Research Software Engineer

Salary:£36,636 to £38,784 with progression to £46,049 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 12 April 2026

The Role

Newcastle University invites applications for a Research Software Engineer to join the EPSRC-funded National Edge AI Hub for Real Data. This role will contribute to Work Stream 4, focusing on the deployment of Small Language Models (SLMs) for automated Fault Management across the IoT-Edge-Cloud continuum.

This role focuses on developing lightweight, efficient AI models (SLMs) that can operate at the "edge" to predict, detect, and mitigate system failures before they escalate. You will work on bridging the gap between massive data streams and localised, intelligent decision-making. The role involves close collaboration with a diverse and multidisciplinary team across the UK to validate the edge AI innovations in critical sectors. The role will naturally integrate with other research streams within the consortium, providing opportunities for cross-stream collaboration and engagement with both academic and industrial partners.

This is a full time, fixed term role available for the duration of 2 years.

For all general enquiries please contact: sydnee.obrien@ncl.ac.uk

Key Accountabilities

• Research & Development: Conduct research into the application of Small Language Models (SLMs) for interpreting system logs and telemetry data to manage faults within the IoT-Edge-Cloud hierarchy
• System Integration: Develop and validate software architectures that integrate SLMs with Big Data frameworks to handle large-scale diagnostic data
• Optimisation: Implement techniques for model compression and optimisation to ensure SLMs can run efficiently on resource-constrained Edge devices
• Collaboration: Engage with academic and industrial partners to co-develop fault-tolerance methodologies and contribute to real-world pilot studies
• Dissemination: Present research findings through high-quality publications, technical reports, and at international conferences
• Open Source Contribution: Support the production of open-source tools, datasets, and documentation to foster community engagement and reproducible research

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Experience in Small Language Models and its application
• Demonstrable hands-on experience with Big Data frameworks such as Apache Hadoop, Spark or Kafka for processing distributed datasets.
• High level of proficiency in Python
• Experience in system monitoring, log analysis, or automated root-cause analysis (RCA)

Desirable:

• Experience in working with edge devices such as Raspberry Pi, Jetson Orin, or AMD Kria
• Experience in working with industry
• Presentation and communication skills with demonstrable team working skills

Attributes and Behaviour

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Capable of disseminating research to both academic and industrial audiences

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in computer science or related discipline and/or equivalent relevant industry experience

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 29206