Job:Scientific Programmer at DSM Biotechnology Center, Delft, The Netherlands

Question

[evelien.vlap]

DSM – Bright Science. Brighter Living.™

Royal DSM is a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials. By connecting its unique competences in life sciences and materials sciences DSM is driving economic prosperity, environmental progress and social advances to create sustainable value for all stakeholders simultaneously. DSM delivers innovative solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance in global markets such as food and dietary supplements, personal care, feed, medical devices, automotive, paints, electrical and electronics, life protection, alternative energy and bio-based materials. DSM and its associated companies deliver annual net sales of about €10 billion with approximately 25,000 employees. The company is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. More information can be found at our website.

The Position

DSM Biotechnology Center (DBC) is the primary location for biotechnological Research and Development and is responsible for the realization of biotechnological innovations and the developments of new bio-products and sustainable bio-production processes. DBC has strong competences in high-throughput screening, microbial strain development, bio-design and modeling, industrial bioprocessing, application, microbiology and analytics. DBC is well connected to the DSM R&D hubs in the US and China and external research institutes and universities.

The BioFab group is part of DBC and works at the interface of molecular biology and robotics. By using high-throughput methods, engineering and screening techniques, we improve microbial strain performance to produce diverse products like sweeteners, biofuels and enzymes.

Within the BioFab group of the DBC there is a vacancy for the position of: "Scientific Programmer"

The Challenge

As a Scientific Programmer, you will be part of an interdisciplinary team of lab-automation and computation experts. You will be driving the development, expansion and implementation of software that is utilized in projects on microbial strain engineering and screening for Biotech applications. These applications range from high-throughput lab automation to technologies for data management and visualization. In your role, you would contribute to all aspects of software development, from concept, architecture and design to software implementation, deployment and management in the production environment. You would play a crucial role in shaping the future of these systems that constitute the foundation of the automation lab processes.

The Ideal

• B.S., M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science (or a related field Software Engineering, Computational/Systems Biology, Bioinformatics)
• Excellent object-oriented programming skills (ideally Java or C#)
• 2+ years of experience working in software development including version control (preferably Git), unit testing and code review
• Ability to gather and understand needs as expressed by experimentalists and translate those into user-friendly computational solutions
• Experience with Laboratory Information Management or Sample Management System is a strong pre
• Web development skills are a strong pre
• Experience or interest in the Life Sciences Industry is a strong pre
• Being familiar with the agile type of working is a pre

Terms of conditions

One-year, local contract with the possibility of a permanent contract thereafter.

The Reward

Working for DSM means the opportunity to really contribute to improve people’s lives and solving the challenges of today’s world. Challenging jobs, career opportunities and an inspiring environment allow you to enhance your personal development. DSM recognizes that the on-going success of the company depends on the continued development and engagement of our employees and pursues a fair and competitive remuneration policy, recognizing individual and team competencies and performance. To learn more about DSM's HR vision and policy, please visit our website.

The Procedure & Contact

Please apply on-line by uploading your CV & motivation letter in English via the career portal. For additional questions you can contact me at [e-mail] or just leave a comment below. Reference check procedures and an assessment can be part of the DSM Recruitment & Selection Process. You will be informed when these procedures are required.

Royal DSM is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected veteran status, status as a qualified individual with a disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.

[cschu181]

What does "local contract" mean? I assume that means non-remote/office-based?

[evelien.vlap]

Thanks for the question. Local contract does mean "on-site". That said, we have a flexible way of working, so working remotely at times is possible.

Answer 1

[cleb]

Interesting position! What kind of web development skills are desired? Is it "only" software development or can you also program the robots themselves?

Could you improve the formatting a bit, so e.g. that the bullet points are below and not right after each other and make the sub-headers bold?! Then it becomes easier to read.

Answer 2

[evelien.vlap]

Hi Cleb, thanks for your questions. Regarding web development skills: As written, it is a pre but not required. Ideally, you have experience with angular, vue or react but you are still more than welcome to apply if you don’t. Initially, you would not do any programming on the robots , but closely interact with the people that do. At a later stage there would certainly room for this, too. Thanks also for the feedback on the format. I adjusted it and hope the post is now more readable.

[cleb]

Thanks for the answer, good to know. The post, however, looks as before, seems something went wrong with the editing.

[evelien.vlap]

Thanks for pointing this out, it is fixed now.

[cleb]

Looks much better now.