IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING APPLICATION DEADLINE: Please note that the closing date for submission of applications is indicated in local time as per the time zone of the applicant’s location.

Organizational Setting

The Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications implements the IAEA’s Major Programme 2, “Nuclear Techniques for Development and Environmental Protection”. This Major Programme comprises individual programmes on food and agriculture, human health, water resources, environment and radiation technologies. These programmes are supported by laboratories in Seibersdorf, Monaco and Vienna. The Major Programme’s objective is to enhance the capacity of Member States to meet basic human needs and to assess and manage the marine and terrestrial environments through the use of nuclear and isotopic techniques in sustainable development programmes.

The Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences is responsible for assisting and advising Member States in research and development for the nuclear sciences, especially the physical and chemical sciences. Specifically, the Division provides support to Member States in the following fields: production of radioisotopes and radiolabelled products for applications in health care and industry; radiation source applications; research reactor utilization; applications of accelerators and nuclear instrumentation; nuclear and atomic data for applications; controlled nuclear fusion and isotope hydrology and geochemistry.

Additionally, the nuclear science activities carried out by the Nuclear Data Section and Physics Section in the Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications fall under Major Programme 1.

The Nuclear Data Section (NDS) is primarily responsible for the generation and maintenance of a number of high-quality and fundamental nuclear and atomic databases and providing services to users worldwide. The main means of dissemination is via the NDS website, which provides interactive tools to present the required data.

Main Purpose

As a member of a team of the Nuclear Data Services Unit, the Software Engineer (Nuclear Data) provides a full range of technical tools enabling the completion of a range of project activities in the Nuclear Data Section encompassing international guidelines, enhancement of Member States’ abilities to adopt and use fission and fusion civil energy technologies and address non-energy applications (medical, life sciences and analytical). The objectives are: (1) enhance the effective and rational storage, handling and retrieval systems for the IAEA and Member States’ nuclear data databases; (2) analyse and specify the concept and strategy of database design and software architecture, with the primary aim of foreseeing future the user needs, (3) invent and develop new methods of access to the data and formats for their presentation in an open source flexible and effective manner to ensure long-life cycles, and; be responsible for the visualisation of many types of data in an efficient and user-friendly fashion. Adopt universally recognized, open source, modern data technologies for this.

Role

The Software Engineer is: (1) a programme implementer in a team, providing access to appropriate and recommended data sets in order to assist in the planning and development of nuclear energy research worldwide by means of database and associated software developments; (2) a technical expert planning and leading activities identified with the development of nuclear database architecture and tools for their user-friendly data interrogation, extraction, visualisation and analysis; (3) a project officer who promotes, coordinates and undertakes data development projects in order to extend the potential adoption of up to date nuclear data in support of both nuclear fission and fusion research, and; (4) a data dissemination specialist who analyses users’’ needs and identifies new requirements for nuclear data software, derives the most effective and generic solutions, and designs, develops and implements multi-platform nuclear database software, including cross-database tasks, data formats and applications.

Functions / Key Results Expected

• Provide technical input to the planning, development and implementation of the IAEA Nuclear Data programme for a variety of applications including those based on fission, fusion, medical and analytical methods.
• Design, build and maintain secure, robust and efficient software for the storage and dissemination of a wide range of nuclear data. Ensure that the developed open source software is well documented and maintainable, and follows software development best practices (version control, test-driven development, continuous integration).
• Improve and extend the IAEA Nuclear Data Services by designing and implementing new features based on user feedback.
• Integrate all developments in a modern website.
• Keep up to date with the technology and ensure that new project designs are being discussed among the Section staff, to ensure transparency and reusability.
• Develop software and utility codes for day-to-day maintenance of major nuclear reaction databases, with specific focus on EXFOR and ENDF. Provide support to professional staff to enable efficient use of databases and tools across all areas of work and application.
• Develop automated data curation and data quality assurance protocols for nuclear data libraries, with the goal of increasing accuracy, consistency and completeness.
• Create software tools that accurately process and interpret nuclear data. Create user-friendly interfaces that allow users to easily access, visualise and analyse nuclear data. Create APIs that allow for easy access to the nuclear data.
• Provide timely statistics regarding the usage of the Nuclear Data Section data, software and tools.
• Assist Member States in using and retrieving the Nuclear Data Section data, software and tools. Provide presentations, documentation and trainings for using newly implemented features and projects.

Competencies and Expertise

Core Competencies(Competency Framework)

Functional Competencies

Required Expertise

Qualifications, Experience and Language skills

• A first level university degree in data sciences and software engineering or related field. Master’s degree would be an asset.
• At least five years relevant working experience in designing and implementing complex applications for scientific data.
• Experience in working in a national/international scientific data organisation or institute is desirable.
• Demonstrated experience writing secure, robust and efficient software following best software development practices.
• Experience with front-end frameworks and visualisation techniques.
• Experience in using Machine Learning algorithms is desirable.
• Excellent oral and written command of English. Knowledge of other official IAEA languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) is an asset.

Remuneration

The IAEA offers an attractive remuneration package including a tax-free annual net base salary starting at US $64121 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance), a variable post adjustment which currently amounts to US $ 32894*, dependency benefits, rental subsidy, education grant, relocation and repatriation expenses; Other benefits include 6 weeks’ annual leave, home leave travel, pension plan and health insurance. More information on the conditions of employment can be found at: https://www.iaea.org/about/employment/professional-staff/conditions

General Information

• The IAEA’s paramount consideration in the recruitment of staff member is to secure employees of the highest standards of efficiency, technical competence and integrity.
• Staff Members shall be selected without any unfair treatment or arbitrary distinction based on a person’s race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, disability, age, language, social origin or other similar shared characteristic or trait.
• The IAEA is committed to gender equality and to promoting a diverse workforce. Applications from qualified women and candidates from developing countries are strongly encouraged.
• Applicants should be aware that IAEA staff members are international civil servants and may not accept instructions from any other authority. The IAEA is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. As part of the United Nations common system, the IAEA subscribes to the following core ethical standards (or values): Integrity, Professionalism and Respect for diversity.
• The IAEA has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and the IAEA, including sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.

Evaluation process

• The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the selection criteria stated in the vacancy announcement. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information. Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise, which may be followed by a competency-based interview.
• Candidates under serious consideration for selection may be subject to reference and background checks as part of the recruitment process.

Appointment information

• Appointment is subject to a satisfactory medical report.
• Staff members may be assigned to any location.
• Candidates appointed to posts in the Professional and higher categories are subject to IAEA rotation policy and their maximum tour of service shall normally be seven years.
• The IAEA retains the discretion not to make any appointment to this vacancy, to make an appointment at a lower grade or with a different contract type, or to make an appointment with a modified job description or for shorter duration than indicated above.