This article is part of a series: Recruiting

We’re growing our software engineering team and are hiring our first ever research software advocate. This is a unique opportunity to shape our researcher relations strategy.

Applications close on Tuesday 14th May at midday.

Who are we?

We are the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, at the University of Oxford, led by Professor Ben Goldacre. We built OpenSAFELY, a revolutionary open source platform for secure clinical research. Conceived at the start of the COVID-19 crisis, it has been used extensively to produce ground-breaking research using an unprecedented corpus of patient data which is not available anywhere else.

Our mission

  • Driving better use of data to improve the lives of citizens.

Our values

  • True multidisciplinary working, combining best practice from software development, academia, clinical work and information governance.
  • Openness on code and methods, as a means to drive efficiency and quality.
  • Transparency on use of data, to earn trust and prove delivery.
  • Championing privacy through deeds rather than words.
  • Open sharing of insights about ways of working, not just our outputs.
  • We aim to be fearless without being reckless when addressing systemic problems.

Why should you join us?

  • We’re a truly interdisciplinary team of researchers, software developers, clinical informaticians and more, with a strong track record of delivering useful tools in a globally leading research setting.
  • You’ll have the chance to use your software skills to save lives and further the state of medical data research.
  • Our software delivery teams are collaborative, supportive, thoughtful and kind.
  • We support hybrid or fully remote working, with in person team events throughout the year.

We are actively seeking to increase our team’s diversity, and so we welcome applications from those in under-represented groups.

Who are we looking for?

As a research software advocate, you’ll bridge our technical team and the wider research community, comprising both NHS analysts and highly-respected epidemiologists from the UK’s leading universities. You’ll help us understand the specific needs and challenges of this group, developing close relationships with its members, whilst making considerable use of your strong technical expertise and communication skills.

This role is modelled on developer relations roles in other organisations. As with those roles, with this role you’ll find yourself doing plenty of hands-on coding, crafting technical content – such as tutorials and blog posts – organising events, and representing OpenSAFELY at public speaking engagements.

You’ll be our first ever research software advocate, so will have the unique opportunity to shape our researcher relations strategy. We want to build a strong, engaged community around OpenSAFELY that contributes significantly to the advancement of health research and analytics in the UK and internationally.

How to apply

You’ll find more details about the role and how to apply on our jobs site.

Applications close on Tuesday 14th May at midday.

In your application, please tell us how you meet the vacancy criteria.

If you have any questions about the role or application process, please contact Ben Butler-Cole.

You can see all our current open roles on our vacancies page.