STUDENT ASSISTANT (all genders) - DATA SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

Fraunhofer; Kaiserslautern; On-site; EUR 24,000 - 30,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Thesis option

Flexible hours

Job summary

Fraunhofer IESE is developing a CEADS data space demonstrator to enable secure data exchange among partners. You will build and run a permanently running reference environment where participants exchange data, and you’ll automate deployment so others can reproduce the setup.

The role emphasizes Java/Gradle, open-source codebases, and collaboration with a European research project. Flexible hours and thesis opportunities are available.

Qualifications

• Studies in computer science or a related field, bachelor’s from the 3rd semester onwards, or master’s
• Confident with Java and Gradle or Maven
• Practical experience with Git, containers and the command line
• You have run something on your own — a project, internship, or course project
• Willingness to work into a large open-source codebase
• Good English (project language, documentation). German is useful but not required

Responsibilities

• Setting up, operating and automating deployment so partners can rebuild it
• Configuring and extending the connectors for new exchange scenarios
• Sample data and small applications that act as data providers and consumers
• Documentation that others can follow, so that procedures stay repeatable
• Debugging a distributed system with multiple interacting components

Skills

Java

Gradle/Maven

Git

Docker

Kubernetes

English

Education

Bachelor's student (3rd semester) or Master's

Tools

Git

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

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STUDENT ASSISTANT (all genders) - DATA SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft ( www.fraunhofer.com ) is one of the world's leading organizations for application-oriented research. 74institutes develop pioneering technologies for our economy and society – more precisely: 30000 people from technology, science, administration and IT. They know: Anyone who comes to Fraunhofer wants to and can make a difference. For themselves, for us and for the markets of today and tomorrow.

In the European research project CEADS (Common European Agricultural Data Space) we are building the technical infrastructure for a federated agricultural data space. Fraunhofer IESE is responsible for the technical architecture and the reference implementation.Data spaces are infrastructures that let organisations exchange data without giving up control over it: who may access which data under which conditions is enforced technically rather than only agreed contractually. The technical basis is the Dataspace Protocol (DSP) and the Eclipse Dataspace Components (EDC) — an open Java ecosystem that is currently the European reference for data space connectors.

Be part of change

You will build and run the CEADS data space demonstrator: a permanently running reference environment in which several participants actually exchange data with each other. The demonstrator is how we show that the architecture works — to project partners, to the Commission, and to ourselves.

What comes up in practice changes as the environment grows. Typical tasks:

• Setting up, operating and automating the deployment so that partners can rebuild it without our help
• Configuring and extending the connectors for new exchange scenarios
• Sample data and small applications that act as data providers and consumers against the environment
• Documentation that others can follow, so that procedures stay repeatable
• Debugging a distributed system in which several components interact

Where your focus ends up depends in part on what suits you and what you enjoy.

What you contribute

• Studies in computer science or a related field, bachelor's from the 3rd semester onwards, or master's
• Confident with Java and Gradle or Maven
• Practical experience with Git, containers and the command line
• You have got something running on your own before — a personal project, an internship, a non-trivial course project
• Willingness to work your way into an unfamiliar, large open-source codebase
• Good English (project language, documentation). German is useful but not required

Nice to have:

• Experience with REST APIs, CI pipelines or infrastructure automation
• Kubernetes or Helm
• Interest in distributed systems, identity and authorisation concepts
• Prior contact with data spaces, Gaia-X, EDC or related topics — not required, we will get you up to speed

What we offer

• Work on a European data infrastructure that is meant to run productively beyond the end of the project
• Current open standards and technologies with relevance well beyond the agricultural domain
• Ownership of a clearly defined area rather than assisting work
• Close supervision and regular technical feedback
• The option of a thesis — both bachelor's and master's theses are possible. Suitable topics emerge from the project work and are shaped together.
• Flexible hours, and we work around exam periods
• Paid at the standard student assistant rates, graded by degree held

The weekly working time is 39 hours. This position is also available on a part-time basis. We value and promote the diversity of our employees' skills and therefore welcome all applications – regardless of age, gender, nationality, ethnic and social origin, religion, ideology, disability, sexual orientation and identity. Severely disabled persons are given preference in the event of equal suitability. Our tasks are diverse and adaptable – for applicants with disabilities, we work together to find solutions that best promote their abilities.Remuneration according to the general works agreement for employing assistant staff.

With its focus on developing key technologies that are vital for the future and enabling the commercial utilization of this work by business and industry, Fraunhofer plays a central role in the innovation process. As a pioneer and catalyst for groundbreaking developments and scientific excellence, Fraunhofer helps shape society now and in the future.

For questions, please contact:

Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE

Requisition Number: 85781 Application Deadline: 10/31/2026