Senior Research Software Engineer

United States Digital Space LLC; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Whittle Laboratory in West Cambridge is seeking a Senior Research Software Engineer to lead the development of scientific software, infrastructure and interactive tools for aviation research.

The role spans tool development, cloud infrastructure, data pipelines and public-facing web applications; mentoring students and colleagues; and communicating findings to government, industry and the public.

Job description

Are you ready to drive innovation at the intersection of advanced software engineering and sustainable aviation research? The Aviation Impact Accelerator (AIA) at the the company is seeking a Senior Research Software Engineer to join our team at Whittle Laboratory in West Cambridge. As part of this team, you will lead efforts to develop the scientific software, infrastructure and interactive tools that underpin our research and communicate its findings to government, industry and the public.

This is a broad senior engineering role which is technically demanding and intellectually engaging spanning new tool development, support for analyst-led projects, cloud infrastructure, data pipelines and public-facing web applications. We are particularly interested in candidates with an engineering or physical-science background, an understanding of low-order physical systems modelling, and experience deploying and operating web services, ideally using AWS.

The AIA combines physics-based and data-driven modelling to study aviation as an interconnected system. Our software includes modern, typed Python modelling toolboxes and Bilt, an in-house framework for building a causal, composable and unit-aware engineering models, which are deployable to JAX. Much of our development is greenfield, giving team members significant influence over software architecture, engineering practices and technical direction.

The role also offers opportunities to mentor students and colleagues, contribute to reports and publications, and engage with external partners and software contractors where appropriate. We value code quality, testability, automation, and maintainable research software. This role is suitable for engineers looking to deepen their expertise in scientific and data-intensive software while maintaining industry-aligned practices.

If you are eager to contribute your skills to a meaningful mission, we would love to hear from you.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 12 months in the first instance.

Applications are welcome from internal candidates who would like to apply for the role on the basis of a secondment from their current role in the University.

The closing date for applications is Monday 24 August 2026.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.