We have open vacancies for a range of projects to be run during the autumn semester 2025.
Information about the projects we are recruiting for, and details on how to apply, are given below.
Details of the Posts
All posts are part-time, requiring 7-10 hours of work per week flexibly across the course of the project. The projects for these posts will run across the autumn semester, in some cases continuing into the spring semester. See the individual project descriptions for their particular start and end dates and expected working hours.
The base pay rate is £13.04, per hour, with an additional holiday payment on top of this. Payment is made monthly in arrears, subject to prompt submission of weekly timesheets.
It is expected that the projects will be run on campus but with some scope for flexible and hybrid working across the week. Each team will set their own core hours when all team members must be present on campus and available for work. For example, a part-time Imago team might agree to be available to work together for a couple of hours each Thursday afternoon. Additional hours are worked at a time and place convenient to each team member.
The posts are open to any undergraduate student studying at the University of Manchester who is eligible to work in the UK, including students who will graduate this summer. Note that students must be resident in the UK for the duration of the project to be eligible for the work.
We especially welcome applications from members of groups who are under-represented in the software engineering profession. We aim to recruit diverse teams for Imago, containing a mixture of experienced team members and inexperienced but talented junior team members. Working for Imago is a great way to bootstrap your personal portfolio and add some real development experience to your CV.
The Projects
MelonTech Phase V
We have 1 vacancy available to join the current MelonTech team to continue Phase V of the project. MelonTech is a a University of Manchester research start-up that is developing tools to help patients living with diabetes, with an initial focus on Congenital Hyperinsulinism (CHI). The research that MelonTech is based on uses new approaches to analysing and visualising the glucose results, to help patients better manage their condition by helping them understand the triggers for repeating incidents of low and high blood glucose.
The aim of this phase of the project is to test and add resilience to the suite of Python micro services and Flutter end user clients that make up the MelonTech ecosystem. The components largely exist, but now need to be prepared to support a clinical trial of the software. This will involve a variety of types of software testing, security testing, observability engineering and resilient deployment to the cloud.
The project will give experience in building resilient micro-service based systems, as well as interacting with clients to gather the data needed by a research-based startup. Applicants should have excellent programming and system design skills, and an interest in learning how to ensure resilience and repairability of a production software system.
This project offers over 12 weeks of part-time employment, from October 2025 to January 2026, at 7 hours per week.
MRI Analysis and Decision Support Tool
Four part-time posts are being offered to modernise a C++ toolkit for analysis of DCE-MRI images, to create a SaaS-based decision support tool for radiologists and oncologists. The focus of the toolkit is on analysis of brain scans of patients diagnosed with a vestibular schwannoma, a benign type of brain tumour.
The project will begin with a Google-Ventures style Design Sprint, running full-time across Reading Week (w/b 3rd November 2025), during which the Imago team will work with clinical specialists to design, prototype and trial a new user interface for the toolkit.
The rest of the project will involve implementing the user interface, while running further user trials, and servitising the C++ components to allow them to be used in a SaaS context.
Applicants should have excellent coding and software design skills. We will be aiming to recruit a UX engineer with strong user interface design skills and the ability to create a great user experience informed by user testing activities. We will also need a delivery engineer, whose focus will be on deploying the new system to the cloud and putting the tools in place to allow the system to keep itself up and running for the future. Other roles will focus on technical architecture and quality assurance, as well as interacting with the client and trial users.
The project offers 12 weeks of part-time employment at 7 hours per week, plus additional days to cover the full working week needed for the Design Sprint. It is expected that the project will start on 20th October to allow some training events to be attended of the design sprint in early November.
Move and Learn Phonics
Four part-time posts are being offered to work with academics from Computer Science and Education, developing software for Actiphons, a Manchester-based company. Actiphons create children’s books that enhance language learning through content that encourages the use of phonics and motion. The company is now committed to bringing their content to a more engaging and immersive medium: an interactive mobile game that responds to sound and movement made by users.
This Imago project team will develop a proof-of-concept mobile app that incorporates AI, augmented reality and gamification to explore new approaches to learning phonics.
Applicants should meet the following essential criteria:
- strong programming skills
- at least two of the following:
- experience in machine learning/AI
- strong interest/commitment to learn AR applications
- strong interest/commitment to learn mobile app development
- strong teamworking/communication skills
In addition, the following skills are desirable:
- experience in developing computer vision or speech recognition projects
- experience in developing augmented reality applications
- experience in developing mobile applications/games
Please make sure you explain how you meet these criteria in your application.
This project offers 12 weeks of part-time employment, starting on 20th October.
How to Apply
The deadline for applications is: 11.00pm GMT on Friday, 3rd October 2025.
We will accept applications for a few days after this date, but will only shortlist from these later submissions if we haven’t filled all our interview slots from candidates who applied by the deadline.
To apply, log in to your University of Manchester Office 365 account and complete the application form.
https://forms.office.com/e/WGm0uTkuh8
Note that the form will stop accepting applications 2 days after the deadline.
You will need to use your University of Manchester Office 365 account to submit a response to the form. Only one form response is allowed per person, but you can save your answers and edit your application before the deadline, should you wish.
Appointments to the posts will primarily be made on the basis of an interview, but in some cases we may make an offer based on the CV and application alone.
Employment with Imago is subject to confirmation of the applicant’s right to work in the UK, and a willingness to comply with University staff policies on ownership of IP and non-disclosure of confidential information.
Note: some of the posts we are advertising here are still going through the process of approval by the University and so may be subject to changes before the posts can begin.
More information about Imago can be found at imago.cs.manchester.ac.uk.