Research Software Engineer (m/f/d)

Job advertisement No. 19/2025; application deadline: 16.04.2025

As the German National Library of Science and Technology our future-oriented services ensure the infrastructural requirements for a high-quality supply of information and literature for research in science and industry. With the Open Research Knowledge Graph (ORKG), we are working to revolutionise the exchange and use of scientific knowledge in the digital age.

The Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology – Program Area C, Research and Development, is looking to employ a

Research Software Engineer (m/f/d)

to join the Open Science Lab (OSL) starting as soon as possible.

The position is limited to the duration of the project (TS4NFDI) and ends on 31 December 2026. The regular weekly working time is 19.90 hours (part-time). The remuneration is based on pay scale group 13 TV-L.

Your challenge
Within our Open Science Lab (OSL) we support cultural and scientific institutions by creating innovative methods and open-source tools. Our work involves deploying, developing, and maintaining open-source tools like Mediawiki, Wikibase, and OpenRefine to meet the diverse data needs of researchers. Beside that we develop tools to support the semantic annotation of data which enables our partners to create powerful knowledge systems out of their existing data.

We work with many partners whose data needs span complex 3D models, A/V files, entire digitised cultural heritage corpora and more. These partners will use services like Wikibase as repository infrastructure, and may require various extensions and customizations in their individual repositories, as well as the design and development of workflows for data upload and synchronisation.

Out of these specific projects, we develop generalized software tools that can be used interdisciplinary. This includes modern API construction as well as integration of state of the art AI functionality.

We're seeking a communicative, research software expert to drive our work within TS4NFDI, part of Germany’s National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), focusing on providing terminology services across the wide spectrum of research data and open science domains.

Your work will focus on developing services that support semantic annotation of data. This includes enhancing our existing services as well as developing new components and applying them in specific project based use cases. The primary tool you’ll be working on is Java-based.

You will be part of a multidisciplinary team and will have an opportunity to be an active voice in strategic discussions around the roadmap and development of services within the NFDI consortia we are a part of, as well as OSL and TIB at large.

Your tasks include

Development, deployment and maintenance of software in the area of semantic annotation and knowledge systems
Planning and implementation of data workflows within the above-mentioned software tools
Contributing to testing, bug reporting, updating and documentation of open source projects in the context of NFDI
Contributing to the facilitation of technical meetings and workshops delivered within relevant committees of NFDI

Your profile

Successfully completed university degree (Master’s degree or comparable) in a relevant field of study such as Computer Science, Information Science or similar
Experience working in an agile software development environment, particularly with web-based applications
Substantial experience in developing Java applications
Experience with one or more of the following programming languages: Python, JavaScript, PHP
Knowledge of Linked Data technologies (SPARQL, RDF)
Knowledge of and experience with NLP and/or LLM technologies
Experience of version management based on Git
Substantial experience writing clean and maintainable code and software architecture.
High degree of self-organisation and independent working skills
Very good written and spoken English skills
Very good communication skills
Ability to work in a team
Good project management skills
Willingness to learn new technologies and languages

Desirable additions to your profile

Experience with Docker containerization
Experience with Git based CI/CD pipelines
Experience with frontend frameworks and development (Vue, Angular, Bootstrap, CSS)
Experience with OpenAPI, JHipster, MediaWiki software
Experience with software documentation, particularly in collaborative environments
Interest in working in a research and library environment with a focus on cultural and research data

What we offer
Our mission is to keep rethinking and innovating the provision and use of research data and information. In TIB’s Research and Development Department, you have the opportunity to advance your career in a sizable, dynamic and excellent environment. We provide a scientifically and intellectually inspiring environment with an entrepreneurial mindset embedded in a leading technical university and one of the largest technical information centers being part of the Leibniz Association. TIB collaborates closely with the L3S Research Center at Leibniz University Hannover, one of the world’s leading research institutes in the field of Web & Data Science, within the Leibniz Joint Lab Data Science & Open Knowledge.

With the Open Science Lab, TIB supports the digital opening of science by helping communities to adopt new methods and tools in their practice. Research and development activities in the OSL are closely interlinked with the training of young scientists in the Information Management degree programme at Faculty III - Media, Information and Design at Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, with which TIB has established the Leibniz Joint Lab Future Libraries & Research Data.

Last but not least, we attach great importance to an open, creative and fun work atmosphere.

Furthermore, we offer

If you are interested, questions regarding the position can be addressed to Kolja Bailly (Open Science Lab) by mail at kolja.baillytibeu.

How to apply
We look forward to receiving your application.

Click here to apply

Paper applications are also possible on an equal basis. In this case, please send your complete application documents with the subject 19/2025 before April 16, 2025 addressed to

Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)
Personalservice
Frau Anna Bechtloff
Welfengarten 1 B
30167 Hannover
Germany

or alternatively as a single PDF document file to bewerbungtibeu. For applications in digital from, please send a PDF file with a maximum size of 10 MB.

Who we are
TIB, being part of the Leibniz Research Association, is with around 600 employees one of the largest technical information centres in Germany, having three main functions:

Acting in the capacity of the Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology, our forward-looking services secure the infrastructural requirements for providing researchers in science and industry with high-quality information and literature.
Carrying out cutting edge research to further expand TIB’s role as a German information centre for the digitisation of science and technology.
Offer library services for the Leibniz University Hannover.

TIB is an equal opportunity employer, providing ideal working conditions, and continuously taking action to enable its employees to combine career interests with family life. It is particularly keen to promote professional equality between women and men and therefore strongly encourages qualified women to apply.

Severely disabled candidates with comparable qualifications will be given preferential treatment.

We welcome applications from all nationalities.

Please note that your application documents will not be returned and application and travel costs cannot be reimbursed.

Please indicate in the subject line of your application through which job board you became aware of our offer.

View this job advertisement as a PDF.