Hybrid Research Assistant – Software Development, Urban Energy System Planning

at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

• Job title: Research Assistant – Software Development, Urban Energy System Planning
• Job type: Internship
• Experience level: Entry level
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: Django, Flask, Postgres, Python
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Bochum, Germany

About the role

• Software development assistant for sectoral energy system planning at Fraunhofer IEG. Collaborating with agile Scrum teams to innovate in energy system integration and planning.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to Python software development for cross-sector planning of neighborhood energy systems.
• Take on tasks in software architecture, development, testing and documentation.
• Depending on your interest and prior knowledge: possible involvement in implementing a web GUI in Python.
• Participate in addressing energy-economics research questions, analyze data for neighborhood planning projects, and provide conceptual support for automating energy system analyses and planning at the neighborhood level.
• Develop and maintain databases (PostgreSQL).
• Support topics such as version control, deployment and CI/CD processes.

Requirements

• Enrolled student in a degree program such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Energy Engineering or a related field.
• Experience in software development with Python and the ability to independently plan and complete small programming tasks.
• Interest in technical topics from energy engineering and neighborhood planning.
• Desirable skills: mathematical optimization methods (e.g., linear programming or evolutionary algorithms), data analysis, data science and machine learning, relational database development, web development or web GUI development with Python (e.g., Dash, Flask, Django).
• Independent and reliable working style.
• Good written and verbal communication skills in German or English.

Benefits

• Meaningful work — we are passionate about climate protection and the energy transition!
• You will be a full member of one of our agile Scrum teams, working with developers and researchers as an equal team member.
• We will assign you a task that motivates and excites you.
• Opportunity to contribute your own ideas to the development direction.
• A practical role that complements your studies.
• A friendly, creative and supportive working environment.
• Tailored supervision by the Scrum team and a personal buddy.
• Flexible working hours that fit your studies.
• Possibility to complete a final thesis in the area of software development for energy system planning.