This vacancy is now closed
Job Title Data Analysis Scientist
Job Reference DIA0686/CG
Post Type
Division Science
Salary information Circa £34k - a higher salary may be available for an exceptionally experienced and qualified candidate.
Application deadline 25/03/2012


Job Description

Diamond Light Source is the UK’s national synchrotron science facility. Located at Harwell Science & Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, we enable world-leading research across a wide range of scientific disciplines and industrial applications.

We are looking for a high calibre software scientist to join our dynamic scientific software team to work on visualization and analysis of diffraction and crystallographic data. The team have the responsibility for the provision of advanced data evaluation, analysis and visualization software applications for both internal and external users of Diamond. These applications often exploit the very latest techniques to address the challenging requirements of a broad range of scientific disciplines including macromolecular crystallography through to nanostructures and materials science.
 
You will operate within the scientific software  team of experienced software scientists and engineers and will work with our beamline scientists to identify and define requirements for data analysis and visualization applications and then ensure that they are implemented in a timely and effective way. It is important also to work with our data acquisition team to help optimize the whole scientific process at a Diamond beamline from data acquisition through to the experimenters leaving with high quality experimental results.

The work will also involve enhancing and supporting the core features of a software data analysis workbench (SDA) project at Diamond that we believe may well be the future preferred method of our users analysing their data not only during their visits but also at their home institutes. As SDA is Open Source there may be opportunities to work with collaborators on other similar facilities in the world.

The generic responsibility is to work with the beamline scientists, scientific directors and appropriate theorists to establish software requirements for scientific data reduction and analysis and then to ensure that they are implemented in a timely manner. At the lowest level the process involves both limited project management to expedite software delivery and testing but particularly the writing of cutting edge object oriented software to a very advanced level. A significant competence in mathematical and scientific theoretical topics is required in addition to experience of data visualization and manipulation.

  • Working with the beamline scientists and the data acquisition team to identify and define requirements for the data analysis software;
  • Management and, if necessary, implementation of required software including appropriate documentation and project plans;
  • Work closely with acquisition colleagues to enable the integration of analysis software into the data acquisition process where appropriate;
  • Technical appreciation of software techniques and tools to employ;
  • Use scientific and technical knowledge to understand and implement data analysis and mathematical software;
  • Development and use of collaboration across multidisciplinary teams from potentially geographically separated locations;
  • Produce project plans and documentation;
  • Implement appropriate software testing regimes as part of the development process.

Qualification & Experience - Essential

  • Appropriate Degree or equivalent qualification or experience;
  • Experience of modern programming languages such as Java, C, C++ and Python;
  • Experience or understanding of synchrotron experimentation and data interpretation of diffraction and crystallography;
  • Ability and initiative to get to the heart of the problem and take it effectively through to completion;
  • Ability to supervise or mentor small teams of more junior technical or administrative roles;
  • 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.

Qualification & Experience - Desirable

  • Higher Degree in an appropriate discipline;
  • Ability to supervise or mentor small teams of more junior technical or administrative roles;
  • Background in using advanced mathematics and software engineering techniques for application development;
  • Requires significant practical experience in a professional, scientific or technical field;
  • Project management experience;
  • Use of software development frameworks and applications such as Eclipse;
  • Available to travel occasionally in UK and overseas including overnight absences.

 

Further Information

Applying for employment

For further details on applying for employment at Diamond, please visit our 'Application Form' page.

Appointments will be made depending on the skills and experience of the candidate. Electronic Diamond application forms in MS-Word are preferred. These should be emailed to recruitment@diamond.ac.uk



Other information