Principal Software Engineer

The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is a globally leading multidisciplinary research institute of over 900 staff investigating the spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders caused by dementia, driving a step change in our understanding of neurodegeneration, and accelerating the discovery, development and delivery of interventions that will help diagnose, treat and ultimately prevent dementia.

The UK DRI Core Informatics team serves as the core for the UK DRI national informatics programme. The team enhances data access, training, partnerships and technical capacity for researchers, fostering data sharing and boosting data science capabilities across the national institute. The team is currently based at UCL and interacts closely with the UK DRI at UCL centre staff.

We are excited to welcome an enthusiastic and experienced Software Engineer to our team. You will lead the ongoing development and maintenance of DataMap, a data‑driven research software platform designed to extract knowledge from biological datasets and incorporate it into a knowledge graph. You will work across backend services, frontend applications, graph data models, databases, observability and Kubernetes to ensure the platform remains robust, scalable, usable and aligned with research needs.

The role requires someone who can operate as both a strong hands‑on engineer and a technical lead: translating requirements from UK DRI researchers into production‑quality software, improving architecture and engineering practices, and supporting long‑term sustainability of the platform. The post is available immediately and is funded by the UK DRI until 31 March 2028 in the first instance. This role is eligible for hybrid working with a minimum of 20% of time on site.

You should have professional software engineering experience with a focus on data science or data‑intensive applications, in‑depth experience designing and developing APIs and backend services, and hands‑on experience in web UI development using React and TypeScript. Strong hands‑on experience with Python web frameworks, proven experience working with graph databases (especially Neo4j) and a working knowledge of cloud or cloud‑native systems (including AWS, Azure or Kubernetes) is essential. A good understanding of production software systems across development, deployment and maintenance lifecycles, and the ability to take ownership of a complex technical platform and drive work independently, are also needed for this role.

This role meets the eligibility requirements for a skilled worker certificate of sponsorship or a global talent visa under UK Visas and Immigration legislation. Therefore, UCL welcomes applications from international applicants who require a visa.

Starting salary offered in the range of £68,284 - £74,166 per annum including London Allowance.

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. 12% of Institute staff are actively working on EDI initiatives; we particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce; these include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled people, LGBTQI+ and gender diverse people in all roles, and women in Grade 9 and 10 roles.