Software Engineer: AI Materials Discovery Platform

Tenure: Fixed term for 2 years in the first instance.

Hybrid working: Minimum requirement of 40% on Campus, with 60% considered desirable where possible

An exciting opportunity for a Research Software Engineer role is available as part of the project team for AIchemy, a new partnership between the University of Liverpool, Imperial College London, and a large consortium of academic and industrial partners. AIchemy has been funded to promote the development of novel AI methods and to transform the uptake of AI in the chemistry community. The consortium brings together experts across AI and both experimental and computational chemistry. This Hub will promote connectivity of the broader community, training, and networking, as well as funding state-of-the-art research.

Based in the Cooper Group at the University of Liverpool’s Materials Innovation Factory (MIF), you will lead the development of Opsight (opsightlab.com), a cloud-native web platform for agentic, hypothesis-driven scientific optimisation. The platform connects large language model (LLM) reasoning agents, Bayesian optimisation, and robotic laboratory hardware in a closed-loop workflow, enabling autonomous or human-in-the-loop discovery campaigns across chemistry and materials science. Working closely with the team that develops the core optimisation algorithms, you will translate research advances into polished product features, maintain and extend the platform’s infrastructure, and ensure the codebase is well-tested, robust, and deployable.

This post is not a research role: you will be the person who keeps the platform running, growing, and robust. The position would suit a software engineer who enjoys working at the interface of cutting-edge AI research and production engineering, and candidates from both academic and industry software engineering backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to enhancing a workforce as diverse as our community and particularly encourage applicants who are of minoritised genders and ethnic backgrounds, living with a disability, and/or are members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

For full details and to apply online, please visit: recruit.liverpool.ac.uk

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