Are you looking for a challenging job in a dynamic interdisciplinary team? The Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) is looking for an enthusiastic and experienced back-end engineer, contributing to the development of a flexible and sustainable infrastructure for MUSic-related Citizen Science Listening Experiments (MUSCLE). The project is funded by a PDI-SSH grant awarded to the Music Cognition Group (MCG), part of the research unit Language & Music Cognition (LMC), at the ILLC.

The Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) is one of the six Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR), and a renowned research institute at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), in which researchers from the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Science collaborate. The ILLC offers a friendly international research environment with world-class faculty in all of its areas of specialization, including music cognition and computational musicology. We are based in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, renowned for its historic system of canals, its laid-back cosmopolitan atmosphere, and its excellent connections to the rest of Europe and the world.

What are you going to do?

Data science has had an enormous impact on music research in the last few years, with several international labs basing their scientific insights on large amounts of empirical data. MCG has contributed to this research by showing that engaging games can serve as a powerful method to attract hundreds of thousands reliable participant responses.

However, in addition to the technical demands of game-like large-scale listening experiments, both music and citizen science require infrastructural support that is currently not addressed by the existing digital infrastructures. Hence, the current project aims to develop a flexible and sustainable infrastructure for citizen science listening experiments, for domains that have special needs with regard to high-quality, platform-independent audio presentation, processing and timing of responses (e.g., music information retrieval, music cognition, computational musicology, phonetics and speech research).

The back-end engineer will –together with a team consisting of, among others, a gamification expert, a front-end and an exchange engineer– be responsible for the design and implementation of the MUSCLE infrastructure.

Your tasks and responsibilities:

• develop the code-base of the MUSCLE infrastructure, based on the existing Django infrastructure of the Amsterdam Music Lab (AML);
• design and implement a battery of audio playback options, timing support, and gamification options;
• be responsible for integrating and maintaining the MUSCLE infrastructure;
• ensure that the application components are re-usable and suitable for future online experiments;
• ensure the code base can be verified, tested, extended and deployed easily by different parties;
• support UvA researchers in using the MUSCLE infrastructure for their own experiments.

What do you have to offer?

Your experience and profile:

• MSc degree in computational science, software development, gamification or related field;
• excellent design and programming skills for online infrastructures (demonstrated by a portfolio);
• experience with Python and Javascript;
• knowledge of Django and React is an advantage;
• knowledge of audio and timing support software is an advantage;
• an interest in music is an advantage.

Please note that knowledge of the Dutch language is not required for this position. However, if you wish, there are opportunities to attend Dutch language classes.

The back-end engineer will be appointed as ICT Developer 3 at the Research Department of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam and will conduct the software development in the ILLC. The initial employment contract will be for one year. Contingent on a positive performance evaluation the contract will be extended with up to two years. Preferred starting date is 15 February 2022. The employment contract is for 19 hours a week.

The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and relevant experience, ranges between €2.846 to €.4.490 (salary scale 10). This sum does not include the 8% holiday allowance and the 8,3% year-end allowance. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

What else do we offer

• Excellent possibilities for further professional development and education.
• An enthusiastic, inspiring and interdisciplinary academic team.
• The opportunity to collaborate with leading researchers at research institutes that - partly as a result of their interdisciplinary approach - are world renowned.

University of Amsterdam

To work at the University of Amsterdam is to work in a discerning, independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterized by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society. Here you can read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.

Faculty of Humanities

The Faculty of Humanities provides education and conducts research with a strong international profile in a large number of disciplines in de field of language and culture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the faculty maintains close ties with many cultural institutes in the capital city. Research and teaching staff focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and are active in several teaching programmes.

Want to know more about our organisation? Read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.