Research Engineer F/M in Distributed and Secure Collaborative Systems

Context
This research engineer position is part of the PILOT (Practices and Infrastructure for Long-Term Collaboration) project within the French national research programme PEPR eNSEMBLE (Future of Digital Collaboration). Running from 2023 to 2030, PILOT is coordinated by Claudia-Lavinia Ignat (Inria), Myriam Lewkowicz (Université de Technologie de Troyes), and François Charoy (Université de Lorraine). The project brings together 15 partner institutions and approximately 25 research teams.
PILOT aims to design and develop the next generation of collaborative technologies that support sustainable, secure, and interoperable collaboration across organizational boundaries. By combining research in distributed systems, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and social sciences, the project seeks to develop collaborative infrastructures grounded in actual work practices and organizational needs.
A central objective of PILOT is to overcome the limitations of existing collaborative platforms, particularly their dependence on centralized services, limited interoperability, and restricted user control over shared data. The project investigates alternative approaches that enable organizations and individuals to collaborate while preserving their autonomy, privacy, and control over their data and tools.
The successful candidate will join the LORELEY research team at the Inria Centre at the University of Lorraine in Nancy. They will work at the intersection of academic research and software engineering, collaborating closely with researchers, PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and engineers from the PILOT consortium.
The position offers the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research on distributed collaborative systems and to transform scientific results into open-source software components, integrated prototypes, and demonstrators.
Assignment
The Research Engineer will contribute primarily to two complementary research axes of PILOT:

• Axis 2 – Open Technical Frameworks and Protocols for Long-Term Collaboration, which develops new algorithms, protocols, and software components for secure, distributed, and interoperable collaborative systems.
• Axis 4 – Actionable Guidelines and Demonstrators for Long-Term Collaboration, which aims to translate research outcomes into practical solutions, demonstrators, technical guidelines, and reusable software artifacts supporting future forms of collaboration.

The main mission will be to design, implement, integrate, and evaluate research prototypes of distributed and secure collaborative applications, working closely with the PhD students and postdoctoral researchers developing the underlying algorithms and protocols.
The Research Engineer will also contribute to transforming these individual research prototypes into more comprehensive demonstrators illustrating how different technologies can be combined to support real-world collaborative scenarios.
An important part of the position will involve the development and maintenance of an open-source repository of PILOT software components, prototypes, and demonstrators, together with their technical documentation, deployment instructions, and associated use cases. This repository will contribute to the broader PILOT platform, which brings together research findings, collaborative practices, technical components, and guidelines for long-term collaboration.
The position therefore combines hands-on software development, research prototyping, system integration, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Main activities
The Research Engineer will contribute to the development, integration, and dissemination of technologies supporting secure, interoperable, and long-term collaboration, with a particular focus on Axes 2 and 4 of PILOT.
The main responsibilities will include:

• Development of research prototypes (Axis 2): Work closely with PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and other consortium members to implement and evaluate novel technologies for distributed collaborative systems, including collaborative editing, data synchronization, decentralized architectures, interoperability, and security.
• Integration and development of demonstrators (Axis 4): Combine research prototypes into functional demonstrators illustrating new forms of long-term collaboration, particularly across organizational boundaries and in application domains studied within PILOT.
• Development and maintenance of the PILOT technical repository: Organize, document, and maintain open-source software components, prototypes, and demonstrators, ensuring their accessibility, reusability, and sustainability.
• Evaluation and validation: Contribute to the technical evaluation of developed solutions and, in collaboration with CSCW and HCI researchers, assess their suitability for real-world collaborative practices.
• Scientific collaboration and dissemination: Collaborate with PILOT partners and contribute to technical documentation, project deliverables, presentations, and dissemination activities.

Skills
The position requires solid programming and software engineering skills, together with an interest in distributed systems, collaborative applications, and security. Experience in developing research prototypes, integrating software components, or contributing to open-source projects would be an advantage.
Candidates should be able to work independently while collaborating effectively with researchers, engineers, and partners from different disciplines. Curiosity, initiative, adaptability, and good communication skills are particularly valued.
Strong written and spoken English is expected. Knowledge of French would be an advantage but is not mandatory.