Senior Developer: Zooniverse

Location: Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU

Applications are invited for a senior developer to work with the Zooniverse team. 

The post is available initially for a fixed-term duration of 1 year, with a possible extension for 3 years.

We are seeking a senior developer to help lead the Zooniverse team in the department of Physics at the University of Oxford, taking responsibility for the design and managing the development of a suite of next-generation citizen science projects on our world-leading platform with more than two million registered users. A particular focus will be on building tools which allow us to work with data from the Vera Rubin Observatory, a new survey of the sky which will provide 30TB of image data and as many as ten million alerts a night, but projects on the Zooniverse cover projects in the humanities, ecology and much more. 

The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and maintaining the core functionality of the Zooniverse API (Rails) and will work closely with the rest of the team to ensure reliable, predictable behaviour. As we seek to maintain our existing platform, you’ll be responsible for advising on strategies for updating and replacing existing code, and for building out additional functionality in the Zooniverse API required to support the programmatic creation of new forms of project. Developing new tools, and working with scientists and researchers to find new ways of working with large datasets, including machine learning, will also be part of the role. 

We’re looking for a developer with significant experience in building APIs to support modern web applications, an expert in Rails, and someone who has experience working collaboratively with other developers and non-developers. 

A degree in a computer science or equivalent is also essential.

Please direct enquiries about the role to Professor Chris Lintott (chris.lintott@physics.ox.ac.uk).

Only applications received before midday on 3 February 2023 can be considered. You will be required to upload a brief statement of research interests, CV and details of two referees as part of your online application.

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