Senior Scientific Software Developer

Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE); Reading; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job description

Senior Scientific Software Developer

Closing Date: 15th April 2025

Location: RG7 4RS, located between Reading and Basingstoke, with free onsite parking.

Due to the classified nature of the work involved, there are limited opportunities to work from home in this role. It is anticipated that the successful candidate will spend the majority of their time working on site at AWE Blacknest.

Package: £46,130 - £65,000 depending on your suitability, qualifications, and level of experience)

A relocation package may be available (terms and conditions apply).

Working pattern: AWE operates a 9-day working fortnight. We will consider flexible working requests so that your work may fit in with your lifestyle. Just let us know your preferred working pattern on your application.

Let us introduce the role

AWE is looking to recruit a Senior Scientific Software Developer to work on the Nuclear Treaty Verification programme, supporting AWE's national nuclear security role.

You will work as part of a team advising the UK Government on the technical verification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) (https://www.ctbto.org/).

For over 60 years, AWE Blacknest has been the home of the Forensic Seismology Team and since the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996, the home of the UK National Data Centre (UK NDC) too.

We are looking for a versatile software developer to assist with the following:

1. Developing and maintaining software to manage and provide access to AWE Blacknest's extensive archive of both historic and real-time seismo-acoustic waveform data and associated metadata, (https://bdsweb.blacknest.gov.uk/search)
2. Software development of the UK National Data Centre for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)
3. Assessment of CTBT International Data Centre products, e.g., event bulletins, through processing, evaluating and providing feedback on those products and the capabilities of the CTBT International Monitoring System

Who are we looking for?

We do need you to have the following:

1. a PhD or a BSc/MSc in a physical or computing science, or other numerate discipline plus at least 4 years relevant experience.

Whilst not to be considered a tick list, we'd like you to have experience in some of the following:

1. The ability to programme in C, C++, Fortran, or a similar high-level language.
2. Experience in software development and software testing
3. Experience of technical project management and/or delivery and of organising work in a research environment.
4. Proficiency with Unix-like operating systems (Linux, macOS)
5. Ability to capture software requirements and produce appropriate implementations.
6. Experience of relational database management and SQL
7. Experience of handling large data sets (in particular geophysical data and time-series data)
8. Experience with web application development and web standards
9. Familiarity with software engineering tools and best practices (version control, collaborative software development, testing, documentation)
10. Experience with scripting languages - e.g., bash, python

We are keen to hear from self-motivated individuals with good communication and presentation skills, who are also able to work independently and unsupervised, as well as within a team to achieve common goals. The successful candidate will be required to work collaboratively with both the UK NDC scientists and the UK NDC operations team, so the ability to understand their needs and to be able to translate these into code is essential. You'll also be comfortable working in diverse teams with differing technical skills and backgrounds. Some UK and or overseas travel may be involved.

Some reasons we think you'll love it here:

AWE has wide range of benefits to suit you. These include:

1. 9-day working fortnight - meaning you get every other Friday off work, in addition to 270 hours of annual leave.
2. Market leading contributory pension scheme (we will pay between 9% and 13% of your pensionable pay depending on your contributions).
3. Family friendly policies: Maternity Leave - 39 Weeks Full Pay and Paternity Leave - 4 Weeks Full Pay.
4. Opportunities for Professional Career Development including funding for annual membership of a relevant professional body.
5. Employee Assistance Programme and Occupational Health Services.
6. Life Assurance (4 x annual salary).
7. Discounts - access to savings on a wide range of everyday spending.
8. Special Leave Policy including paid time off for volunteering, public service (including reserve forces) and caring.

The 'Working at AWE' page on our website is where you can find full details in the 'AWE Benefits Guide'.