Software Engineer

Alsys is a family business from Leiden. Since 1998 we have been building modular laboratory robots for sample preparation and integrated analysis, running at producers in fertilisers, minerals, chemicals and oil. Every robot is an interplay of mechanical steps, wet-chemical preparation and analytical instruments that has to process hundreds of samples a day without error, often unattended and often in an environment with dust, moisture and aggressive substances. The software is what holds that interplay together: the sequencing, the hardware control, the error handling when a sample hangs askew in the gripper, and the operator interface that lets a lab technician carry on at three in the morning without reaching for a manual. As a Software Engineer you will work in our software team in Leiden on the control software for the High-Performance Robot and the Compact Robot. You sit close to the machine: you work alongside the electrical and mechanical engineers who design the hardware, you test your code on real set-ups in our workshop, and now and then you travel to a customer to commission a system. Some of our customers have been running on our robots for more than twenty years, so what you build lasts, and that shows in how we write code.

• You develop and maintain the control software for our robots in C# and .NET
• You build the sequencing that determines the order in which grippers, weighing steps, milling steps and analysis modules do their work
• You control hardware through servos, IO and fieldbuses, and work on the interfaces with analytical instruments
• You design and improve the operator interface that lab technicians use to run the machine
• You build error handling and recovery, so the machine restarts from a safe and known point after a fault
• You work on the interfaces with LIMS systems and the data flow around measurement results
• You test your software on real machines in our workshop and adjust it based on what you see
• You document functional and technical decisions, so that a colleague understands three years from now why something works the way it does
• You think along with electrical and mechanical engineering from the design stage, instead of writing software only once the machine is standing there
• You support commissioning and difficult remote fault-finding
• You travel a few times a year for installation or handover at a customer site

• HBO or WO level (Dutch applied sciences or university degree) in software engineering, computer engineering, embedded systems or mechatronics
• Around 3 to 7 years of experience as a software developer, part of it in a technical or industrial environment
• Demonstrable experience with C# and .NET
• You understand how software and physical hardware interact, and you do not mind sitting with a multimeter or a servo drive manual beside you
• You write code that is readable and maintainable, and you work with version control
• You can take a problem apart independently, even when it is not clear up front whether it sits in the software, the electrics or the mechanics
• Good command of Dutch and English, written and spoken
• Willing to travel abroad a few times a year for commissioning

• Experience with motion control, servo control or fieldbuses such as EtherCAT or Profinet
• Experience with PLC programming, for example Beckhoff TwinCAT, Siemens or Codesys
• Experience with WPF or a comparable framework for machine operation
• Knowledge of machine safety and the relevant standards
• Experience with SQL databases or interfaces with LIMS systems

• Base salary €4,000 - €5,000 on a full-time basis
• 23 holiday days
• Free lunch at the office
• Software that runs on real machines at customers worldwide, so you see what you build actually working
• International travel opportunities
• Short lines: the people who design the hardware sit in the same building