3D Heritage Researcher & Technologist — Open-Science

Maastricht University; Maastricht; On-site; EUR 55,000 - 66,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

12-month contract

Flexible working hours

Home office allowance

Pension ABP

University sports facilities

Job summary

Maastricht University is seeking a 3D Digital Heritage Researcher and Technologist to bridge humanities, heritage professionals, and software developers in building and refining 3D scholarly models. The role emphasizes co-design with user communities, evaluating 3D web technologies, and prototyping viewer enhancements.

You will work within an international team, contributing to open-source infrastructure, open science practices, and robust scholarly workflows across Europe.

Qualifications

• MA/MSc or PhD in the digital humanities, humanities, social sciences, digital heritage, or related field with at least three years in digital heritage or related area.
• Experience with 3D heritage workflows such as photogrammetry, structure-from-motion, laser scanning, 3D modelling, HBIM, or related.
• Experience gathering user requirements and translating them into technical specs for software developers.
• Experience collaborating across researchers, software engineers, heritage professionals, educators, and institutions in multi-partner projects.
• Excellent written and spoken English (CEFR C1), Dutch knowledge is a plus but not required.

Responsibilities

• Co-design with user communities through labs, hackathons, and training to translate user needs into technical specs.
• Research and evaluate emerging 3D web technologies, annotation frameworks, and repository solutions; provide evidence-based recommendations.
• Prototype 3D viewer enhancements for user feedback before development.
• Support 3D heritage workflows across partners, including digitisation and model optimisation.
• Stay current with 3D web standards and tools (3DHOP, ATON, Kompakt, HBIM) and explore the use of LLMs in coding and 3D workflows.
• Collaborate with the Smithsonian Institution to extend Voyager toolkit and aid in open-source development for 3D model ingestion, QA, versioning, and archiving.

Skills

3D heritage workflows

User-centered development

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

English proficiency

Communication skills

Education

MA/MSc/PhD in digital humanities

Advanced degree

Tools

3DHOP

ATON

Kompakt

HBIM

LLMs

Job description

Maastricht University is seeking a 3D Digital Heritage Researcher and Technologist to bridge humanities, heritage professionals, and software developers in building and refining 3D scholarly models. The role emphasizes co-design with user communities, evaluating 3D web technologies, and prototyping viewer enhancements.

You will work within an international team, contributing to open-source infrastructure, open science practices, and robust scholarly workflows across Europe.