Senior/Lead Research Engineer (Software)

The Centre of Excellence in Maritime Safety (CEMS) is a national R&D centre, a collaborative effort between Singapore Polytechnic and the Singapore Maritime Institute. We focus on developing innovative digital solutions and training systems to enhance maritime safety. Our state-of-the-art research facilities, including South-east Asia's first navigation research simulator, setting us as an innovation champion.

About the Role

The appointee will be part of the CEMS AI & Software team in developing digital solutions to enhance simulator training and assessment, innovate in training pedagogy for the maritime industry. The role may also involve contributing to department- and school-level software initiatives that support digitalisation and automation across R&D, operations, and education.

Responsibilities:

• Lead projects and provide technical contributions across the full software development lifecycle (SDLC), including requirements gathering with industry partners and internal stakeholders.

• Work closely with the AI team at CEMS to deploy and integrate AI solutions-such as Natural Language Processing, computer vision, and data analytics -into simulation platforms to enhance training and assessment capabilities.

• Collaborate with third-party simulator technology and solution providers to design and develop reusable code libraries and scalable APIs for integration and interoperability.

• Drive improvements to existing software systems by identifying performance bottlenecks, refactoring codebases, and enhancing maintainability and scalability.

• Contribute to the conceptualization, proposal development, and implementation of new research and development projects aligned with CEMS's strategic objectives.

• Guide junior software engineers and student interns in software development best practices, code quality, and project execution.

• Prepare and deliver regular project updates and technical presentations for CEMS Governing Board and senior management meetings.

  Requirements:

  • Relevant qualifications in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field.

  • Relevant experience in the following areas: Production-grade software development, Backend and/or frontend application development, RESTful API design and implementation using modern frameworks (e.g., ASP.NET Core, Spring Boot, Django, Express.js)

  • Strong programming skills in one or more modern languages (e.g., C#, C++, Java, Python), with the ability to quickly learn new technologies and frameworks.

  • Experience working with relational and non-relational databases (e.g., MySQL, Oracle, MongoDB).

  • Good understanding of object-oriented design, software design patterns, and CI/CD practices.

  • Familiarity with version control systems (e.g., Git, GitLab).

  • Hands-on experience with containerization tools such as Docker.

  • Ability to build quick prototypes, tools, or scripts to support development or testing.

  • Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills effective in collaborative and fast-paced environments.

  • Experience with end-to-end AI solution implementation using frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch is a plus.