Job Opportunity: Software Research & Development Engineer
The Swiss Data Science Center (SDSC) is a national research infrastructure in data science and artificial intelligence (AI) within the ETH domain, established by EPFL and ETH Zurich. Our mission is to support academic labs, hospitals, industry, and public sector stakeholders at every stage of their data science journey—from data collection and management to machine learning, AI, and industrialization. With a multidisciplinary team spread across Lausanne, Zurich, and Villigen, we provide unparalleled expertise and services across various domains, including health and biomedical sciences, energy and sustainability, climate and environment, and large-scale scientific infrastructures.
We are currently seeking a Software Research & Development Engineer to join our project-based engineering team in Zürich. This team is dedicated to transforming research outcomes into production-ready data science infrastructure, operating in a complementary role to platform teams by exploring, building, and validating solutions prior to their adoption as sustainable services.
Key Responsibilities
- Engage in early-phase exploration and prototyping, shaping solution spaces, testing approaches, and making technical choices.
- Contribute to Minimum Viable Product (MVP) development, creating operational, reusable components that can transition into production environments.
- Collaborate with engineers across the stack to build end-to-end solutions, primarily focusing on backend, data, and infrastructure components.
- Ensure project continuity by transitioning successful MVPs into production working closely with internal platform teams and partner IT units.
- Co-design solutions with users and domain experts, participating in workshops to iteratively refine requirements into robust implementations.
Qualifications
We welcome candidates at various experience levels. Whether you are at the start of your career or already experienced, your approach to problem-solving and collaboration is what truly matters:
- An enjoyment of building practical systems and navigating ambiguity while engaging with stakeholders.
- A commitment to quality, clarity, and long-term usability, along with maintaining security by design and following best practices.
- A background in software engineering, data engineering, or related fields, with a strong interest in data-intensive systems.
- A solid foundation in software or data engineering, typically acquired through a Master's degree or higher (e.g., PhD) in Computer Science or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience. Experience in one of the application domains is a plus but not required.
- Comfort in bridging research, engineering, and operations to ensure successful project sustainability.
- Familiarity with modern software and data engineering practices such as version control, testing, APIs, data pipelines, containerization, and reproducible workflows (e.g., Docker, CI/CD, Nix), with programming knowledge in languages such as Python, Go, Rust, or similar.
- Exposure to data modeling or semantic interoperability (e.g., ontologies, common data models) is a plus.
What We Offer
- A stimulating, collaborative, and cross-disciplinary environment in a world-class research institution.
- Flexible work arrangements.
- Exciting challenges, varied projects, and opportunities for learning and growth.
- An opportunity to pursue your passions and leverage your skills to make an impact on research communities and society.
- The chance to spark your creativity through experimentation and exploration of new technologies.
We encourage you to apply online using the form below. Please note that only applications matching the job profile will be considered.
Start Date
The position is expected to commence on June 1, 2026 (negotiable).
For further information about SDSC, please visit our website. For questions regarding the position, please contact Oksana Riba Grognuz at oksana.riba@epfl.ch. We look forward to receiving your online application!