Possible Job Roles for an RSE
Open Science RSE
Open science and FAIRness of data and software are increasingly important topics in research, as exemplified by the demand of an increasing amount of research funding agencies requiring openness. Hence, an Open Science RSE is required to have a deeper knowledge in Research Culture (RC) and how to distribute software publicly (Software Reusability (SRU), Software Publication (SP)). Open Science RSEs can help researchers navigate the technical questions that come up when practising Open Science, such as:
- “How do I make my code presentable?”
- “How do I make my code citable?”
- “What do I need to do to make my software FAIR?”
- “How do I sustainably work with an (international) team on a large code base?”
Like the Data-focused RSE, they have a deep understanding of Research Data Management (RDM) topics.
Project/Community Manager RSEs
When research software projects become larger, they need someone who manages processes and people. In practice, this concerns change management for code and documentation, and community work to safeguard usability and adaptability, but also handling project governance and scalable decision-making processes. This gap can be filled by people who invest in the Project Management (PM), User Support (USERS), and Team Management (TEAM) skills.
Building a community around a research project is an important building block in building sustainable software (Segal 2009), so these RSEs play an important role, even if they do not necessarily touch much of the code themselves.
Teaching RSEs
RSEs interested in developing their Teaching (TEACH) skill can focus on teaching the next generation of researchers and/or RSEs and will play a vital role in improving the quality of research software. They need to have a good understanding of all RSE competencies relevant to their domain and additionally should have experience or training in the educational field.
User Interface/User Experience Designers for Research Software
Scientific software is a complex product that often needs to be refined in order to be usable even by other scientists. To facilitate this, there are people required that specialise in the Documentation & Best Practices (DOCBB) and probably the Distribution (DIST) competency with a focus on making end-user-facing software really reusable and hence FAIR. This task is supported by strong Modelling (MOD) skills to reason about the behaviour of potential users of the software.