Brief Description

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is one of Europe’s largest research organisations. We’re trusted to support, enable and undertake pioneering projects in an amazing diversity of fields. Through world-class facilities and people, we’re driving ground-breaking advances in science, technology and Engineering.

STFC is one of nine organisations that have been brought together to create UK Research and Innovation (UKRI); anew organisation with a vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation.

Each year we offer opportunities to undergraduate sandwich students to gain practical experience, working alongside technical experts at the forefront of scientific research. We offer an invaluable experience with exposure to world class science and technology, and the opportunity to develop working relationships that continue well after your placement has finished.

The ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is a world-leading centre for research in the physical and life sciences. It is owned and operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. ISIS produces beams of neutrons and muons to study materials at the atomic level using a modern suite of neutron and muon instrumentation. It supports a national and international community of more than 2000 scientists who use neutrons and muons for research in physics, chemistry, materials science, geology, engineering, and biology. Computing lies at the heart of many ISIS activities, from user office management, experiment planning, data acquisition through to data analysis and management.

ISIS raw data and meta information about these are automatically catalogued. Furthermore, treated versions of raw data are planned to get automatically catalogued. This role is to support a range of software that enables this and building data processing pipelines. The technologies used for this include Python, web services, Django, virtualisation, exposure to databases, applications HTTP servers, enterprise technologies such as Active MQ, and a wide range of Linux and Windows technologies.

List of Duties & Responsibilities

This placement will involve the design, programming, testing, deployment and documentation of data engineering pipelines and data systems to meet the data processing and data management needs of the facility and scientists.

Personal Skills and Attributes

You should be studying computer science, software engineering or any other IT related discipline, combined with significant exposure to software development. Experience with creating scripts in Python or similar and knowledge of object oriented software development are essential.

The placement will be in the Scientific Software group at ISIS facility, and will involve contact with developers and project managers in Scientific Computing Department, as well as ISIS scientists and users.

For further information about the position, please contact Anders.Markvardsen@stfc.ac.uk

https://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/Meet-the-20182019-ISIS-Sandwich-Students.aspx

https://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/ISIS-Sandwich-Students-201718–12-months-on.aspx

Organization Description

The Science and Technology Facilities Council is a world-leading multi-disciplinary science organisation, and our goal is to deliver economic, societal, scientific and international benefits to the UK and its people – and more broadly to the world.

Shortlisting and Interview Criteria

Essential:  

• at university, enrolled on an undergraduate degree course and required or have requested to take a year out of studies to gain experience within industry (S)
• studying for a degree in computer science, software engineering or a strongly related subject (S)
• right to live and work in the UK (S)
• excellent knowledge of a scripting language such as Python (S&I)
• good knowledge of object-oriented programming (S&I)
• good knowledge of software development methodologies (S&I)
• good knowledge of software design patterns and techniques (S&I)
• excellent written and oral communication skills (S&I)
• demonstrate good team working capabilities (S&I)
• the willingness to learn new skills, both technical and non-technical  (S&I)
• open minded and flexible in relation to the type of work assigned to them  (S&I)

Desirable:

• good knowledge of version control systems such as git or svn (S&I)
• good knowledge of web development technologies or frameworks (S&I)
• good knowledge of data engineering (S&I)
• good knowledge of Linux and Windows (S&I)

In addition to the competitive salary, an excellent index linked pension scheme and generous leave allowance are offered. Full details of offered benefits can be found on STFC’s careers pages.

To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a full and comprehensive background and pre-employment check as an essential part of the recruitment process.

Applications are handled by UK Shared Business Services. To apply please download the application form and save it to your pc. You must upload the completed form and a copy of your CV. Please save all your documents with the IRC reference number in the filename and your name.

STFC Sandwich Student Application Form

You must be on a sandwich degree and be taking the industrial placement as a recognised sandwich year to be eligible. You must also have the right to work in the UK. Please ensure that you include a reference from your University as part of your application form.

You can apply for up to three Sandwich student placements; this will require you to complete ONE application form however please ensure that you upload the application form to all three placements and save the relevant reference number(e.g. IRC205817) in the filename of each application that you upload.

Closing date: 3rd March 2019

Interview/assessment date: 2nd April 2019

As this job does not fulfil the Home Office Code of Practice criterion for obtaining sponsored migrant worker status we will be unable to apply for sponsorship for anyone not eligible to work in the UK.  At interview, all shortlisted candidates are required to bring with them identification documents and original documents that prove they hold or can obtain the right to work in the UK. You can check your eligibility here: https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa/y

We want to make our application process as easy for you as we possibly can. If you experience any problems in applying for this job, or have any feedback for us about the application process, please contact our Recruitment Hotline on 01793867000 (8.30am – 5.00pm Monday to Friday).Please quote the appropriate IRC reference number when calling.

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