Solution Engineer

Are you passionate about ICT innovation and its role in Dutch research? Do you understand the needs of researchers and research institutions, and do you see the power of collaboration in realizing collective solutions? Are you the link between innovative ideas and existing services, and does improving and developing applications give you energy? Then we would love to talk to you!

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.

Whoever works at SURF works at a unique and open organization. You notice this in everything: the structure of the organization, the set-up of the project teams, the culture at our offices and the mutual atmosphere. SURF offers excellent terms of employment and takes 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 in the best and broadest way possible.

The team you will join

You will work in the Technology Exploration Team, focusing on applications and technology in the field of research and education, where we experiment, explore and investigate innovative ideas. Together with the team, we strive to continuously renew our knowledge in a wide range of areas, so that our expertise and services continue to meet the future needs of researchers. In this way, we contribute to the goal of facilitating world-class Dutch research with top-notch facilities and relevant expertise.

What you will do

As a solution engineer, you are responsible for the technical realization and implementation of IT solutions based on the designs of our Solution Architects. You will work with SURF colleagues, research communities and users within Dutch universities and knowledge institutions. You will collaborate with various research domains and experts in the field. You will identify and develop improvements to their existing solutions and applications and explore new possibilities. You will help test these ideas and, if they prove to work, quickly turn them into working prototypes. You are creative, enjoy puzzle-solving and have hands-on experience and expertise with various programming models and frameworks.

Other taskst you will handle

Your tasks will include:

• Working with your colleagues and experts from the institutions within the Large Scale Research Infrastructure (LSRI) projects to develop customized solutions for LSRI that may or may not lead to new SURF services;
• Building, configuring, testing, implementing and documenting solutions within the agreed architecture;
• Supporting the design process with technical input;
• Acting as technical point of contact during implementation and management;
• Ensuring compliance with SURF guidelines for open source development, privacy and security when developing prototypes and pilots.

Your skills and experience

You are an independent go-getter with technical and tactical insight and a healthy dose of pragmatism. You have an affinity with educational and research innovation and are energised by designing and implementing innovative solutions. You enjoy working as part of a team and have strong communication skills that enable you to convince others. You are flexible, results-oriented and always have an eye for the applicability of your ideas.

• You have a higher professional education (Hbo) or university degree and at least 3 to 5 years of relevant work experience.
• You have in-depth knowledge of infrastructure, software development and/or cloud-native technologies (depending on the domain).
• You have knowledge of and experience with privacy and security by design.
• You are flexible and adapt easily to changing circumstances.
• You are persuasive and know how to work effectively within multidisciplinary teams.

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