Research Associate in Flaky Tests

University of Sheffield - School of Computer Science

Location:	Sheffield, Hybrid
Salary:	£38,784 to £41,064
Hours:	Full Time
Contract Type:	Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On:	27th February 2026
Closes:	22nd March 2026
Job Ref:	2279

Job description:

We are seeking a Research Software Engineer to join the EPSRC-funded Test FLARE project, which focuses on Flaky Software Test Analysis and Repair. This initiative addresses one of the most persistent challenges in modern software development: "flaky tests"—automated tests that pass and fail non-deterministically without changes to the code.

In this role, you will bridge the gap between theoretical research and practical software engineering. Your primary responsibility will be the design, implementation, and maintenance of software tools intended to detect, reproduce, and mitigate flaky tests within real-world environments. You will also conduct supporting research into the root causes of non-determinism, performing empirical studies on large-scale codebases to validate tool effectiveness and improve the technical understanding of test stability.

Candidates must possess a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Software Engineering or Computer Science, and be working towards a PhD with a specific focus on testing reliability. Crucially, you must have proven experience writing tools to address flaky tests and have encountered and mitigated them in practice. Expertise in developing analysis tools, such as static analysis, dynamic analysis, or code instrumentation, is required, alongside a deep technical understanding of software testing frameworks and continuous integration (CI) pipelines.

We are committed to exploring flexible working opportunities which benefit the individual and the University.

We build teams of people from different heritages and lifestyles from across the world, whose talent and contributions complement each other to the greatest effect. We believe diversity in all its forms delivers greater impact through research, teaching and student experience.