Build the science that shapes the future of human health.
Application closing date: 30.04.2026

Join a place where ambitious science thrives
Human Technopole (Milan) is a rapidly expanding life science institute where international researchers and cutting-edge technologies converge to accelerate biomedical discovery. Our mission is to transform bold scientific ideas into advances that improve human health.

Within this mission, the Funke group is developing machine learning methods for automatic and semi-interactive analysis of biomedical image datasets, concretely: (1) semantic and instance segmentation of structures of interest (from organoids over entire cells to subcellular structures), (2) tracking of possibly dividing objects over time in 2D and 3D movies, (3) prediction of functional, genetic, or diagnostic information from images, (4) generation of counterfactual explanations to help extracting new insights from biological datasets, and (5) the development of computational models of cell and tissue dynamics.

We are recruiting a Research Software Engineer (RSE) who is motivated to bridge the gap between research and practical applications, i.e., to be involved in machine learning research projects from the inception over development through maintenance, with an eye for elegant and robust solutions that can easily be used by the wider research community.

Your mission
As part of the Funke group and more generally the Multimodal AI Across Scales research centre at the HT, you will design, develop, document, and maintain open-source software solutions that work hand-in-hand with the machine learning methods we develop. Crucially, we do not consider this an isolated role: you will be involved in the development of our methods and your input and contributions will shape the direction of our research.

Your responsibilities will be:

• Drawing from your experience, you will consult and plan research projects with us with practical applications in mind
• You will develop elegant, simple, robust, and well documented software solutions that bring our methods in the hands of practitioners
• Work closely with other members of the Funke group and the research centre to support their research and thus contribute to the development of new methods
• Share your expertise in the form of tutorials, presentations, and by being a mentor to more junior members

Grow your skills
Our software development is essentially conducted in Python and necessitates knowledge of modern software-engineering practices such as test-driven development, version control, continuous integration and containerization to ensure that our software modules can be easily deployed. In addition, our work requires knowledge of image analysis and modern deep-learning methods.

Human Technopole supports career development through training, mentoring and dedicated learning opportunities.

What you'll bring

Essential

• A BSc, or higher, in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Physics, Mathematics or a related field.
• At least 2 years of industry or research experience in software development.
• Experience with Python for scientific software development
• Experience with contemporary machine learning frameworks
• English proficiency

Preferred

• MSc, or higher, in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Physics, Mathematics or a related field, or equivalent industry experience (3+ years);
• Expertise in other programming languages (e.g. Rust, C++, Java)
• Advanced understanding of Python and software engineering concepts (data structures, OOP, design patterns, concurrency, etc.)
• Experience in GUI design
• Expertise in software engineering tools and methods is strongly recommended (version control, continuous integration, test-driven development etc.).
• Contributions to open-source projects is a plus.
• Experience with containerization, pipelining, and deployment of methods and workflows.
• Experience with scientific image analysis or biomedical imaging.
• Experience with high performance computing.

Organisational and social skills

• Proven ability to work closely with interdisciplinary teams and incorporate feedback from diverse stakeholders.
• Strong critical thinking skills to tackle technical challenges in bioimage analysis.
• Effective written and verbal communication for interacting with peers and presenting ideas clearly.
• Eagerness to learn and adopt new technologies and methods relevant to the field.

At HT, your discoveries contribute to a global effort to improve human health.

Why Human Technopole
HT offers an international and dynamic workplace, competitive welfare provisions, flexible working policies and relocation support. Researchers moving to Italy may benefit from attractive tax benefits. We promote work–life balance and provide parental support initiatives.

How to apply
Submit:
• CV
• Motivation letter (English)
• Contact details of two referees

This is a 3-year contract offered under CCNL Chimico Farmaceutico, Level B2

Salary: up to € 46.000,00 depending on the candidate’ seniority.
The position is based in Milan, Italy, within our vibrant international campus.
We strongly encourage applications from candidates belonging to protected categories (L. 68/99).