Research Software Engineer*in / Wikibase Specialist (m/f/d)

09.12.2024

Research Software Engineer / Wikibase specialist (m/f/d)

German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB), Hannover

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. Our services as a university library secure the local supply for the Leibniz University Hannover.

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 / Wikibase specialist (m/f/d)

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

The position is limited to one year without objective reason according to § 14 Abs. 2 TzBfG. The regular weekly working time is 19.90 hours (part-time, 50 %). The remuneration is based on pay scale group 11 TV-L.

Your tasks

The Open Science Lab (OSL) of the TIB is concerned with the development towards digital, open and collaborative science and supports scientific and cultural institutions by developing and testing new methods and software tools together with their communities. We are looking for a communicative and entrepreneurial person with a strong technical background to expand the activities of the OSL in the federal and state-funded initiative to build a national research data infrastructure for material and immaterial cultural heritage assets (NFDI4Culture).

The main focus of your work will be the deployment, development and maintenance of open source knowledge management software like Mediawiki, Wikibase and OpenRefine as part of the NFDI4Culture partnership within OSL. NFDI4Culture is the cultural branch of the much larger Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (National Infrastructure for Research Data, NFDI) consortium, working towards a shared infrastructure for research data in Germany. Within 4Culture, 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. 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 NFDI4Culture, as well as OSL and TIB at large.

Your tasks will focus on

• Deployment, development and maintenance of software in the area of Mediawiki, Wikibase and OpenRefine
• Support in the design and implementation of data workflows within the above-mentioned software tools
• Supporting NFDI partner institutions with Wikibase activities
• Contribute to testing, bug reporting, updating and documentation of open source projects (e.g. Wikibase and others) in the context of the NFDI
• Participation in the organization of technical meetings and workshops held in the relevant committees of the National Research Data Infrastructure

Your qualities

• You have a relevant university degree (bachelor's degree or equivalent) in computer science, digital humanities, information science or a related field
• Experience working in an agile software development environment, particularly with web-based applications
• Experience with Wikimedia software environments and related open source projects
• Fluency in one or more of the following programming languages: Java, Python, JavaScript, PHP
• Knowledge of Linked Data technologies (SPARQL, RDF)
• Knowledge of version management based on Git
• Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines
• 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 frontend frameworks and development (Angular, Bootstrap, CSS
• Experience writing clear and concise software documentation, particularly in collaborative environements
• Interest in working in a research and library environment with a focus on cultural and research data

What we offer

In TIB’s Research and Development Department you have the opportunity to further evolve your professional development in a dynamic and excellent research environment. We provide an intellectually inspiring environment with an entrepreneurial mindset embedded in a leading technical university and one of the largest technical information centres being part of the Leibniz Association.

The research department at the TIB is relatively young and offers many opportunities. It is our vision to rethink the representation and provision of data and information and to organize them in an Open Research Knowledge Graph (ORKG) in the future. There is a close cooperation with the L3S Research Centre 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 and creative working atmosphere in which it is fun to work.

Furthermore, we offer

• A job in the public service oriented towards the common good on the basis of the collective agreement for the public service of the German states (TV-L) with a salary in pay scale group 11 TV-L
• A special annual payment at the end of the year and 30 days of vacation per year with a five-day working week
• A flexible workplace in terms of time and space with offers to reconcile work and family life, such as mobile, location-flexible working
• A modern workplace in a central location of Hannover with a collegial, attractive and versatile working environment
• An employer with a wide range of internal and external further education and training measures, workplace health promotion and a supplementary pension scheme for the public sector (VBL)
• Employee discount in the canteens of the Studentenwerk Hannover as well as the possibility to use the various offers of the University Sports Hannover at a discount
• Independent and future-oriented activities that offer variety and room for personal development

If you are interested, questions regarding the position can be addressed to Dr. Lozana Rossenova (Open Science Lab) by mail at lozana.rossenova(at)tib.eu.

How to apply

We look forward to receiving your application. To submit your application, please click here.

Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)

Personalservice

Frau Anna Bechtloff

Welfengarten 1 B

30167 Hannover

Germany

or alternatively as a single PDF document file to bewerbung(at)tib.eu. 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:

1. 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.
2. Carrying out cutting edge research to further expand TIB’s role as a German information centre for the digitisation of science and technology.
3. 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.

For more information about the TIB, please visit: www.tib.eu/en/