Research Software Engineer for Data Integration and Database Development

Job advertisement

Vacancy ID: 189/2026

Closing date: 2026-07-31

The Friedrich Schiller University Jena is a dynamic and innovation-driven university centrally located in Germany. With a broad range of disciplines, it shapes the future through excellent research and teaching. Its scientific excellence is reflected in the profile areas Light – Life – Liberty, which provide pioneering insights and sustainable solutions for the society of tomorrow. Through close collaborations with leading research institutions, innovative companies, and renowned cultural organizations, it advances interdisciplinary developments. With around 17,000 students and approximately 10,000 employees, it defines Jena as a vibrant, internationally connected city of science and innovation.

The Institute of Computer Sciences at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science seeks to fill the position of a

Research Software Engineer for Data Integration and Database Development

commencing on 01 October 2026. We offer a full-time position (40 hours per week), offered as a fixed-term position until 30 June 2030.

The junior research group of Dr. Noriko Cassman offers the position of a research software engineer for data integration and database development within the recently funded Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1768 “VirusREvolution: Decoding tools for virus research”, a highly ambitious research centre at Friedrich Schiller University with the joint goal to develop novel tools for virus discovery, characterisation, regulation, interaction, and visualisation ( virusrevolution.uni-jena.de/) .

In this project, you will work with a data steward and a bioinformatician to integrate the data and tools generated in the CRC, and with the NFDI4Microbiota-funded VirJenDB team ( virjendb.org/ ) to develop visualisations and views ( nfdi4microbiota.de ).

Your responsibilities:

Integration of multimodal datasets and development of visualizations within the web portal

Development of functionalities to connect tools and datasets, to link omics and photonics data for cross-domain exploration, and for visualisation features

Proactively seek feedback from the project researchers to iteratively develop the CRC data visualizations

Engage in regular communication with the database team and CRC data group, and provide extensive training and support to CRC project members

Supervise and support BSc and MSc students working in associated projects

Contribute to research papers and present your work at CRC training events and academic meetings

Your profile:

A highly motivated candidate with a Master of Science or equivalent degree in computer science, bioinformatics, systems biology, machine learning, data science, databases, or a related discipline, or with equivalent work experience

Excellent programming skills (python, C++/Java, MySQL, NoSQL, R, bash)

Experience with fullstack database development, machine learning techniques and/or data science methods

Demonstrated commitment to best coding practices applying FAIR and Open Science principles

Ability to work independently and in a collaborative team

Experience with virology, -omics, imaging, spectral and photonics data is desirable

Excellent communication skills in English are required, both written and spoken; German skills are a plus

We offer:

Embedding in a cross-disciplinary, international, young research group and a large, ambitious research consortium with the joint goal to develop novel tools for virus discovery, charac