Diamond Light Source is the largest scientific facility to be built in the UK for over thirty years. The facility consists of three accelerators which provide high brightness photon beams through beamlines to experimental stations.  Diamond is now operational with an initial complement of 29 experimental stations and a further three in design and construction. 

The accelerators and photon beamlines are controlled through a distributed, heterogeneous computing environment, using embedded systems for direct control of the instrumentation, together with Linux workstations for the operator interfaces. The software makes extensive use of the open source EPICS Control System tool kit (https://www.aps.anl.gov/epics). The client side high-level applications comprise general-purpose tools for synoptic display management, alarm handling, archiving, scripting, relational database, as well as bespoke tools to control the operation and characterization of the accelerators, and real-time feedback systems to control beam characteristics.

This role will provide leadership and management of the High Level Applications Team, together with the technical development and support of software the team is responsible for. This will cover design, development, commissioning and operational support of high level applications, tools and processes to support the design, development and operation of the accelerators. The duties will involve working closely with other members of the Control System Group, members of the other technical groups in Diamond to capture requirements, specify and develop software applications.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide technical direction and vision for the accelerator high-level applications;
• Responsible for the operation of accelerator high-level applications including managing fault analysis and improvement programmes to achieve continuous improvement in operational reliability;
• Responsible for accelerator high-level applications developments, involving interfacing with internal customers, including Directors, Team Leaders, and Group Leaders, at all stages of the development life cycle to, for example, developing requirements, tracking project progress, and verify operation of accelerator control systems;
• Lead the High Level Applications Team in close collaboration with other teams within Controls and Diamond;
• Line management of the High Level Applications Team (staff and contractors);
• Manage technical/progress meetings of High Level Applications Team;
• Project planning and coordination of projects relating to accelerator high-level applications;
• To ensure all software developments are compliant with Diamond processes;
• Contribute to the processes, policies and associated software development and data management to support the design/operation of computer and Control Systems throughout Diamond;
• Report on progress in all areas on a periodic basis;
• Maintain a current knowledge of the control systems, on other, comparable, beamline and accelerator projects around the world. Communicate details of control system developments within Diamond and to other projects;
• Mentor and train engineers as required.

• Honours degree in physics, Electrical or Electronic Engineering, Computer science or equivalent other degree plus relevant experience;
• Good leadership ability;
• Ability to effectively manage a team;
• Ability to effectively undertake project planning and management;
• Ability to manage the development of software in a complex environment;
• Good interpersonal, communication and presentational skills;
• Ability to produce effective management project briefings to senior staff and directors;
• Self-motivated, interested in keeping pace with software developments, and best practice techniques;
• Ability to interact effectively with staff at all levels;
• Ability and initiative to solve problems;
• Understanding of the external environment and awareness of best practice / new technologies within the field of control systems;
• Extensive experience in the software design and/or programming of industrial or scientific systems;
• Knowledge and experience in modern programming languages and techniques;
• Experience in developing software in a real time distributed control environment;
• Knowledge and experience of developing in a Unix environment;
• Knowledge and experience of developing with a source code control and structured release environment;
• Experience of using software testing and debugging tools effectively and developing automated test harnesses;
• Knowledge and experience of the operation of accelerators;
• Knowledge and experience of the EPICS toolkit;
• Knowledge and experience of the Java and C languages;
• Be willing to work overtime at unsociable hours as required;
• Be willing to travel in the UK and abroad, including occasional periods away from home;
• Be prepared to undertake further training.

• Appreciation of the physics of electron accelerators.