The Organisation

Nikhef is the national institute for subatomic physics in The Netherlands. At Nikhef, approximately 175 physicists and 75 technical staff members work together in an open and international scientific environment. Together, they perform theoretical and experimental research in the fields of particle and astroparticle physics. The Nikhef institute is a collaboration between six major Dutch universities and the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Nikhef participates in large research collaborations, such as at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and in experiments in the research fields of gravitational waves, cosmic rays and astroparticle physics. Knowledge and technology transfer to third parties, i.e. industry, society and the general public, is an integral part of Nikhef’s mission. Nikhef has its own state-of-the-art data centre for external customers and scientific researchers.

The Challenge

The software engineering group of the Computer Technology department develops software for the read-out and controls of particle-detector systems that are used in the experiments in which Nikhef participates. The software engineers work closely together with engineers from the Electronics Technology department and scientists. 

We are looking for a software engineer for the development of embedded software for detector systems. You will work in a dynamic, international and technically challenging scientific environment.

Your main tasks include:

• Development of embedded software for various microcontrollers and (soft) microprocessors.
• Maintenance on existing embedded systems that have been deployed in experiments.
• Interaction with electronics engineers and scientists to collect software requirements and perform debugging or system tests.
• Writing documentation about the design and usage of the control software.

Requirements

The successful candidate has experience and good knowledge of programming software for embedded systems. An open and curious attitude to learning and applying new technologies is a must. The candidate must be able to work both independently and as a team member, and must be fluent in English, both speaking and writing. Knowledge of Dutch is an advantage but not essential.

Necessary technical knowledge and experience include:

• Proficient in C and C++ in embedded environments.
• Demonstrated mastery of embedded software design, implementation and debugging on 32 bit microcontrollers/processors such as ARM Cortex M and A.
• Working experience of modern software methodologies and tools such as GIT, Test Driven Development and Agile.
• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering or

Desired qualifications:

• Experience with embedded operating systems, such as FreeRTOS, Zephyr, NuttX or Embedded Linux.
• Experience in developing communication drivers for systems utilizing UART, I2C, SPI and other such inter-IC interfaces.
• Knowledgeable in networking/communication technologies such as TCP/IP, protocol buffers and MQTT.
• Experience in development for FPGA-based soft microprocessors or FPGA/CPU SoCs such as the Xilinx Zynq platform.
• Experience in using oscilloscopes and/or logic analyzers to design, test and validate embedded systems.
• Experience with Python.

The candidate will be employed by the NWO-I foundation in a project-related position of approximately 5 years. The gross monthly salary depends on the level of education and working experience and will be between €2.736,= and €5.064,= excluding the excellent secondary benefits comprising a 13th monthly salary per year, participation in the ABP pension fund and about 8(!) weeks per year paid holiday leave. The full conditions of employment are laid down in the Collective Labour Agreement for Research Centers (CAO-Onderzoeksinstellingen), which can be found on the website of NWO-I: www.nwo-i.nl.

Information & Application:
If you have questions concerning this position, please contact Ronald Starink (tel. +31205922271 or send an e-mail to: vacancies-ct@nikhef.nl).

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply by clicking the 'apply now' button below. Please be prepared to upload a detailed resume and motivation letter no later than November 1st, 2019.

We only accept applications submitted directly via the candidates.  We also respectfully request unqualified candidates to refrain from submitting an application.