About this role
The Software & Services (SAS) Competence Centre is looking for a Application & Platform Security Architect to help shape the secure and sustainable digitalization of VITO. As our software landscape continues to grow, cybersecurity expectations in research and innovation projects increase, and regulations such as NIS2 become more important, we are looking for an expert who can develop an organization-wide architectural vision and translate it into practical guidelines, standards, and improvement initiatives. You will help research software evolve from prototypes into reliable operational solutions and support teams in integrating security, compliance, and best practices from the very start of their developments. You will join a multidisciplinary team of around 30 software engineers, DevOps specialists, analysts, and project managers with a strong affinity for scientific research. Together, we bridge the gap between research and impact by developing digital solutions that make scientific insights accessible to industry, policymakers, and society. Our expertise spans three main domains: application development, supporting researchers in building high-quality software, and providing scalable research platforms such as Kubernetes, cloud, and HPC environments. We combine software engineering, AI-assisted development, DevOps, cybersecurity, and data infrastructure to accelerate the transition from research to reliable operational solutions. Within SAS, you will have the opportunity to work on challenges with real societal impact, collaborate with leading researchers, and contribute to an organization-wide culture of software engineering and innovation. What will you do? You will work closely with researchers, software engineers, DevOps specialists, and project teams to embed security by design into our digital solutions. Your responsibilities include: Assessing the current security posture of VITO’s internally developed applications and defining a phased roadmap towards NIS2 compliance. Defining, implementing, and maintaining security standards, architectural guidelines, and software development best practices across the organization. Developing policy frameworks, guidelines, and reusable building blocks to integrate cybersecurity into research proposals and innovation projects from the outset. Reviewing application architectures and development processes across a diverse software landscape, and identifying improvement opportunities related to security, quality, maintainability, and operational maturity. Supporting and coaching development teams in adopting secure coding principles, modern CI/CD practices, and scalable architectural patterns. Promoting a consistent and future-oriented software engineering approach in which security, compliance, and quality are built in by default. Acting as a bridge between IT, software development, and research, ensuring that innovative solutions can safely evolve from prototypes into operational services. In this role, you will have the opportunity to make an organization-wide impact on how digital solutions are designed, developed, and operated within a leading research organization.