Research fellow; m​/f​/d SolMates project

Organisation/Company Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Department Physics Research Field Physics » Computational physics Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Positions PhD Positions Final date to receive applications 11 Mar 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Berlin) Country Germany Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 39,4 Offer Starting Date 1 Aug 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Reference Number DR/038/26 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
–Department of Physics

Research fellow (m/f/d) in the Sol Mates project with expected full-time employment – E 13 TV-L HU (third-party funding limited until 30.11.2026)

The European project Sol Mates (Scalable High-Power Output and Low-Cost Made-to-Measure Tandem Solar Modules Enabling Specialised PV Applications) aims to develop novel technologies for lightweight, flexible, and highly efficient photovoltaic (PV) modules. These technologies target applications in decentralized energy systems, agriculture, transport, and beyond.

The Sol Mates team at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin contributes to the development of NOMAD
, the world’s largest data repository for materials science. Within Sol Mates, the team builds on its experience in integrating image segmentation and data-driven analysis algorithms for the assessment of thin-film solar cell fabrication processes within NOMAD Oasis installations. The team is responsible for the installation and development of (meta-)data schemas for research at partner institutions tailored to advanced thin-film photovoltaic research, as well as for the development of data converters, image-segmentation related electronic laboratory notebooks, and cloud-based research workflows for experimental-thin film photovoltaics research.

We are looking for one motivated colleague to join our interdisciplinary team.

• scientific services supporting research within the Sol Mates project
• development and extension of the web-based research data management platform NOMAD within Sol Mates
• contribution to the full software development lifecycle, including requirements analysis, specification, implementation, testing, versioning, release and change management, and user support
• performing development tasks independently as well as collaboratively within an international team
• developing (meta-)data schemes, data converters, and electronic lab notebooks, specifically for thin-film and tandem solar cell fabrication and characterization workflows within Sol Mates
• development of scalable, cloud-based workflows, including the integration of machine learning components into Temporal-based workflow orchestration for data processing, analysis, and automation
• integration and deployment of image segmentation algorithms for the automated assessment of thin-film solar cell fabrication processes (e.g. layer quality, defects, morphology) within NOMAD Oasis
• design and implementation of Sol Mates-specific data models and electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) supporting image-based characterization and process monitoring
• short-term and potentially longer research stays at partner institutions
• representation of the project at national and international workshops and conferences, as well as contribution to scientific publications

• completed academic degree or Ph.D. in physics, materials science, computer science, or a related field
• in-depth domain knowledge in materials science (e.g. synthesis, characterization, or photovoltaic devices)
• strong expertise in object-oriented programming in Python, data modeling, and scientific workflows
• experience in collaborative Linux-based development using Git
• knowledge of Python-based type systems and schemas (e.g. Pydantic, JSON Schema) is advantageous
• experience with data visualization, image analysis and segmentation methods, machine learning pipelines, or workflow orchestration frameworks (especially Temporal) is desirable
• previous experience in Python plugin development, especially for the NOMAD software, is advantageous
• excellent…