Research Software Engineer

Grade UE07: £41,064- £48,822 per annum

College of Science & Engineering, School of Physics & Astronomy 

Full Time: 35 hours per week

Fixed Term: 2 Years

The Opportunity: 

This Innovate UK-funded Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) bridges cutting-edge research with industrial innovation. You'll work within PSEL's team to develop groundbreaking software for Laue X-ray diffraction analysis, translating academic expertise from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Oxford's physics departments into scalable solutions for materials science.

This post is full-time (35 hours per week); based at Photonic Science & Engineering Ltd located within their team at St Leonards-on-Sea, with visits to the University of Edinburgh and University of Oxford facilities as required. The post will be jointly supervised by PSEL and the academic lead at University of Edinburgh. 

The salary for this post is £41,064 - £48,822 per annum.

This post is fixed term for 2 years.

Your skills and attributes for success: 

• A degree in a relevant discipline (Computer Science, Physics, Materials Science, Applied Mathematics) with relevant post-graduate research experience
• Expertise in algorithm development, numerical methods, or high-performance computing.
• Proficiency required in Python/C++ and scientific libraries (e.g., NumPy, SciPy). MATLAB is also desirable. 
• Bonus: Familiarity with X-ray diffraction/materials science.
• Strong communication skills to bridge academia/industry.

Click to view a copy of the full job description (opens new browser tab)

Application Information

Please ensure you include the following documents in your application:

- CV

- Cover letter

As a valued member of our team you can expect: 

• A competitive salary
• An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work with mentorship from both university and industry experts. 
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits, such as a generous holiday entitlement, competitive pension schemes, staff discounts, and family-friendly initiatives. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the total value of your pay and benefits
• As a KTP Associate, you will be part of the national Knowledge Transfer Partnerships scheme and entitled to specialist management training and a professional development budget. 

Championing equality, diversity and inclusion

The School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh is committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce, and eliminating discrimination.

The School strives to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace for all and we are looking to actively diversify our staff. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and in particular encourage applications from people of colour, women, people with disabilities, LGBTQ; people and other minority and under-represented groups. We aim to ensure that our culture and systems support flexible and family-friendly working, as evidenced by our Juno Champion and Athena SWAN Silver awards.

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality. 

Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages (opens new browser tab)

The University may be able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role.  This will depend on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant. 

Key dates to note

The closing date for applications is 16th January 2026.

Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.