Software Engineer

About the position

iThemba LABS seeks to appoint a Software Engineer within Accelerator Operations and Technical Support (ATS) department, under Control Electronics and Software Engineering (CESE) division.
The incumbent will be responsible for maintaining, designing, developing, testing, and contributing to the commissioning of control andmonitoring software systems and safety interlock systems for all particle accelerators at NRF iThemba LABS facilities

Key Responsibilities:

• Gather user requirements and develop system specifications that includes functional and non-functional requirements for approved projects.
• Design, develop and maintain software for the control and monitoring and safety systems of particle accelerators.
• Maintain existing legacy software applications and databases based on operating systems, e.g. OS/2, MS-DOS, Windows XP
• Support full project and software development life cycle to ensure successful outcomes;
• Plan and conduct software upgrades on legacy systems.
• Design and develop device drivers and APIs for seamless system integration
• Compile technical documentation according to project and system engineering plans.
• Manage software repositories, archivers and backups.
• Provide technical support to internal scientific staff & external scientific users as and when requested.

Key Requirements:

Qualification:

• NQF7 or higher in computer engineering, electronic engineering or related engineering disciplines.

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years working experience in Python or C/C++ within an engineering or research environment.

Knowledge:

• Software Maintenance
• In-depth knowledge of at least one programming language (i.e. C/C++ or Python)
• Experience with Linux operating system or similar variants
• Understanding of software development processes and principles to ensure high-quality software solutions
• Knowledge of control and monitoring systems in an engineering or research environment.
• Experience with developing APIs and/or device drivers
• Systems integration
• Application support
• Technical Documentation
• Database usage
• PLC programming and/or knowledge of automation systems advantageous

Desired Skills:

• System Design
• Engineering Software
• C++
• C

Desired Qualification Level:

• Degree

About The Employer:

The National Research Foundation (NRF) supports and promotes research and human capital development through funding, the provision of National Research Facilities and science outreach platforms and programmes to the broader community in all fields of science and technology, including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities.

iThemba LABS is Africa's leading research facility for accelerator-based science that is committed to advance knowledge, transform lives and inspire the nation, we do this through probing fundamental aspects of nuclear structure, investigating the origins of matter, and advancing humanity's understanding of condensed matter. In addition, we have a direct societal impact through the provision of radioisotopes for the health sector and a biophysics research program focusing on the impact of radiation on human health, as well as isotope analysis for the environmental sector