[LRUG] [JOBS] Vacancies in BBC R&D for Ruby programmers with a machine learning bent

[Sean O'Halpin]

Hi all,

We've got three jobs going in (the award winning :) BBC R&D Internet
Research and Future Services team: two for Ruby programmers with a
leaning to machine learning and one for a Javascript/HTML/CSS whiz.

(Please note, this is not the same job as Matt Haynes recently posted about.)

All three are fixed term contracts of one year with a possibility of
extension or conversion to continuing contracts. These are Grade 7D in
BBC terms which covers a range of salaries which you can see here:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/foi/classes/disclosure_logs/rfi20111146_salary_ranges_aug_2011.pdf.
In London, the range is roughly £30K to £45K/year.

The Ruby job is described here:
http://careers.bbc.co.uk/fe/tpl_bbc01.asp?s=WgpRoUZwJhYKpMmYhe&jobid=43800,2371452576&key=62386281&c=345465214034&pagestamp=setpqnmulerwfwvxyk

We need two people for that role.

The Javascript job is described here:
http://careers.bbc.co.uk/fe/tpl_bbc01.asp?s=bajLiOTqDbSEjGgSby&jobid=43799,2336235852&key=62386281&c=345465214034&pagestamp=setpqnmulerwfwvxyk

(Please pass on to your JS colleagues.)

You would (at least initially) be working on a BBC internal tool
called Snippets which enables people to search for video within our
research archive (which covers all BBC output for the past 5 years).
This uses innovative technology and techniques which you would be
expected to master. Some really cool stuff in there :)

We're using Rails as the frontend but the bulk of the heavy lifting is
done with background jobs managed under resque. The bg jobs include
video transcoding, frame grabbing, metadata collation and analysis.

The system is deployed across a number of hosts. Pretty much all of
the Ruby code is backed by thorough tests. There's even some Scala in
there.

Among those who developed the code base are such LRUG luminaries as
Matt Haynes, Abdel Saleh and Anuj Dutta. It's a very impressive piece
of work.

While the tool is becoming very popular within the BBC, it is still
primarily a research prototype. Among other things, we are currently
planning to incorporate novel techniques to search audio archives
based on our original research (which has a strong machine learning
applied to audio slant).

We think this is a great opportunity for excellent Ruby programmers
who are looking for a stimulating challenge and the opportunity to
learn a wide range of new skills.

In IRFS you'd be working with some of the most interesting, fun and
intelligent people I've ever had the privilege of working with,
including fellow LRUGGER Chris Lowis. To find out more about our work,
please visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/researchanddevelopment/weeknotes/.

Don't hesitate to contact me directly for further information.

Best regards,
Sean O'Halpin
Acting Lead Engineer, BBC R&D IRFS