Research Software Engineer in Biomedical AI for Public Health Communication (f/m/x)

102832

Full time
39 hrs./week

Neuherberg near Munich

Partial Home Office possible

At Helmholtz Munich, we develop groundbreaking solutions for a healthier society in a rapidly changing world. We believe that diverse perspectives drive innovation. Through strong partnerships, we accelerate the transfer of new ideas from the lab to real-life applications, improving lives.

The project 'AI-enabled Quality Control and User Guidance for Public Health Communication' develops next-generation, transparent, and ethically responsible AI tools for public health communication in the age of generative AI.

Search engines increasingly generate AI-based summaries directly from trusted sources such as diabinfo.de without users visiting the original site. This threatens the visibility, verifiability, and perceived quality of public health information. Our mission is to build open-source technologies that preserve reliability and reach, ensuring that high-quality medical information remains measurable, verifiable, and accessible to everyone.

You will join an interdisciplinary collaboration between the at Helmholtz Munich, the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), and the German Diabetes Center (DDZ)—linking cutting-edge AI development with editorial and clinical expertise.

We are looking for a confident and experienced software engineer (f/m/x). You own the systems: you design them, ship them, and keep them running in production. You will work alongside a PhD researcher and the diabinfo.de editorial team, but the technical decisions are yours to make and defend.

Everything we build is open source from the first commit. You will not be asked to write papers, though you are welcome to co-author where it makes sense.

Your tasks

Your first six months, concretely: build the measurement pipeline that detects when diabinfo.de content is reproduced in AI-generated search results, and expose it through an API and a dashboard the editorial team uses without our help. Everything below follows from that.

• Design and implement software pipelines for data acquisition, processing, and benchmarking of AI-generated content in health communication.
• Build APIs and dashboards that measure the "invisible use" of health information in AI-generated search results.
• Develop and deploy web-based tools and CMS plugins that bring large language models into editorial workflows.
• Keep deployed systems robust, low-latency, and maintainable: tests, CI, containers, monitoring.
• Translate the needs of editorial, clinical, and research partners into technical decisions.

Your profile

• Master’s or PhD degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Bioinformatics, Computational Linguistics, or a related field - or equivalent professional experience with a track record we can inspect.
• Strong Python, with production experience in the web stack. Comfortable with relational databases, containers, and git-based workflows.
• Demonstrated engineering discipline: tests, documentation, code review, deployment. A public repository or comparable evidence of how you build.
• Working knowledge of LLM-based systems: retrieval, evaluation, prompt and context design. Familiarity with NLP pipelines is a plus.
• Commitment to open-source principles.
• Ability to work independently and within an interdisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and editors.
• Excellent written and spoken English. German at B2 level or above, or a clear commitment to reaching it.
• Interest in translational AI, responsible innovation, and the societal impact of the systems you build.

How we work

We build with coding agents to various degrees. Claude Code, Codex, and comparable tools are part of the normal workflow, and we expect you to know when to use them, and to use them well: designing context, writing specifications an agent can follow, reviewing generated code critically, and building the harnesses and evaluation loops around them. Deep prior experience with these tools is not required, but we expect an open mind and willingness to learn.

If you fulfill all the requirements, you may be eligible for a salary grade of up to E 13. Social benefits are based on the Collective Wage Agreement for Public-Sector Employees (TVöD). The position has an (initial) fixed term of 2 years but may be extended under certain circumstances.

Managing Director Mike Frieser: „We believe that diversity is the key to groundbreaking research and innovative solutions. Our flexible working models and remote options create a supportive environment for balancing work and family life. For us, contributing to a healthier society in such an inspiring workplace is truly meaningful.“

Benefits

• Ownership — you run systems used by a public audience, with the autonomy to decide how they are built
• Open source by default — your work is public and citable
• Scientific resources — state-of-the-art infrastructure and Core Facilities
• Career development — training and career center with tailored offers
• Family support — on-site kindergarten, holiday care, care for the elderly
• Health promotion — sports, company doctor, mental health initiatives
• International staff service — support with relocation and integration in Germany
• Work-life balance — flexible working hours and flexi-time models

Interested in applying?

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Sebastian Lobentanzer, sebastian.lobentanzer@helmholtz-munich.de, who will be happy to help.

Our recruiting is decentralized - your application will be reviewed directly by the specialist department in which you could work in the future.

Please send your application only via our online application tool and with the following documents:

• CV
• Short cover letter (1 page max.)
• A link to a public repository, or a code sample of your choosing, with a few sentences on what you would change about it today
• Contact details for two referees
• Short cover letter (1 page max.)
• A link to a public repository, or a code sample of your choosing, with a few sentences on what you would change about it today
• Contact details for two referees

Incomplete applications cannot be considered.

If you have obtained a university degree abroad, we will require further documents from you regarding the comparability of your degree by the time you start work at the latest.

We are committed to promoting a culture of diversity and welcome applications from talented people regardless of gender, cultural background, nationality, ethnicity, sexual identity, physical abilities, religion or age. Qualified applicants with physical disabilities will be given preference.

Our commitment

Helmholtz Munich
Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt (GmbH)
Institute of Computational Biology
Ingolstädter Landstraße 1
85764 Neuherberg