Open Position: Software Engineer @ Open Book Publishers

One of COPIM’s consortial partners, Open Book Publishers, are looking for a software engineer who is enthusiastic about open source and Open Access initiatives, to join their small energetic team.

OBP is taking a leading role in developing open source infrastructure to support open access book publishing. They are presently:

• responsible for the development of the Open Dissemination System and Archiving and Preservation services for open access books within the Research England and Arcadia Fund financed COPIM project

• providing hosting services for a number of Open Access initiatives and projects

• in the process of re-developing OBP’s own website to provide an open source and white label website for other Open Access book publishers to adopt

• expecting to be involved in other similar initiatives over the coming months.

OBP are seeking a versatile software engineer to work alongside their existing development team across these development projects.

The successful candidate will be working directly with the Lead Software Engineer on these projects. The role will be varied and broad ranging, including: the development of open source infrastructure as well as maintenance and deployment of supporting scripts; designing and implementing sound data models; implementing unit and end-to-end tests to ensure the reliability of the software through its update cycle; writing documentation for any piece of software produced; designing backup and disaster recovery plans; and offering user support.

OBP are looking for somebody passionate about contributing to the open source and Open Access communities. The successful applicant will preferably have had some previous work experience with web hosting at scale, containerisation and continuous delivery in a cloud computing platform (preferably AWS); using at least one interpreted language and one compiled language; and knowledge of Bash, a version control system (preferably Git) and SQL.

This is a full-time fixed term (18 month) position to support OPB’s development work through to the completion of the COPIM project, although applications for those only interested in a part-time position are also welcome. OBP delight in diversity within their workforce and encourage applications from people with backgrounds not typically well represented in the computing and publishing industries.

The position will be available to start immediately. Gross (FTE) annual salary will be in the range GBP £24,000-£35,000 (depending on experience).

If you are interested in joining OBP and engaging directly in the development of a vibrant open academic publishing ecosystem then please contact, or send a CV and covering letter, to Rupert Gatti ([email protected]), ideally by November 30th but later applications will be accepted until an appointment is made.

More information about this vacancy is available on Open Book Publishers’ website, with job specifications detailed here.

For more information about OBP, their mission and vision, or this position please do visit www.openbookpublishers.com or contact Rupert directly.

Header image by Yancy Min on Unsplash.