Research Platform Engineer - Backend & AI Infra

National University of Singapore; Singapore; On-site; SGD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

The National University of Singapore invites applications for the position of Research Assistant (Backend & Platform Engineer) for Horizons Office, School of Computing (SoC).

This role is strongly committed to research excellence in all its dimensions: searching for fundamental results and insights, developing novel computational solutions to a wide range of applications, building large-scale experimental systems and improving the well-being of society.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a relevant discipline.
• At least 3 years of relevant backend/platform/infrastructure engineering experience.
• Strong experience with Python, PostgreSQL, Linux, Docker, infrastructure as code, and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Experience with distributed jobs, queues, Redis, and observability.
• Experience developing or operating AI-powered applications or systems.
• Ability to diagnose performance and reliability issues across the stack.
• Interest in research in AI/ML and large-scale experimental systems.
• Pragmatic approach suited to a small, early-stage team.

Responsibilities

• Deploy and operate backend services, databases, workers, and AI infrastructure.
• Help build and improve data ingestion, processing, and matching workflows.
• Optimize PostgreSQL schemas, queries, migrations, backups, and performance.
• Make agent and ingestion jobs durable, recoverable, and safe across multiple workers.
• Contribute to Python backend services and internal tools where needed.
• Improve monitoring, logging, reliability, and production performance.
• Work closely with the Principal Investigator and lab members to support research projects, turning experimental workflows into robust, reproducible backend systems.
• Support research activities such as running experiments, data collection and processing, and documenting systems and results.

Skills

Python

PostgreSQL

Linux

Docker

Infrastructure as code

AWS

GCP

Azure

Distributed jobs

Redis

Observability

AI-powered apps

Performance diagnostics

Research orientation

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a relevant discipline

Tools

Docker

Job description

The National University of Singapore invites applications for the position of Research Assistant (Backend & Platform Engineer) for Horizons Office, School of Computing (SoC).

This role is strongly committed to research excellence in all its dimensions: searching for fundamental results and insights, developing novel computational solutions to a wide range of applications, building large-scale experimental systems and improving the well-being of society.