Research engineer or research developer position at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History

The Candidate will work on established and novel research projects of the Department Michalsky in cross-collaboration with the Digital Humanities Lab at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History, Rome.

The projects range from digital cartography to the mapping and cataloging of cultural heritage (11th-17th c.). They are implemented as custom workflows for cataloging platforms and virtual research environments, which rely upon semantically organized data (e.g. CIDOC-CRM).

The Candidate will have the opportunity, if so they wish, to participate as co-author in the dissemination efforts of the projects in which they were involved, including scholarly publications and seminars.

The Max Planck society strives for gender and diversity equality. We welcome applications from all backgrounds. Furthermore, The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals.

Tasks

• Development/adaptation of instances of virtual research environments (ResearchSpace and others)
• Managing the curatorial workflow of research data within the projects of the Department Michalsky
• Setting up data interoperability between the projects’ research platform and databases from other projects at the Bibliotheca Hertziana and from third parties
• Data reconciliation
• Designing and implementing the user experience in interacting with the data and content of the projects

Experience

Either:

• M.Sc. or above in Computer Science or related disciplines

Experience with applying information technologies to the Humanities is a plus

or:

• M.Sc. or above in a Humanities discipline (e.g. literature, art history, archaeology) but with proven development experience in ICT projects

Skills

Essential

• Client-side Web development (HTML, JavaScript, CSS) and advanced techniques compatible with project requirements (e.g. templating systems like Handlebars or Django)
• Familiarity with database paradigms other than relational (e.g. Graph, NoSQL…)
• Common data interoperability formats (JSON, XML)
• Agility with language-independent HTTP-based API usage
• Ability to quickly learn new standards based on the above knowledge
• Inclination toward team work and continuous reporting/issue tracking/development documentation

Desirable

• Java for server-side development
• Knowledge of Linked Data standards (RDF, SPARQL, JSON-LD, ontologies)
• Knowledge of information publishing standards for the Humanities (CIDOC-CRM, IIIF, FRBR, BIM)

Languages

English. Italian is desirable.

Wages

The contract will be based on the Italian “Co.Co.Co. (Collaborazione Coordinata e Continuativa)” scheme, 12 months, net monthly income ca. 1700 Euros, starting as soon as possible.

The position is based in Rome (Italy) and will be primarily onsite to favor synergy with the members of the research team.

How to apply

Applications may be submitted by November 15, 2023, via our recruitment platform,

supplying:

• Cover letter (1 page max)
• Curriculum vitae et studiorum
• Portfolio and/or max 2 References that you feel useful to better demonstrate your competences (online links are encouraged)

Please address inquiries and questions to alessandro.adamou@biblhertz.it, elisabetta.scirocco@biblhertz.it, and raffaele.rossi@biblhertz.it