Postdoc Researcher in Green Technologies for Digital Research Infrastructures

The Complex Cyber Infrastructure (CCI) research group at the University of Amsterdam conducts research in the area of complex infrastructure services provisioning including cloud resource, optical and hybrid networking for high performance and data intensive application (also referred to as Big Data). CCI research also include Big Data architecture, trusted data exchange and federated infrastructure services, network and application security, microservices and programmable networks for the Future Internet and Internet of Things (IoT). The CCI group is involved in a number of national and EU funded project contributing to the development of the novel concepts in the area of new and emerging technologies.

The CCI group is looking for a Postdoc Researcher to work on the EU funded project GreenDIGIT that will address the challenges of achieving sustainability and reduced environmental impact of the current and future European Research Infrastructures (RI) by addressing a complex of tasks to reduce carbon footprint and environmental impact in the continuum of resources (IoT, Far-Edge, Edge, Cloud), supporting the whole research and data lifecycle. The CCI will focus on developing sustainable architecture that will be instrumental in optimising the efficiency of scientific workflows and algorithms running within the RIs, optimise the management configuration, and the overall performance, while reducing energy consumption. Special attention will be given to the experimental research automation and data management infrastructure, interoperability with EOSC and international testbeds.

What are you going to do?

The GreenDIGIT project will design the general architecture and complex of technical solutions and tools for researchers and RI operators to reduce energy consumption, carbon footprint and environmental impact. The architecture should be supported by the experimentally verified model supporting optimisation of the efficiency of scientific workflows and algorithms running within the RIs by managing the configuration and runtime operation while reducing energy consumption. The project will develop solutions and tools for researchers and operators to develop and execute optimized and environmental impact aware workflow in experimental research. The project will develop the data management and data sharing infrastructure, interoperable with EOSC and cooperating testbeds.

It is expected that the candidate is familiar with the variety of modern networking technologies, Big Data infrastructure services and platform, cloud computing, edge computing and microservices, programmable networks, data modeling and data management process and applications, at the level to be capable to identify trends and propose a solution for the project infrastructure and testbed. Knowledge and experience with the Data Analytics and cloud-based tools for services provisioning and data management is an advantage. General understanding of the green IT and environmental awareness mind set is expected.

Tasks and responsibilities:

It is expected that the candidate will take active part in all project activities, learn new relevant technologies, in particular:

• working with a variety of modern networking technologies, Big Data infrastructure technologies and platforms, data management and data modeling;
• developing cloud native applications and adopting edge computing and microservices for experimental research automation;
• researching on and developing solutions for experimental research automation and reproducibility, data management processes, applications and tools;
• identifying trends and proposing solutions for the project infrastructure and testbed deployment;
• contributing to publications and dissemination activities by the project;
• actively contributing to the development of and improvement of the teaching programmes in the department with the research results.

What do you have to offer?

Your experience and profile

We are looking for a candidate who meets the following requirements:

• A Doctorate in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Machine Learning. Candidates with MSc in Computer Science, Information Management or closely related fields may be also considered;
• An interest to a growing research domain of the future green and low environmental impact digital and hyperconverged infrastructures, understanding the potential role of cloud technologies in reducing overall environmental impact in digital infrastructures;
• Sufficient experience in developing Machine Learning and Data Analytics applications, knowledge of the popular ML and data mining frameworks, libraries and development environments;
• Good knowledge of and sufficient experience with cloud based Big Data platforms and services, cloud based development process and tools; experience with DevOps/SRE and tools is an advantage;
• Ideally, experience with the research on energy efficiency and scientific workflow optimisation, experimental research automation and research data management;
• Ability to communicate with large number of cooperating senior and junior researchers, advise them on coordinated actions and share experience;
• Good communicative skills in English, both written and oral.

Beneficially if you have knowledge of the European research area and experience in participating in European projects related to research data infrastructures.

Our offer

We offer a temporary employment contract for 38 hours per week for a period of 36 months {with a probationary period of two months}. The preferred starting date is 1 March 2024 or as soon as possible.

The gross monthly salary, based on 38 hours per week and dependent on relevant experience, ranges between € 3,226 to € 5,090 (scale 10). UvA additionally offers an extensive package of secondary benefits, including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%. The UFO profile Researcher 4 is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants.

Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on fulltime) and extra holidays between Christmas and 1 January;
• Multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
• Multiple courses on topics such as leadership for academic staff;
• Multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses;
• 7 weeks birth leave (partner leave) with 100% salary;
• Partly paid parental leave;
• The possibility to set up a workplace at home;
• A pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution;
• The possibility to follow courses to learn Dutch;
• Help with housing for a studio or small apartment when you’re moving from abroad.