Research Software Engineer (m/f/d)

As the German National Library of Science and Technology our future-oriented services ensure the infrastructural requirements for a high-quality supply of information and literature for research in science and industry. With the Open Research Knowledge Graph ( ORKG ), we are working to revolutionise the exchange and use of scientific knowledge in the digital age.

The Technische Informationsbibliothek ( TIB ) – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology – Program Area C, Research and Development, is looking to employ a

Research Software Engineer (m/f/d)

to work in the Open Science Lab starting as of the next possible date.

The Open Science Lab ( OSL ) of the TIB is concerned with the development towards digital, open and collaborative science and supports scientific and cultural institutions by developing and testing new methods and software tools together with their communities. We are looking for a communicative and entrepreneurial person with a strong technical background to support the activities of the OSL in national and internationally-funded projects primarily focusing on research data management and open science for the cultural heritage sector.

• The main objective of your work will be the orchestration, deployment and administration of open source knowledge management software like Mediawiki, Wikibase, OpenRefine, Antelope and Kompakkt. In the context of third-party funded projects, OSL works with many partners whose data needs span complex 3D models, A/V files, entire digitised cultural heritage corpora, and more. These partners will use services like Wikibase as repository infrastructure, and may require various extensions and customizations in their individual repositories, as well as the design and development of workflows for software as well as data backups, updates and synchronisation. You will be part of a multidisciplinary team and will have an opportunity to be an active voice in strategic discussions around the roadmap and development of services at OSL and TIB at large.
• Your tasks:
• Orchestration, deployment and administration of the open source software services developed at OSL.
• Design, development and implementation of data workflows within the above-mentioned software tools.
• Design, development and maintenance of software extensions within the above-mentioned software tools.
• Technical support of OSL partner institutions who use and/ or deploy OSL services.
• Contributing to testing, bug reporting, updating and documentation of OSL services.
• Contributing to the facilitation of technical meetings and workshops delivered within relevant working groups and project committees.

• Your profile
• You have at least a completed university degree at Bachelor’s level (or an equivalent degree from a University of Applied Sciences) preferably in computer science or a related field.
• You have gained relevant professional experience working in an agile software development environment, particularly with web-based applications and collaboratively maintained open source projects.
• You are fluent in one or more of the following programming languages: Java, Python, JavaScript, PHP.
• You are experienced in version management based on Git.
• You are willing to learn new technologies and languages.
• You are a strong communicator and team player with a pronounced service mindset, a service-oriented attitude and organisational skills.
• You are proactive, flexible and able to work independently and responsibly.
• You have very good written and spoken English skills.
• Desirable additions to your profile
• Enthusiasm for technical and scientific topics with strong practical relevance for the cultural heritage and research data management communities.
• Interest in collaborating with domain specialist communities, understanding their needs and translating these requirements into high-quality digital services.
• Experience with the Wikiverse (Wikidata, Wikibase, MediaWiki) for collaborative knowledge management.
• Experience with Docker containerization.
• Professional experience in DevOps and/ or systems administration.
• Experience writing clear and concise software documentation, particularly in collaborative environments.
• Good written and spoken German skills are an advantage, but not a requirement.