Data Scientist

In this role at SAM XL, you will work on cutting-edge innovative robotic manufacturing technologies in development projects where sensor data is used to control the robotics system/process.

Job description

You will transform data collected from manufacturing processes, robot and metrology systems into actionable insights—detecting trends, anomalies, and defects that directly improve quality, throughput, and process stability. You will build, test and deploy data-driven (AI) models for the control of the robotic manufacturing process based on actionable insights.

This role combines applied data science with real industrial sensor data. You will prototype, validate, and harden data processing pipelines and AI models in close collaboration with engineers and researchers. You will have the space to implement existing research as well as develop your own ideas into usable tools that teams can run and iterate on.

You will join a young and ambitious team with a strong drive to introduce world-class industrial data/AI applications into industry.

Key Responsibilities

• Take ownership of designing and implementing end-to-end data processing pipelines for manufacturing and inspection/metrology datasets.
• Set up and maintain the infrastructure needed for handling data at scale (storage, versioning, reproducibility, deployment interfaces).
• Use AI/ML and statistical methods to detect trends, anomalies, and defects in manufacturing and inspection data (primary focus).
• Work closely with domain experts to define ground truth, labeling strategies, acceptance criteria, and validation experiments appropriate for low–medium TRL projects.
• Build dashboards/visualizations and clear reports that communicate model performance, uncertainty, and failure modes.
• Contribute to a robust development workflow: documentation, testing, reproducible experiments, and handover to other engineers.

Job requirements

• BSc (HBO), MSc. (or Ph.D.) in Data Science, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, or related fields.
• Strong programming skills in Python.
• 0–3 years of relevant experience.
• Experience building data processing pipelines (ingestion, cleaning, transformation, feature extraction, evaluation).
• Experience applying statistics and Machine/Deep Learning to real-world data.
• Experience working with manufacturing process data, robotics systems and/or metrology data (sensor data, quality data, measurement systems) is a strong plus.
• Familiarity with data tooling for scale and reproducibility (e.g., SQL, Docker, AutoML, cloud infrastructure, CI/CD) is a plus.
• Experience with NonDestructiveTesting/Inspection (NDT/NDI) modalities is a plus; familiarity with vendor tools/workflows is a bonus.
• Knowledge about fiber-reinforced composite materials, and experience with composite manufacturing processes, like automated fiber placement, composite welding technologies are a plus.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work with interdisciplinary teams.
• Ability to work independently and become a problem owner.
• Ability to define and realize your own goals.
• Ability to collaborate with both academia and industry in the context of (EU-)funded research programs.

SAM XL

SAM XL is an ambitious smart robotics development centre with a focus on Industry4.0, cognitive robotics, automated manufacturing and AI. As a 100% subsidiary of TU Delft, SAM XL aims at enabling advanced manufacturing companies (aerospace, maritime, wind energy) to make optimal use of Industry4.0 technology to improve the quality and sustainability of their products, whilst simultaneously reducing cost.

World-class research from both the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and the Cognitive Robotics department of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering is combined with challenges from industry. In a dedicated factory space of 2000 m2 SAM XL develops and demonstrates smart manufacturing technology in close collaboration with engineers from the partnering companies and researchers and Europe’s leading Research Institutes.

Conditions of employment

• Duration of contract is 2 years, temporarily with a possibility for extension.
• A salary based on Scale 10 of the CAO for Dutch Universities with a salary between €3546 - €5538 gross per month based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.
• An excellent pension scheme via the ABP.
• The possibility to compile an individual employment package every year.
• Discount with health insurers on supplemental packages.
• Flexible working week.
• Every year, 232 leave hours (at 38 hours). You can also sell or buy additional leave hours via the individual choice budget.
• Plenty of opportunities for education, training and courses.
• Partially paid parental leave.
• Attention for working healthy and energetically with the vitality program.