate;
• Collation and subsequent analysis of MX data;
• Help research and participate in improvements to data acquisition processes on supported beamlines (generally, but not uniquely associated to GDA);
• Define, document and implement testing strategies for data acquisition software;
• Provide direct support to users of the beamline facility acting occasionally as local contact for visiting scientists. 

• Experience of modern programming languages such as Java, C, C++ and Python.
• Ability and initiative to get to the heart of the problem and take it effectively through to completion;
• Good interpersonal, communication  and presentational skills;
• Enjoys team work;
• Self motivated, interested in keeping pace with software testing best practises;
• Ability to interact effectively with staff at all levels;

• Experience of UNIX-like operating systems and their administration;
• Experience of interfacing software to hardware;
• Ability to supervise or mentor small teams of more junior technical or administrative roles;
• Use of software development frameworks and applications such as Eclipse;
• Background in using software engineering techniques for development;
• Require significant practical experience in a professional, scientific or technical field;
• Project management experience;
• Available to travel occasionally in UK and overseas including overnight absences.