Research Engineer manufacturing ecosystems and data spaces

FUNCTION

As a researcher at Flanders Make, you will help develop next-generation operational intelligence platforms for manufacturing ecosystems.

You will research and implement interoperable software frameworks that enable companies to securely exchange and operationalize data, knowledge, and manufacturing capabilities across organizational boundaries. You translate cutting-edge concepts such as data spaces, semantic interoperability, and AI-driven reasoning into real industrial applications, contributing to resilient, sustainable, and flexible manufacturing ecosystems.

Your work will support advanced industrial use cases such as Manufacturing-as-a-Service, resilient supply chains, circular value chains, and cross-company operational coordination throughout the product lifecycle. You will contribute to European ecosystem initiatives and frameworks such as Gaia-X, Manufacturing-X, Catena-X, and emerging Digital Product Passport ecosystems.

Your role

You will join an interdisciplinary research environment where experts in software engineering, AI, systems engineering, optimization, and manufacturing technologies collaborate on real industrial challenges.

Together with industrial and academic partners, you will design and validate software frameworks for federated operational intelligence across manufacturing ecosystems. These frameworks enable semantic interoperability, capability matchmaking, distributed decision-making, and operational coordination between companies in complex manufacturing value chains.

Function

You will:

• Design and develop operational intelligence platforms for cross-company collaboration;
• Translate manufacturing data and knowledge management challenges into reference architectures and semantic models;
• Implement solutions based on:
• Data spaces
• Knowledge graphs
• Digital twins
• Distributed architectures;
• Develop decision-support and coordination mechanisms (e.g. capability matchmaking, distributed optimization);
• Contribute to emerging European initiatives such as Gaia-X, Manufacturing-X and Catena-X;
• Collaborate with industrial and academic partners across Europe;
• Share results through demonstrators, publications, and presentations.

PROFILE

You combine strong technical expertise with systems thinking and a passion for applied research.

Required:

• A Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, AI or related field;
• A PhD or ≥ 3 years of industrial experience or research experience;
• Strong skills in software engineering and modelling;
• Experience in one or more of the following:
• Semantic web technologies (RDF, OWL, SPARQL, SHACL, ...)
• Knowledge graphs / graph-based reasoning (GraphDB, Neo4j, N3, Apache Jena, ...)
• Data space technologies (EDC-Eclipse Dataspace Components, Solid, ...)
• Distributed systems and interoperability.

Nice to have:

• Knowledge of Gaia-X, Catena-X, Manufacturing-X or IDS;
• Experience with digital twins, Asset Administration Shell, or AI reasoning;
• Experience with industrial data exchange.

You are:

• Passionate about applied research and innovation;
• Able to bridge research and industry;
• Proactive and curious in fast-evolving domains;
• A strong collaborator in international teams.

OUR OFFER

At Flanders Make, you will:

• Work on real industrial impact with leading companies;
• Collaborate with top European research partners;
• Join an international, interdisciplinary team;
• Benefit from a flexible and open working environment;
• Receive an attractive salary with benefits.