Algorithm Developer (Operations Research)

bout the Role

The Algorithm Developer is responsible for developing and maintaining the optimization engines and ancillary calculations in our products. These form a core part of the overall company’s platform offering and require in-depth domain knowledge and mathematical programming experience. Not only does this role address the platforms content software development needs, but it also covers the technical support element to the business. This includes interaction with clients to understand the domain issues they are trying to solve, as well as the implementation of these solutions.

Key Accountabilities and Duties

Algorithm Design and Development

Research new and emerging technologies in the energy domain (concentrating on specific areas, e.g. transmission developments, market rules, etc.)

Propose concise and performant formulation specifications for new features required

Develop the proposed feature / s while maintaining high quality coding standards (see “High Code Quality Contribution” accountability)

Design, develop, review, re-factor, and maintain software with quality and performance in mind

Collect feedback from design and technical staff on development needs

Conduct technical testing to resolve existing or introduced problems

Engage in requirement specification process for new software functionality

Produce technical documentation such as incremental design specifications and user manuals.

Technical Support

Liaise with colleagues and clients to reproduce and correct any defective software

Provide technical advice and suggestions to customers

Ensure high priority items are addressed urgently, providing timely responses

Understand the clients query, answering technical queries concisely in language they understand (i.e. understand the domain).

High Code Quality Contribution

Produce concise high-quality code, with performance and memory considerations at the forefront of any design

Develop and demonstrate functionality through PoC (proof of concept) builds

Understand core programming paradigms

Experience with core development fundamentals, e.g. system architecture, memory management, parallel processing, base classing, etc.

Add to engineering team’s culture of high code quality.

Global Team Interaction and Collaboration

Seek support from local and global developer teams when required

Recommend solutions and options to global team when required

Participate in global projects and attend stakeholder meetings, as and when required (often outside of “normal” work hours, due to the global nature of the meetings).

Required Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Breadth of experience with .NET (including VB.NET and C#), and other development languages (e.g. C++, Python, etc.)

Strong mathematical skills, with solid theoretical background in numerical analysis and optimization techniques

A deep understanding of Operations Research

Strong knowledge and experience working with complex models

Strong knowledge and experience working with energy system modelling and simulation, analysis and operation, optimization and numerical analysis methodology

Ability and willingness to work independently and collaboratively

Ability to interact effectively with team members

Ability and desire to effectively present to others

Driven and passionate about the code and products being produced

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or a related field

Post graduate degree (MSc, PhD, etc.), comp science , Maths, in relevant field

experience in a .NET development environment

Experience working in an Agile development environment

Experience with linear and mixed integer programming tools

Familiarity with analytical tools, such as Unit Commitment, Economic Dispatch, Load Flow, Contingency Analysis, etc.