Job opening: Allround Scientific Software Developer

8 October 2013

Job opening: Theoretical Chemist/Physicist with excellent programming skills

This position has already been filled. If you are interested in working as a developer with SCM, consider applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual fellowship or Research and Innovation Staff Exchange under the Horizon 2020 program.

SCM is a growing and profitable scientific software company in Amsterdam, producing and marketing software in computational (quantum) chemistry and materials science. To accelerate its further expansion, we now create two job openings with prospect of permanent employment. One of these positions is for a versatile and flexible scientific software developer, preferably with relevant experience in theoretical chemistry or (solid-state) physics. This position will initially be for one or two years.

The successful candidate will be involved in a broad variety of software development projects, each typically a few days up to a few months, to further improve the user-friendliness and capabilities of SCM’s software. Versatile programming skills are mandatory. Often projects require interfacing or merging external academic or commercial software into the ADF suite, speeding it up, and making it available in user-friendly documented form to a broad user audience. The focus will be more on software than on developing new science and on writing code rather than publications.

The SCM development staff consists of senior PhDs focusing on software / method development, and with typically more than 10 years experience in ADF / BAND scientific software development. In addition there are various EU fellows (PhD students and post-docs) working on specific scientific projects. 

Job requirements

Requirements:

  • Excellent software development skills – experience in writing modular, reusable, efficient quality code in various programming languages (including modern Fortran and python) is crucially important
  • Knowledge of methods in relevant fields of science, such as quantum chemistry, electronic structure theory (DFT or approximate methods), and molecular dynamics
  • MSc or PhD degree in relevant field (e.g. computer science, computational physics, materials science, or quantum chemistry), with several years of method and software development
  • Good people skills to interact with other developers in the company, external partners (mostly academic developer groups), and users 
  • Good written and verbal communication skills in the English language
  • Willingness to regularly travel to partner companies and academic groups abroad for short-term programming assignments

Desirable additional knowledge and experience:

  • Experience with programming in a team, in a large-scale software package (>100,000 lines of code)
  • Working knowledge of Fortran(90,2003) and python and preferably some additional languages 
  • Experience with one or more of: high-performance computing, parallel programming, porting code to other platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  • Experience in GUI development (e.g. Tcl/Tk)
  • Knowledge of ADF or BAND (especially source code)
  • Allround technical skills (UNIX, debugging, website, Javascript, drupal, ..)
  • Team player, with good two-way communication skills, self-motivated and independent worker    

What we offer

The employment contract will initially be for a temporary position for one or two years and may be extended or converted in a permanent position upon mutual satisfaction. The position is available immediately but there is flexibility concerning the starting date. Salary and secondary benefits (including pension fund) will be competitive and will be at least at the level of such a position at a Dutch university. Tax benefits (30% of salary tax-free) may be applicable in the Netherlands (depending on circumstances) for a successful candidate from abroad and a variable team bonus may be awarded. This is a full-time (preferred) or part-time (at least 0.7 FTE) position in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

About SCM and ADF
Scientific Computing & Modelling NV, SCM, is a (now independent) spin-off company of the VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. SCM develops, maintains, and markets the Amsterdam Density Functional (ADF) package, consisting of the molecular ADF program, the periodic structure program BAND, the reactive molecular dynamics program ReaxFF, approximate DFT (DFTB) software, the COSMO-RS module for thermodynamics of mixed liquids, and their respective graphical interfaces. The working atmosphere at SCM is that of an informal small team (approximately 15 people) of PhDs doing intellectually challenging work. SCM shares office space and closely interacts with the well-known Theoretical Chemistry (TC) group led by professors Bickelhaupt and Visscher and emeritus professor Baerends and with the group of prof. Tom Ziegler at Calgary, Canada. The TC group consists of about 20 people, including a very international mix of PhD students, postdocs, and guests. SCM cooperates with a large and growing number of academic method developers around the world and is increasing its scope to atomistic simulations in a broader sense. SCM is a science-focused company which has been around for 18 years. It is financially solid, free of debt, growing, and profitable. We are located in Amsterdam, the very lively, internationally oriented, and enjoyable capital of The Netherlands. Thanks to its high quality of living, Amsterdam was recently elected as overall winner for “most attractive city to live in Europe”, beating Paris and Berlin.

Eligibility
SCM is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants can have (almost) any current residence and nationality – unless export restrictions apply for our software.

Further information, applying
Detailed information on SCM and its software can be found at http://www.scm.com. Those interested in this position are encouraged to contact Dr. Stan van Gisbergen, SCM’s Chief Executive Officer (vangisbergen at scm dot com, tel: +31-20-5987626)  for further information. Job applications can be sent by E-mail to the same address until November 20, 2013, but preferably sooner. Applications should contain a CV, a letter explaining the motivation for applying and, if applicable, a list of publications or software projects worked on (with own contribution specified). References and source code may be requested at a later stage. The accompanying E-mail should briefly stress already a few key reasons why you might be the most suitable person for this position.