Senior Research Software Engineering Lead in Glasgow

Are you an experienced Research Software Engineer who thrives on solving complex problems through hands‑on development and technical leadership? The Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC) is seeking a Senior RSE Lead to play a central role in designing and delivering innovative software and data science solutions that unlock the potential of urban data for research, policy, and public impact. This is a strategic yet technical role, ideal for someone who enjoys collaborating with researchers and end‑users, architecting systems, and building tools that make complex datasets accessible, interactive, and actionable.

As Senior RSE Lead, you will be responsible for the end‑to‑end development of robust data analytics pipelines, scalable applications, and intuitive user interfaces. You will work directly with interdisciplinary teams of researchers, data scientists, and external partners to co‑create impactful solutions that support data‑intensive social research. Your work will span the full software lifecycle—from requirements gathering and design to implementation, testing, and deployment—ensuring that research outputs are reproducible, user‑focused, and technically sound. You will also contribute to the design of research projects and funding proposals, embedding software engineering expertise into the heart of UBDC’s strategy.

In addition to your technical contributions, you will provide leadership, mentoring, and coordination to a small team of technicians based at UBDC. You will foster a collaborative and inclusive working environment, ensuring high‑quality software and support services to the UBDC research community. You will also act as a key liaison with infrastructure providers, helping researchers make optimal use of high‑performance computing resources, including cloud platforms and university infrastructure services. This is a unique opportunity to join a mission‑driven organisation that values innovation, technical excellence, and real‑world impact. At UBDC, you’ll be part of a dynamic environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning.

We’re looking for someone who thrives in a fast‑paced research setting, has demonstrated project management and initial leadership experience, combines this with solid software engineering skills, and is excited to contribute to meaningful societal change through thoughtful, user‑focused software engineering.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership in research software engineering, and data science services managed and delivered by the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC), planning, managing and delivering technical services to facilitate the outcomes of the University of Glasgow’s world changing research agenda.
• Develop and refine a strategic vision and operational plans, including policies and procedures, for the delivery of UBDC projects and services.
• Apply and direct the use of state‑of‑the‑art novel software engineering (including agile project management, data science and artificial intelligence) to address challenges faced by University of Glasgow researchers.
• Liaise with UBDC and external researchers, administrators, and end‑user stakeholders to capture requirements and translate them into effective technical solutions.
• Document developed systems and provide training, client manuals, and technical workshops as needed.
• Present, disseminate and explain the work of UBDC via presentations, reports and well‑documented software packages.
• Support research colleagues to access and make the most of external cloud providers and University of Glasgow’s research computing infrastructure services, including provisions for high‑performance computing and research data management services.
• Make a significant expert contribution to major funding bids, internal business cases and related activities where social research software engineering is a core dimension.
• Provide technical project management and leadership for multiple concurrent projects, liaising with clients and colleagues to understand and prioritise project goals, balancing the value of contribution with limitations on team resources.
• Provide line management for a small group of staff within the UBDC Research Engineering team, supporting their performance and development, and managing workload allocations.
• Support and contribute to open research, such as by applying FAIR principles of research data and tools.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

Essential:

• A1 Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 9, 10 or 11 (Ordinary/Honours Degree, Post Graduate Qualification), or equivalent including being professionally qualified in relevant discipline, with a broad range of professional experience in management role(s), or ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post, having acquired the necessary professional knowledge and management skills in a similar or a number of different specialist roles.
• A2 Strong programming skills in more than one modern programming language used in research (typically Python, R, JavaScript/React/Next.js, Node).
• A3 Excellent understanding of best practices in project management for producing reliable software and reproducible analyses, including agile project management, version control, issue and backlog tracking, automated testing and package management.
• A4 Expert knowledge of software engineering techniques for designing, developing, deploying and maintaining production‑ready web systems.
• A5 Excellent knowledge of software tools and computational resources associated with multiple research disciplines.
• A6 Excellent communication skills and ability to work in interdisciplinary teams.

Desirable:

• B1 Knowledge of geospatial data structures and visualisation tools.
• B2 Skills in user‑centred design, including working with collaborative design software such as Figma or Adobe Creative Suite.
• B3 Familiarity with SCRUM project management, including backlog tracking and sprint planning.
• B4 Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) and containerisation/orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).

Skills:

Essential:

• C1 Excellent team leadership, planning, organisation, time and workload management skills with proven ability to prioritise demands and meet deadlines, with an understanding of the importance of equality and diversity and a commitment to help create an inclusive culture.
• C2 Excellent written and verbal communication skills including authoring of technical reports or research papers and aptitude for delivering presentations or leading training or education sessions.
• C3 Ability to work independently, including planning and delivery, and to collaborate proactively as part of a team, including taking a leading role.
• C4 Ability to rapidly comprehend new complex research requirements and quickly establish an understanding of feasibility and associated resourcing requirements, offering credible and robust technical solutions.
• C5 Ability to quickly evaluate new computational and technical opportunities and their suitability for deployment in support of research goals.
• C6 Excellent analytical skills with confidence to challenge and continuously improve.
• C7 Ability to build and maintain broad network of relationships with diverse stakeholder groups including researchers, IT professionals and management and administrative teams.
• C8 Display role model behaviours with the ability to inspire and motivate operational colleagues to deliver service excellence.
• C9 Ability to lead the development and growth of a research software engineering service, supporting multiple projects and audiences with varying capabilities.

Desirable:

• D1 Excellent user interface / user experience design and implementation skills.

Experience:

Essential:

• E1 Experience in providing technical project management and leadership for multiple research or software projects, ensuring successful outcomes.
• E2 Experience of collaborating with colleagues to develop and maintain high‑quality, well‑tested data‑intensive software.
• E3 Experience of managing, prioritising and resourcing a project portfolio.
• E4 Experience mentoring and evaluating the work of others, either as a formal line manager or with significant evidence of experience of informal mentorship.

Desirable:

• F1 Experience in data‑intensive social research and/or digital humanities.
• F2 Experience of multi‑developer collaborative software development and client support, using a range of tools.

Terms and Conditions:

Salary will be Grade 8, £50,253 - £58,225 per annum. This post is full time (35 hours per week) and has funding available until 31 October 2028 in the first instance. The University of Glasgow has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK. If you require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the UK, you will be required to meet the eligibility requirements of the visa route to be assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship.

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

• A warm welcoming and engaging organisational culture, where your talents are developed and nurtured, and success is celebrated and shared.
• An excellent employment package with generous terms and conditions including 41 days of leave for full time staff, pension benefits and discount packages.
• A flexible approach to working.
• A commitment to support your health and wellbeing, including a free 6‑month UofG Sport membership for all new staff joining the University.

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under‑represented within the University.

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University. We are investing in our organisation, and we will invest in you too.

Closing Date: 10 February 2026