Software engineer for Shapash – P16

Level of qualifications required : Graduate degree or equivalent

Other valued qualifications : Engineering degree

Fonction : Support functions

Context

Since 2018, Inria has played a crucial role as a support for the State's action in the field of artificial intelligence, in close collaboration with the National Strategy for AI. To steer this mission, Inria has created the AI Program, which is part of the Program Agency set-up entrusted by the State to Inria, and which coordinates innovative cross-functional AI initiatives: research, transfer and support for public policies.

As part of the AI acceleration strategy, and in particular in the area of “developing cutting-edge digital infrastructures, stimulating public-private partnerships and increasing the impact of AI research”, Inria has proposed the implementation of an acceleration project to support the implementation and development of an open and interoperable sovereign platform of AI software libraries for French companies, and its scaling to the European level. This initiative is one of Inria's priorities as part of the development of its AI acceleration strategy, and with the aim of contributing to French technological sovereignty and the economic impact on French industry.

The expected impact of this measure on French industry is to enable all French companies, as well as public and institutional players, to accelerate their digital transformation using AI, without being in a captive relationship with the dominant players, thanks to the availability of a generic technological base and a set of associated transfer mechanisms.

As part of this ambition, the implementation of the measure is based on the P16 project, whose aim is to develop and disseminate a coherent suite of software for AI and data science based on three actions:

• Action 1 focuses on data interoperability.
• Action 2, “Data Wrangling,” addresses data preparation, aiming to reduce the manual time required in data science projects.
• Action 3 focuses on model training and execution, in particular on scikit-learn. In this context, MAPIE offers a valuable addition to scikit-learn, with algorithms that are specifically designed for uncertainty quantification.

The engineer recruited will be part of the Institute's permanent engineering team, represented at center level by the Experimentation and Development Department (SED). His or her main activity is part of the Shapash project, a leading open-source package for the explainability of machine learning models. Shapash is used by an active community of users and makes it possible to present model decisions to business experts in an educational way. As part of its integration into P16, we are looking for an engineer to participate in the development of new functionalities, reinforce software quality, and increase the library's outreach to the scientific and industrial community.

Assignment

As part of his/her main mission (80% of his/her time)

• Development of Shapash:
• Open source contribution and community engagement
• Development planning and phasing:
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams

As part of collective or cross-functional activities (20% of his/her time), the engineer will:

• Participate in training courses, seminars and department activities.
• Promote best practices in software engineering and experimentation within the Institute.
• Participate in drafting projects and advising on development projects.
• Participate in the animation of the software development community in the Center and participate in thematic networks.

Main activities

As part of his/her main mission (80% of his/her time)

1. Development of Shapash:

• Participate in the development of new Shapash library functionality using robust software development practices.
• Optimize code performance and quality.
• Improve the user experience and the graphical interface.
• Enhance documentation, training materials, and communication around Shapash.
• Ensure scientific and technological monitoring of explainability methods.

2. Open source contribution and community engagement

• Manage the project lifecycle: review and integration of external pull requests, handling of issues, release management.
• Participate in the development and coordination of user community and external contributors, both nationally and internationally.

3. Development planning and phasing:

• Participate in task planning and organization of sprints in collaboration with the development team of our partner MAIF.

4. Collaborate with cross-functional teams:

• Collaborate with other technical teams within the P16 project to ensure integration of Shapash library with other software components.
• Participate in meetings with related teams to align development goals and efforts.

Skills

Required skills:

• Solid experience in Python, with excellent knowledge of libraries such as scikit-learn, pandas, numpy, matplotlib and scipy.
• Advanced skills in machine learning, with a thorough understanding of explainability methods.
• Skills in user interface design and web application ergonomics.
• Communication skills and demonstrated ability to work collaboratively on research and software development.
• Ability to reimplement algorithms from academic publications.
• Strong knowledge of software engineering practices, including version control, testing, continuous integration and Agile methodologies.
• Excellent communication skills, enabling effective collaboration with internal and external teams.
• Mastery of open-source workflows and best practices.

Benefits package

• Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
• Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
• Possibility of teleworking and flexible organization of working hours
• Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
• Social, cultural and sports events and activities

Warning : you must enter your e-mail address in order to save your application to Inria. Applications must be submitted online on the Inria website. Processing of applications sent from other channels is not guaranteed.

Instruction to apply

Defence Security : This position is likely to be situated in a restricted area (ZRR), as defined in Decree No. relating to the protection of national scientific and technical potential (PPST). Authorisation to enter an area is granted by the director of the unit, following a favourable Ministerial decision, as defined in the decree of 3 July 2012 relating to the PPST. An unfavourable Ministerial decision in respect of a position situated in a ZRR would result in the cancellation of the appointment.

Recruitment Policy : As part of its diversity policy, all Inria positions are accessible to people with disabilities.

Education and experience:

• Engineering degree or Ph.D. in computer science, applied mathematics, numerical methods, statistical learning or related field.
• Relevant experience in similar projects, preferably in the context of artificial intelligence and data research.

About Inria

Inria is the French national research institute dedicated to digital science and technology. It employs 2,600 people. Its 200 agile project teams, generally run jointly with academic partners, include more than 3,500 scientists and engineers working to meet the challenges of digital technology, often at the interface with other disciplines. The Institute also employs numerous talents in over forty different professions. 900 research support staff contribute to the preparation and development of scientific and entrepreneurial projects that have a worldwide impact.