Research Software Engineer

Job description
Do you want to contribute to the innovations shaping the future of sustainable horticulture and agriculture? As a Research Software Engineer, you will develop applications, data solutions, and software building blocks that support our research and innovation projects.
You could be working on autonomous greenhouse control, ranging from climate management to robotics for crop scouting or crop maintenance. You will also help improve the standardization, accessibility, and reuse of data from greenhouses and field experiments, enabling stronger insights across projects.
Working closely with researchers and industry partners, you will help transform ideas into practical digital solutions while ensuring they remain reliable, scalable, and reusable.
Your duties and responsibilities as a research software engineer include:
develop software tools and applications for research, experimentation, and decision support both for colleagues and growers;
build and maintain data infrastructures, databases, and integrations between control systems and sensors;
develop dashboards and analytics solutions that turn research data into actionable insights for colleagues and our customers;
collaborate with researchers and project partners to translate scientific and operational needs into software solutions;
enable the long-term reuse, scalability, and quality of software and data solutions across multiple projects.
Your team
You will be part of the Greenhouse Automation and Robotics team, a multidisciplinary group that combines expertise in AI, sensor technology, and robotics. The team develops innovative solutions for both greenhouse horticulture and open-field agriculture.
You will work in an environment where collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation are at the core, with plenty of opportunities to take initiative and turn new ideas into reality. This provides an inspiring and supportive workplace with a strong connection between technology and real-world agricultural applications.
Your primary workplace will be Wageningen, where you will be based for most of your work. Depending on project needs, you may also spend time at other locations, such as Bleiswijk or field sites where experiments and trials are conducted.

Requirements
We are looking for a versatile Research Software Engineer who enjoys working at the intersection of software development, data engineering, and applied research. You are able to understand the needs of researchers and project partners and translate them into practical, robust, and user-friendly software solutions. You enjoy working in multidisciplinary teams and are comfortable switching between project-specific developments and more generic software components that can be reused across multiple projects.
You also possess:
a bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, or a related field;
several years of experience in software development, data engineering, or a similar role;
strong programming skills in Python; experience with C++ and/or C# is an advantage;
experience with databases, data pipelines, and modern data engineering practices; familiarity with tools such as Airflow or TimescaleDB is a plus;
experience with robotics software, ROS 2, machine learning, or related technologies is an advantage.
In our international working environment there is an increasing amount of communication in English. For this position it is about
language level
B2.

Conditions of employment
Fixed-term
contract
: 1 year.
Wageningen University & Research offers excellent
terms of employment
. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:
working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
a fixed year-end bonus of 8,3%;
excellent pension scheme.
In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. We offer, depending on your experience, a competitive gross salary of between € 3,554.- and € 5,698.- for a full-time working week of 36 hours, in accordance with the CLA Wageningen Research (scale 10). Additionally, for this role a contract for 32 to 36 hours can be discussed. We initially offer a one-year contract, with the possibility of renewal subject to satisfactory performance and depending on the organisation’s financial situation.
We encourage development and internal mobility within our organisation. Our recruitment and selection policy sets out the conditions that apply specifically to you as a (former) employee. If you have any questions, we are happy to help.

Employer
Wageningen University & Research
The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,600 employees (6,700 fte) and 13,100 students and over 150,000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.
Read the
5 reasons
why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch the video below to get an idea of our green campus!
We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.