King's College London

About us:

We are seeking a visionary CogStack Lead Research Software Engineer to provide strategic technical leadership for the CogStack ecosystem of tools, overseeing the design, deployment, and governance of secure, scalable research infrastructure used across King’s College London and NHS Trust partners.

​The CogStack Lead Research Software Engineer will work closely with and report to the Programme Director, Professor Richard Dobson and Prof James Teo.

​This is an exciting time to join the CogStack ecosystem which is a highly collaborative, cross-institutional consortium that pools expertise from across AI, data science, research, and clinical practice. The NHS consortium consists of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Guys & St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, South London and The Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. University partners are King’s College London, University College London and University of Birmingham.

​About the Faculty: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/IoPPN

​This is a full time post and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 30th November 2027.

About the role:

The postholder will act as the technical lead for integrated research platforms, including ETL pipelines, natural language processing frameworks, and large-scale data storage and retrieval systems. They will be responsible for setting architectural direction and ensuring that all services meet the highest standards of reproducibility, security, performance, and long-term sustainability.

The role extends beyond software engineering to include architectural decision-making, supervision of junior engineers, and close collaboration with researchers and clinicians. It represents a critical bridge between cutting-edge clinical NLP research and production-grade deployments that deliver real-world impact.

​Find out more about the CogStack project: www.cogstack.org  

​The post is based at the Dept of Biostatistics and Health informatics within the School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences:  https://www.kcl.ac.uk/psychology-systems-sciences/about/departments/biostatistics-and-health-informatics

About you:

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. MSc/PhD or equivalent experience in computer science, informatics, or a related discipline.
2. ​Significant experience in large-scale data engineering and infrastructure, including Apache NiFi, Docker, Kubernetes, and hybrid cloud/on-prem environments.
3. ​Strong Python engineering background with experience in NLP frameworks (e.g. MedCAT, HuggingFace-based models).
4. ​Proven track record in leading technical projects across multiple stakeholders.
5. ​Experience mentoring or supervising other engineers.
6. ​Knowledge of secure software deployment, governance, and compliance in healthcare or equivalent sensitive data environments.
7. ​Excellent written and verbal communication skills for technical and non-technical audiences.

Desirable criteria

1. Contributions to open-source research software projects.
2. ​Experience managing technical resources or budgets.
3. ​Familiarity with biomedical ontologies and multimodal EHR data (text, imaging, structured).
4. ​Engagement with national digital health initiatives or research consortia.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further information:

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.