Python Software Engineer for AI Platform Development

Would you like to contribute your code and knowledge to a groundbreaking application for Dutch higher education and research institutions? We are working on a service that will enable these institutions to use AI with confidence. Our AI platform is unique because we develop it ourselves, independently of the major cloud providers. This allows us to guarantee sovereignty and privacy. We recently launched a pilot for education and research institutions. These include universities, colleges, vocational colleges, university medical centres and institutions such as the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Are you interested? Then read on!

Where you will work

SURF is the ICT cooperative for Dutch educational and research institutions. Together with them, we work on digital services and complex innovation challenges to enhance the quality of education and research. We do this together with the institutions, with an eye for public values, and as openly and open source as possible.
There is a lot of technical pioneering to be done within SURF. You will have the freedom to make architectural choices, explore new technologies and develop proofs of concept into production-ready solutions. You will also work on issues relating to cloud architecture, scalability, security, data integrity and AI ethics. In this way, you will contribute directly to an infrastructure that makes Dutch education future-proof.

The team you will join

You will become part of the High Performance Machine Learning (HPML) team within the Advanced Research Solutions department. Your colleagues work on training language models, such as OpenEuroLLM and GPT-NL. They also advise researchers on the optimal use of the Snellius supercomputer for AI. You will work with Python on a rapidly growing AI platform. The team has an open atmosphere, is enthusiastic and we help each other.

Working at SURF means working for a unique and open organisation. This is evident in everything: the structure of the organisation, the set-up of the project teams, the culture in our offices and the atmosphere among colleagues. SURF offers excellent terms of employment and a flexible approach to work/life balance. Employees enjoy working independently. In addition, everyone is given the space and freedom to use and develop their talents as effectively and broadly as possible.

What you will do

You are a strong, hands-on backend Python developer who enjoys the challenge of working on a fast-growing AI platform. You can do this: on the one hand, you enjoy sitting quietly behind your keyboard. On the other hand, you understand how to bring new functionality into production in a stable and smooth manner. You will be given a lot of freedom and autonomy, and we expect you to handle this responsibly and carefully. Don't expect detailed user stories from us. You are responsible for clarifying requirements when necessary, and your team members will help you with this.

Other tasks you will handle

• You build and optimize a high-throughput AI platform for large-scale inference workloads.
• You maximize GPU utilization through smart scheduling and dynamic resource allocation.
• You keep latency low by designing efficient data pipelines, caching and message queues.
• You ensure compliance, build management tooling and contribute to a stable, secure platform architecture.
• Together with the team, you maintain the platform operationally, including monitoring, incident response and CI/CD improvements.

Your skills and experience

• You have more than 5 years of experience as a medior Python developer.
• You have extensive experience with unit, integration and end-to-end testing.
• You have extensive experience with PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy and migrations.
• You have extensive experience with CI pipelines (we use Git and GitLab).
• You have extensive experience with Rest and streaming APIs.
• You are proficient with the Linux command line.
• You are fluent in English (the working language of the team).

It is an advantage if:

• You have experience in production environments.
• You have experience integrating AI into an application.
• You have knowledge of containers (such as Docker and Apptainer), especially if you have used them in real-time workflows.
• You have experience with Slurm or cluster computers.
• You have experience with Kafka or a similar product.
• You have experience with Kubernetes.

Prior to starting this job, a VOG must be presented.

SURF takes pleasure in doing its recruitment itself; acquisition is therefore not appreciated.