Are you interested in a leading role to shape the infrastructure and systems of one of the worlds most widely used scientific data resources?

Ensembl is the leading resource for exploring and analysing genomes, used by researchers globally on a daily basis. In recent years, Ensembl has seen a substantial increase in the number of genomes across the tree of life, as well as increasing depth of annotation and resources around key model organisms and humans. We have conducted an extensive multi-year program to re-engineer our infrastructure to meet these challenges and sustainably continue to support researchers using our tools and services. At the heart of this program is our new website (https://beta.ensembl.org), which is built around a service-orientated architecture delivering large quantities of data to a modern and responsive front-end client application. Many key components, including the incorporation of new AI based tools, remain to be developed.

We are enthusiastic to announce a new EMBL Faculty role to head our ongoing developments whilst continuing to meet emerging demands of Ensembl as the Genomics Technology Infrastructure Team Leader at EMBL-EBI.

Your role

You will lead a multidisciplinary team of approximately 15 staff members including software engineers, bioinformaticians, designers and UX experts to build infrastructures to serve and disseminate biological data. These methods of dissemination include visualisations, data explorers, and application programming interfaces (APIs). Your team will be responsible for leading the creation of novel data stores, serving the needs of researchers in both high and low resource settings, and transitioning Ensembl to an AI-ready resource. You will also investigate the application of AI-based tools to improve Ensembl services and processes.

You will work closely with other Team Leaders within Ensembl, and more broadly with leadership across EMBL-EBI and other EMBL sites to deliver integrated systems and data flows between our EMBL key partners. You will also be a lead contact with EMBL-EBIs IT Technical Services, who provide the underlying IT infrastructure behind our resources.

In this role, you will use your knowledge of systems architecture and design to guide your team to develop sustainable, scalable solutions. You will also coordinate the development of new interfaces and tools alongside the maintenance of existing tools and codebases including migration of these to new technologies and infrastructure. Your knowledge and experience will be key to developing achievable strategies and roadmaps in a collaborative approach with colleagues in the wider Ensembl team. An essential part of this role is anticipating future demands from biological research, evaluating technical advances and balancing these with the continued delivery of key priorities.

As you progress in this role, you will develop a deep understanding of EMBL-EBIs resources and the communities we serve. This will include directly engaging with research communities, industry partners and global standards organisations such as the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health. You will be given the opportunity to work with a talented and driven workforce who work towards a shared vision of delivering the very best scientific resources.

We seek an individual who has a passion for technology, creating impactful resources, scenario and strategic planning, fundraising, developing staff and taking a leading role in key collaborations with international consortia and organisations.

If this sounds like you, we invite you to apply!

This role reports to the Section Head for Genome Assembly and Annotation, Rob Finn.

You have

• A PhD degree in a relevant field or equivalent relevant experience
• A demonstrable track record of systems design and architecture
• Experience designing databases, developing websites and working with big data (gigabyte to terabyte scale)
• In-depth knowledge of the following: software engineering, relational databases, service provision, API development, standards, software development best practices
• Project management and staff management experience
• Experience contributing to budget management and managing grants, including grant writing and reporting
• An understanding of agile and similar software development processes including how to adapt these methods to maximise success in multi-partner projects
• Experience maintaining legacy code and systems including migration to new implementations
• Knowledge of deployment infrastructures including virtual machines, commercial cloud and kubernetes
• Experience with collaborative development tools such as GitHub, GitLab, Jira and Confluence
• Excellent communication skills. Have an ability to engage with stakeholders including technical specialists, domain experts and wider research and industry communities.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with a collaborative mentality.
• A commitment to continual improvement of systems, processes and staff
• The ambition and drive to develop high-impact data services for the wider research community

You may also have

• Experience of some of the following technologies: workflow managers, data warehousing technology, high-performance computing platforms, database and database query optimisation, and data mining
• Experience in some of the following domains: bioinformatics, genomics, ontologies, functional annotation, and high throughput sequencing analysis, statistics
• Experience of some of the following technologies: Python, Rust, Perl, GraphQL, JavaScript, TypeScript, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, DuckDB, SQLite
• Hands on experience working with AI based tools, both as a data provider and their application in the context of a website.
• Experience in writing grants to a range of funding agencies
• A track record in leading scientific projects
• Participation in multi-institute collaborations
• Presented at international meetings
• Participation in public-private scientific partnerships
• Experience leading work packages for complex multi-partner grants and chairing international steering groups and committees on technical subjects

Apply now! Benefits and Contract Information

• Financial incentives: depending on circumstances, monthly family/marriage allowance of £278 monthly child allowance of £336 per child. Non resident allowance up to £717per month. Annual salary review, pension scheme, death benefit, long-term care, accident-at-work and unemployment insurances

• Hybrid working arrangements

• Private medical insurance for you and your immediate family (including all prescriptions and generous dental & optical cover)

• Generous time off: 30 days annual leave per year, in addition to eight bank holidays

• Relocation package including installation grant (as applicable)

• Campus life: Free shuttle bus to and from work, on-site library, subsidised on-site gym and cafeteria, casual dress code, extensive sports and social club activities (on campus and remotely)

• Family benefits: On-site nursery, child sick leave, generous parental leave, holiday clubs on campus and monthly family and child allowances

• Contract duration: This position is a 5 year contract renewable up to 9 years

• Salary: Monthly salary starting at£5,982after tax but excl. pension & insurances) + benefits (Total package will be dependent on family circumstances)

• International applicants: We recruit internationally and successful candidates are offered visa exemptions. Read more on our page for international applicants.

• Diversity and inclusion: At EMBL-EBI, we strongly believe that inclusive and diverse teams benefit from higher levels of innovation and creative thought. We encourage applications from women, LGBTQ+ and individuals from all nationalities.

• Job location: This role is based in Hinxton, near Cambridge, UK. You will be required to relocate if you are based overseas and you will receive a generous relocation package to support you.

To apply, please submit a covering letter and CV via our online system. Applications will close on 25/03/2026.

Embedded Software Engineer - Linux / C++ / Embedded Cambridge, UK - Onsite (4-5 days per week) £65 - £85 per hour (SC Cleared, mid-senior level) Initial 6 months (strong likelihood of extension) Active SC clearance required (mandatory) An opportunity has arisen for an experienced Software Engineer to join a highly technical engineering environment delivering advanced systems within the UK defence and national security sector. This role is suited to a mid-senior level engineer with a strong Linux and embedded software background who can integrate quickly into an established team and provide immediate impact. The position is fully onsite in Cambridge (minimum 4 days per week). This is not an FPGA-focused role. The requirement is for a broad, capable software engineer with strong low-level and systems experience. Key Responsibilities: Development of software in Linux-based environments C++ application development for complex systems Embedded C development for hardware-adjacent systems Python development for tooling, automation and test Development and maintenance of GUI applications Integration, debugging and system-level testing Working closely with electronics and systems engineers in a multidisciplinary team Supporting delivery within a secure, defence environmentEssential Experience: Active SC clearance Strong C++ development experience Embedded C experience Linux development environment experience Python scripting and automation experience GUI development experience (Qt or similar beneficial) Experience working within defence, aerospace or national security environments Ability to work onsite in Cambridge 4-5 days per weekDesirable Experience: Experience integrating software with custom hardware Real-time systems exposure Knowledge of secure development practices Experience working within consultancy or R&D environmentsCandidate Profile: Broad technical exposure across systems and software Able to contribute quickly with minimal supervision Strong debugging and problem-solving capability Comfortable working in fast-paced, technically demanding environments

Become the founding member of this medical device software development team

On the borders of Essex and Cambridgeshire, this diagnostics company develops medical instrumentation that provides accessible and timely results for public health purposes. Their system uses a combination of embedded C running on an RTOS, A React-Native app running on Android, and centralised data collection based on the LAMP stack and MariaDB.

With products already on the market, they are seeking to move their software development in house, and are seeking an experienced and adaptable Senior Software Engineer to form the nucleus of their software team. The process of taking on board software development will be gradual, and supported by current (external) developers, so immediate familiarity with the entire stack isn’t expected; however, a strong understanding of embedded development, and prior experience of developing software for medical devices (and therefore a knowledge of the associated medical software standards) will be needed.

As the company is still at an early stage, you may be occasionally required to help out in other (non-software) functions of the company - you will therefore need an accommodating and adaptable outlook as well as an enthusiasm for work which will have a very substantial positive impact.

You will need:

* A strong academic background in Computer Science, Electronics or similarly applicable subject.

* Substantial experience as a software engineer, including software development for medical devices.

* Excellent coding skills in embedded C.

* A can-do attitude, happy to dive into new technologies and learn new skills as needed (or indeed to help out with non-software tasks as the need occasionally arises).

* Full existing right to work in the UK without restriction, time limit, or sponsorship.

Not essential, but useful: real-time operating systems, React Native, Android, LAMP, C# or Python.

If you’re looking for a role that will make a massive positive impact in the world, whilst at the same time becoming the founding member of a software team, then this may be for you. The role is on-site in a pleasant countryside location. A highly competitive salary is on offer to the successful candidate.

Keywords: Medical Device, Embedded C, RTOS, Android, React Native, LAMP, Mission-Driven, Cambridge

Another top job from ECM, the high-tech recruitment experts.

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Develop embedded software solutions for cutting-edge UK defence technology

to £80,000 DoE + Benefits

This company is growing strongly with projects in various areas of national defence and are seeking a skilled Embedded Software Engineer to join the team. These projects are all specifically related to UK defence and so interested candidates will need to be British Citizens to be considered for this role. Whilst the exact nature of these projects is kept secret, they utilise advanced technologies and often require the development of brand-new techniques to solve very challenging problems.

Whilst growing they are still a small team with a start-up atmosphere where roles aren’t rigidly defined and hierarchy is minimal. New ideas and project directions are welcomed from anyone, and everyone is empowered to represent the business at customer meetings and conferences. You should expect to put your skills to use on a wide array of different projects with varying requirements. Some will be early-stage feasibility studies which may not include any programming while others will run through to the production of prototypes or demonstrator units.

Requirements:

* Demonstrable commercial-grade experience in embedded software development with a proven track record of designing and implementing solutions to real-world problems.

* Strong proficiency with Linux and programming in C, plus at least one other relevant language such as C#, C++ or MATLAB.

* Knowledge in areas such as bare metal and RTOS software development, embedded software debugging methods, high-level software architecture, electronics development, or scripting for test would be highly advantageous.

* Relevant degree demonstrating strong academic foundations including top A Level grades or equivalent.

* British Citizen eligible for UK security clearance.

Remuneration package is strong with good base salary and excellent benefits. For security reasons this is an in-office only role, no forms of hybrid or remote working are possible.

Keywords: Embedded Software, Embedded Programming, C, C++, C#, MATLAB, Python, Linux, RTOS, Bare Metal, Software Architecture, Software Debugging, Electronics, Defence

Another top job from ECM, the high-tech recruitment experts.

Even if this job’s not quite right, do contact us now - we may well have the ideal job for you. To discuss your requirements call (phone number removed) or email your CV. We will always ask before forwarding your CV.

Please apply (quoting ref: CV27583) only if you are eligible to live and work in the UK. By submitting your details you certify that the information you provide is accurate

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Become the founding member of this medical device software development team

On the borders of Essex and Cambridgeshire, this diagnostics company develops medical instrumentation that provides accessible and timely results for public health purposes. Their system uses a combination of embedded C running on an RTOS, A React-Native app running on Android, and centralised data collection based on the LAMP stack and MariaDB.

With products already on the market, they are seeking to move their software development in house, and are seeking an experienced and adaptable Senior Software Engineer to form the nucleus of their software team. The process of taking on board software development will be gradual, and supported by current (external) developers, so immediate familiarity with the entire stack isn’t expected; however, a strong understanding of embedded development, and prior experience of developing software for medical devices (and therefore a knowledge of the associated medical software standards) will be needed.

As the company is still at an early stage, you may be occasionally required to help out in other (non-software) functions of the company - you will therefore need an accommodating and adaptable outlook as well as an enthusiasm for work which will have a very substantial positive impact.

You will need:

• A strong academic background in Computer Science, Electronics or similarly applicable subject.
• Substantial experience as a software engineer, including software development for medical devices.
• Excellent coding skills in embedded C.
• A can-do attitude, happy to dive into new technologies and learn new skills as needed (or indeed to help out with non-software tasks as the need occasionally arises).
• Full existing right to work in the UK without restriction, time limit, or sponsorship.

Not essential, but useful: real-time operating systems, React Native, Android, LAMP, C# or Python.

If you’re looking for a role that will make a massive positive impact in the world, whilst at the same time becoming the founding member of a software team, then this may be for you. The role is on-site in a pleasant countryside location. A highly competitive salary is on offer to the successful candidate.

Another top job from ECM, the high-tech recruitment experts.

Even if this job’s not quite right, do contact us now - we may well have the ideal job for you. To discuss your requirements call ecm or email your CV. We will always ask before forwarding your CV.

Please apply (quoting ref: CV27517) only if you are eligible to live and work in the UK. By submitting your details you certify that the information you provide is accurate.