Open Data Engineer

Open Data Engineers – Write code to decode the Oceans for a Sustainable Future at the VLIZ Marine Data Centre. The VLIZ Open Science Team takes a technical (engineering, coding, standardization, automating) approach to facilitate practical Open Science Data sharing. Open access and data sharing principles have been an integral part of the VLIZ DNA since its inception. Our team's challenge is to translate that eager vision into (technical) scalable solutions as well as (social) solid and broadly shared collaborative methods and standards. We take our cues from the many topical «open» movements (open source, open data, open access, ...), the well-known FAIR Principles; and the EOSC association. Day-to-day interactions with local scientists, sharing end-user expertise as well as international collaborations in the context of EU Horizon 2020 projects, and Research Infrastructures like EMBRC and LifeWatch tune these further into practical solutions. The core outset of our approach is data agnostic. A stance that aims to achieve an elevated level of semantic interoperability to breach the existing domain-barriers. In practice, being embedded in the Marine domain, a lot of the handled data gravitates around biodiversity, genomics, climate, ecology, habitat changes and invasiveness. Our technical toolchain blends typical data-science elements with industrial software engineering techniques and takes up many influences from core (semantic) web architecture, linked-open-data, and knowledge graph technologies. The person we are looking for has practical software engineering skills and some experience in open-source development. They should be eager to learn about the linked-open-data technologies we embrace and the specific and international marine research context we operate in. Next to being able to build up your skills and techniques on-the-job, your day-to-day tasks will consist of collaborating with direct colleagues and external partners through creating design documents, patches, reviews and tests on a mix of python modules, Jupyter notebooks, webcomponent widgets, web-services, triple stores and work-flow-execution platforms.

YOUR TASKS

• Design and implement maintainable solutions to support the VLIZ Marine Data Centre (VMDC)’s Open Science projects.
• Collaborate with the Open Science team to define and prioritize data engineering needs.
• Document new and existing components and data flows.
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues with the operational systems.
• Continuously improve the efficiency and scalability of the data infrastructure.
• Participate in project meetings and occasionally present work and results in national and international context.

For each function, VLIZ considers enthusiastic involvement, service minded, excellent professionalism and integrity as important characteristics.

YOUR PROFILE

• A Bachelor or Master's degree in Applied Sciences (e.g. computer science, software engineering, bioinformatics), Data Science, or a related field.
• For the Senior opening we expect at least 2 years of relevant experience.
• For the Junior opening we suggest your post projects or internships show exposure and appetite to the relevant technologies and aspects.
• Practical knowledge of different forms of data storage: from different file formats over classic RDBMS to NoSQL systems.
• Strong programming skills, including experience with Python.
• Familiar with the intrinsic workings of the world-wide-web, and the knowledge which aspects of the design are essential to its success.
• Affinity with relevant (marine) software, systems, data formats and technologies (e.g. RDF, Geoserver, ERDDAP, OGC, Darwin Core, ...) is a plus.
• Experience with code version management systems and platforms (e.g. git, github, gitlab, …).
• Practical usage of container platforms (e.g. docker, …).
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proficient knowledge of English.
• Willing to work in an international context. Including occasional travel.