Software Engineer

ETH Zurich is one of the world’s leading universities specialising in science and technology. It is renowned for its excellent education, its cutting-edge fundamental research and its efforts to put new knowledge and innovations directly into practice.  Scientific Software and Data Management (SSDM), part of Scientific IT Services (SIS) within central IT, develops software and data management solutions for research projects across the ETH domain, and provides a stimulating, flexible and family-friendly working environment. It is located in Zurich and Basel.

Scientific Software and Data Management (SSDM) is part of ETH's central IT department.  It comprises software engineers from diverse backgrounds who develop software to support research projects across a broad spectrum of ETH's academic departments, including biology, physics, engineering, economics, architecture and more. 

We are participating in a consortium with other Swiss institutions to enhance human genomic research by providing a secure, legally compliant environment for the deposition and access of sensitive Swiss genomic data. For this, we are seeking a person to act as the primary developer of the data pipeline software.

The existing Swiss FEGA data pipeline software is based on a community code developed by the Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration: https://github.com/neicnordic/sensitive-data-archive

Your main duties will be to contribute to the development of the data pipeline software and to collaborate with the operation team for the system integration and operation. The result will be a production-ready service that will be open to the Swiss academic network by end of 2025.

Our technology base is broad, following diverse needs from customers (professors and postdocs), therefore a proficiency in several technologies is an asset.  More importantly, a desire and ability to learn new skills is vital for the role, as are good communication skills.

Required Skills

• A degree in computer science, mathematics, science or engineering
• A minimum of 3 years working with Java
• Experience in at least one other language
• Experience developing in Linux
• Familiarity with CI tools such as Docker, Git
• Good communication skills in English
• A team player who interacts well with other developers as well as customers
• A strong desire to learn new skills

Strongly Desirable Skills (at least some of the following)

• A higher degree
• Familiarity with Go
• Python experience

Nice Skills to Have

• Web development experience with Python or Java
• Javascript/Typescript experience

We offer a stimulating, multicultural working environment with colleagues from a variety of disciplines.  We do not have rigid job roles, nor much bureaucracy.  You will have the opportunity to design and architect solutions and work with some of the best scientists in their fields. 

SIS operates in a hybrid home-office mode, with up to 3 days per week working from home. Hours are flexible, subject to customer, team and project needs.

The position is initially for a duration of 1 year with the possibilty of renewal.