AddressAbout us
The Department is located on its own campus in the beautiful Surrey Hills, surrounded by woodland, and is the UK's largest university space research group. Space science is a discipline that demands highly innovative technologies and the Department has an international reputation for excellence in this area. UCL was one of the first universities in the world to become involved in making scientific observations in space. Since the Department was established in 1966, it has participated in over 40 satellite missions with the European Space Agency, NASA (US), Japan, Russia, China and India, and flown over 230 rocket experiments. The Department is family friendly and applications would be welcome from applicants seeking hybrid work opportunities (i.e. a mixture of in person, at least 60% of the time, and remote). The Department has been awarded the Institute of Physics' Juno Practitioner level. The aim of Project Juno is to recognise and reward physics departments, schools, institutes and organisations that can demonstrate they have taken action to address gender equality in physics and to encourage better practice for all staff.
About the role
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated, talented Junior Software Engineer to join the Software Engineering Group at the Department of Space and Climate Physics (Mullard Space Science Laboratory - MSSL) of University College London (UCL).
The post holder will be a member of the MSSL Earth Observation (EO) Project team which has supported European Earth observation missions for more than 30 years: in particular using Radar instruments to measure Polar Ice. The European Space Agency (ESA) is now preparing a new polar EO mission for launch in 2027: The Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography mission (CRISTAL). The CRISTAL mission follows on from CryoSat 2 - a mission proposed by UCL and supported throughout its life by the MSSL team. CRISTAL will carry a dual frequency Radar Altimeter and a Microwave Radiometer that will measure and monitor sea-ice thickness, overlying snow depth and ice-sheet elevations.
This post is for 2 years in the first instance, with the possibility for further extension during the development and operations phases of the CRISTAL mission.
For further enquires please contact Professor Steven Baker (steven.baker@ucl.ac.uk).
About you
The postholder is expected to have a university degree in a numerical science subject or have equivalent experience. An understanding of basic physics to at least A Level standard is essential for this role along with knowledge of the Software Engineering lifecycle, Software Engineering documentation plus expertise in several programming languages including Python. The successful candidate should have experience with scientific algorithm design, coding, and verification and have good written and verbal communications skills.
What we offer
As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:
41 Days holiday (including 27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
Discounted medical insurance
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.
We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce.
These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.
You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/
