Role:  Research Associate (NLP Developer)

Department:  School of Psychology

Grade: Research Grade 6/7 (£33,020 - £38,805 per annum)

Responsible to: Principal Investigator

Campus:  Coleraine (Remote working within the UK may also be considered)

Fixed-Term for 2 years / Full-time

Job Purpose:

We are seeking a core team member to be part of a fully funded initiative to take Harmony, an established research project into a self-sustaining entity. In this role, you will directly contribute to our long-term strategy, building out from an existing beta product to produce a refined research tool. This is a unique opportunity to join a small, focused team and drive a project through its entire lifecycle from inception to independence.

The postholder will be a full-time Research Associate working on the Harmony project, funded by Wellcome. They will be an integral part of a team developing a platform for researchers from the social and life sciences to harmonize data from multiple sources.  The Harmony tool (https://harmonydata.ac.uk/) uses natural language processing (NLP) technologies to identify conceptually similar variables from across different datasets, helping researchers overcome challenges arising from the use of different measures and instruments.

Working within a multidisciplinary team, the postholder will lead the technical development of the platform, implementing new features, maintaining existing software, and overseeing the wider infrastructure that supports the service, including deployments, pipelines and server environments. They will contribute to the delivery of a secure, reliable and robust end-to-end product that meets the needs of researchers and reflects commercial standards.

Closing Date:  19th October 2026 at 23:30

Guidance regarding applications can be found here:  https://recruitment.ulster.ac.uk/information-for-applicants/what-to-expect-from-the-application-and-interview-process. If you are still having issues, please contact email: sj.mcfarlane@ulster.ac.uk stating the vacancy reference number.

Click on the links below for any relevant documents – Please note, these documents will not be available after the job advert closes. Please ensure that you download and save these.

Candidate Briefing Document - 043926

Salary Scale

Please note: For remote working arrangements, the duties of this role must be carried out from within the UK, as the costs associated with employing staff to work outside the UK are prohibitive. Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK.

Please be advised that due to the minimum salary thresholds imposed by the UKVI, this post will not qualify for university sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please check your options here:  https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa

If you have any specific queries regarding eligibility to work in the UK, our Resourcing Compliance team may be able to help: Resourcing-compliance@ulster.ac.uk

We may create a 12-month waiting list for same or similar roles within the Department / Faculty.  The University reserves the right to extend the waiting list across the University if required for certain posts.

Ulster University recognises the potential benefits that Generative AI tools (for example Chat GPT) may bring to some candidates during the application process. In particular, we recognise the positive impact such tools may have with regard to equality, diversity and inclusion. When using AI, however, we encourage candidates to use the technology responsibly, ensuring that submitted applications provide an accurate representation of your skills, abilities and experience. Our selection activities are designed to robustly test and evaluate the extent to which candidates meet the selection criteria outlined for each role. This includes the use of interviews, presentations, written exercises and other additional selection activities as appropriate for each role.

The School of Psychology holds a Silver Athena SWAN Award in recognition of our commitment to advancing Gender equality in higher education. You can read more about what this means  https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/equality-charters/transformed-uk-athena-swan-charter and on our University website  https://www.ulster.ac.uk/peopleandculture/employee-benefits/equality-diversity/athena-swan. The University has a range of initiatives to support a family friendly working environment, including flexible working.