Software & Platform Engineer

Cytoo is a contract research organisation specialising in human disease modelling and drug discovery. Our MyoScreen platform combines micropatterning technology, primary human cells, high-content imaging and AI-based analysis to generate physiologically relevant in vitro models. We work with biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide on target identification, drug candidate evaluation and potency assay development, with a particular focus on neuromuscular diseases.

The Role

Cytoo is investing in the foundations underneath its science: how we build, deploy, secure and govern the data and analysis systems our platform runs on. We are looking for a Software & Platform Engineer to own that layer.

You would join our Data & Digital Science team and report to its Head. In this small team of 4, your work is visible and the platform, the plan and the priorities sit with you, the direction is set with your manager. An external IT service provider covers day-to-day operations, and where we lack depth in-house we bring in outside expertise.

This is platform and software engineering applied to scientific imaging data. It is not data analysis or ML modelling. Our data scientists own the analysis; you own the systems the analysis runs on and the engineering practices around them.

What you would do

Software and quality engineering

• Turn our proofs of concept into stable, documented, deployable tools
• Write and maintain tests, automation scripts and deployment tooling in Python
• Maintain and improve the image-analysis scripts and Python interfaces the team relies on daily

Scientific data platform

• Evaluate imaging data management options, including migration cost and implications
• Design and implement the integration architecture: ingestion from acquisition, storage, archiving, and how our analysis tools run on top
• Help define the right balance between on-premise and cloud compute, as hardware comes up for renewal

Infrastructure and security ownership

• Hold Cytoo's security posture, including backup and disaster recovery
• Manage the relationship with our external IT service provider
• Set the direction of our infrastructure and security programme and drive the work forward, in-house and through the provider

Support the team

• Operational support to colleagues on tool usage, data access, performance and computational constraints
• User-facing documentation, training and good-practice sharing

Making our data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR)

• Provenance and metadata: which processing, which parameters and which version produced a result
• Archival rules, data integrity and controlled access across systems
• Interoperability between our acquisition, storage and analysis tools
• Support GDPR compliance, and keep the door open to regulatory requirements (GxP, 21 CFR Part 11) that may become relevant as our client work evolves

Who we are looking for

• At least 3 years in platform engineering, software engineering, DevOps, research IT, scientific computing or an equivalent technical role
• Solid Python: tests, automation, integration scripts, internal tooling. Platform-flavoured Python rather than data science or ML
• Comfort with Linux servers, version control and standard infrastructure tooling
• Interest in scientific data, whatever your background. You are happy to ask a biologist what they need and translate it into infrastructure
• You can set your own priorities and explain them
• A security mindset: you think about access, permissions and data exposure as part of normal work
• Degree in computer science, engineering, applied mathematics, bioinformatics or equivalent. Equivalent professional experience is welcome
• Working proficiency in English and French (both are working languages)
• Nice to have: AWS or another cloud platform, scientific imaging or microscopy data, work in a regulated environment (GxP, 21 CFR Part 11, ISO 27001), OMERO or another research data management platform
• Within a year you will have worked across infrastructure, security, tooling, code quality, data governance and vendor management
• Real ownership at a formative moment, with room to shape how new tools are evaluated and adopted as our work broadens across imaging workflows and Cytoo's wider digital and AI transformation
• Work on a commercially validated platform used by leading biotech & pharmaceutical partners worldwide
• Work that supports drug discovery, including research into rare diseases
• Location: Meylan (Grenoble area), with up to 3 days of remote work per week
• Contract: CDI, statut cadre, start as soon as possible
• Compensation: based on experience, discussed during the process