Data Engineer – Autonomous Systems

Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford

. Build high-throughput, low-latency ingestion for live video, sensor telemetry, robot joint state, and instrument control signals .

Posted 10/4/2026full-timeOxford • United KingdomMid-LevelSeniorWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates strong programming expertise in Python and experience with real-time data streaming technologies such as Kafka. Capable of building high-throughput data ingestion systems and collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams in automated lab or life sciences environments.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Python ProgrammingReal-Time Data StreamingKafka ExperienceData Ingestion APIsEnd-to-End Systems Ownership

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Data IngestionSchema DesignStateful Stream ProcessingVersion ControlData Provenance

Soft Skills

Clear CommunicationCollaboration

Tools & Technologies

MQTTFastAPIGRPCGraphQLFlink

Industry Keywords

Automated Lab EnvironmentsRoboticsInstrument APIsPhysical-System Data PipelinesModel Training

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudGraphQLGRPCKafkaPython

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Build high-throughput, low-latency ingestion for live video, sensor telemetry, robot joint state, and instrument control signals
Integrate validation at the edge before data reaches the cloud
Work across the edge-to-cloud stack, including edge devices, MQTT brokers, Kafka topics, cloud storage, and APIs
Convert robot state, instrument output, and video streams into structured database transactions
Build a knowledge graph linking inputs to results and tracing facts to source video segments and sensor readings
Prepare formats, sampling, labelling, and provenance for model training and evaluation
Collaborate with AI researchers, software engineers, robotics engineers, and domain scientists
Contribute to robust system design, testing, rapid prototyping, and responsive engineering

Requirements

What you’ll need

Strong programming experience in Python
Code quality, reliability, and performance focus
End-to-end systems ownership from device output to APIs
Experience with real-time data streaming, including Kafka or Pub/Sub (or equivalent)
Understanding of high-frequency, low-latency data capture
Reproducibility, version control, schema design, and lineage knowledge
Clear and respectful communication and collaboration with scientists, roboticists, and researchers
Experience in automated lab or life sciences environments, instrument APIs, and lab protocols (preferred)
Experience with physical-system data pipelines, including robotics, MQTT, autonomous vehicles, lab or clinical instruments, or industrial control (preferred)
Knowledge of knowledge, entity, search, or feed systems with continuous updates (preferred)
Stateful stream processing with Flink, Kafka Streams, Beam, or similar; event time, watermarks, and exactly-once (preferred)
Data ingestion and consumption APIs using FastAPI, gRPC, or GraphQL (preferred)
Graph stores and entity resolution or curation at scale (preferred)
Experience curating training or evaluation data or building model data systems (preferred)
Permanent right to work in the UK

Benefits

Comp & perks

Travel allowance
Bonus
25 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays
Additional 3 days between Christmas and New Year
Opportunity to purchase an additional 5 days annual leave in January and July
Pension with 7.5% employer contribution and minimum 5% employee contribution
Life Assurance
Income Protection
Private Medical Insurance for employee, partner and dependents, including hospital Cash Plan
Employee discounts
Electric car scheme
Nursery Salary Sacrifice scheme
Cycle to Work Scheme
Family Planning
Neurodiversity support including advise and assessments
Coaching & Therapy services