Software Engineer - AI

Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford; Oxford; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading research institute in Oxford is looking for Software Engineers to develop robust software systems supporting scientific initiatives. The ideal candidate has experience in Python and distributed systems, along with a collaborative spirit to work with multi-disciplinary teams. This role involves end-to-end software development from design to deployment, ensuring high availability and performance. Attractive benefits include enhanced holiday pay, pension, and private medical insurance, promoting a supportive workplace culture.

Benefits

Enhanced holiday pay

Pension

Life Assurance

Income Protection

Private Medical Insurance

Hospital Cash Plan

Therapy Services

Perk Box

Electric Car Scheme

Qualifications

• Extensive experience as a Software Engineer with proficiency in Python.
• Experience in implementing scalable distributed systems in production.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing clean, well-documented APIs (e.g., REST, gRPC).

Responsibilities

• Design and build robust backend services and APIs for scientific applications.
• Own the full production path from architectural design to deployment.
• Collaborate within a multi-disciplinary team of engineers and scientists.

Skills

Python

Software Engineering

Collaboration

System Design

Education

MSc or equivalent experience in Computer Sciences or Software Engineering

Tools

Kubernetes

CI/CD pipelines

Distributed computing frameworks

Job description

The Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) Oxford's purpose is to have a global impact by fundamentally reimagining the way science and technology translate into end-to-end solutions and delivering these solutions in programmes and platforms that respond to humanity's most challenging problems.

EIT Oxford will ensure scientific discoveries and pioneering science are turned into products for the benefit of society that can have high‑impact worldwide and, over time, be commercialised to ensure long‑term sustainability.

Led by a world‑class faculty of scientists, technologists, policy makers, economists and entrepreneurs, the Ellison Institute of Technology aims to develop and deploy commercially sustainable solutions to solve some of humanity's most enduring challenges. Our work is guided by four Humane Endeavours: Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology, Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change & Managing Atmospheric CO² and Artificial Intelligence & Robotics.

Set for completion in 2027, the EIT Campus in Littlemore will include more than 300,000 sq ft of research laboratories, educational and gathering spaces. Fuelled by growing ambition and the strength of Oxford's science ecosystem, EIT is now expanding its footprint to a 2 million sq ft Campus across the western part of The Oxford Science Park. Designed by Foster + Partners led by Lord Norman Foster, this will become a transformative workplace for up to 7,000 people, with autonomous laboratories, purpose‑built laboratories including a plant sciences building and dynamic spaces to spark interdisciplinary collaboration.

The Role

We are seeking Software Engineers to build robust, scalable software systems that power EIT's scientific initiatives. You will contribute to the full software lifecycle—from architectural design and API development to testing and deployment—ensuring our technology stack is reliable, modular, and built to the highest engineering standards.

Day‑to‑Day, you might:

• Design and build robust backend services, APIs, and software modules that power scientific applications and products.
• Bridge diverse components, integrating ML inference servers, hardware interfaces, and data pipelines into cohesive systems, while ensuring high availability and low latency.
• Own the full production path—from architectural design and coding to automated testing, benchmarking, deployment, and observability.
• Collaborate effectively within a multi‑disciplinary team of Data Engineers, AI Scientists, Software Engineers and Domain Experts.
• Champion software engineering best practices maintaining high standard of code quality, system security, and transparency.

What makes you a great fit:

• MSc or equivalent experience in Computer Sciences, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Extensive experience as a Software Engineer, with required proficiency in Python, including proven success in implementing and deploying robust, scalable distributed systems in production.
• Demonstrated experience designing, managing, and orchestrating complex systems involving scalable data infrastructure, hardware interfaces, and machine learning models. Expertise in defining and exposing functionality via clean, well‑documented APIs (e.g., REST, gRPC).
• Proven experience implementing and managing robust CI/CD pipelines and reproducible development workflows.
• Strong collaborator able to clearly communicate system design, architecture decisions, and software engineering practices to multi‑disciplinary teams.

You may also have:

• Experience leveraging Kubernetes for application deployment, and familiarity with distributed computing frameworks (e.g., Ray, Spark), or specialised batch schedulers/resource managers (e.g., Slurm, Volcano, Kueue).
• Demonstrated expertise with specialised serving engines (e.g., vLLM, Triton) or techniques for deploying models in resource‑constrained or high‑throughput environments.
• Experience managing and deploying production systems across diverse environments, including cloud, on‑premises clusters, and edge devices.
• Proven ability to thrive in fast‑paced, dynamic R&D settings, demonstrating high autonomy necessary to translate scientific objectives into high‑quality software.

Benefits

• Enhanced holiday pay
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electric Car Scheme

Why work for EIT

At the Ellison Institute, we believe a collaborative, inclusive team is key to our success. We are building a supportive environment where creative risks are encouraged, and everyone feels heard. Valuing emotional intelligence, empathy, respect, and resilience, we encourage people to be curious and to have a shared commitment to excellence. Join us and make an impact!