Research Software Engineer (Bioinformatics/Genomics/Neuroscience)

Research Software Engineer (Bioinformatics/Genomics/Neuroscience)

US-NJ-Princeton

Job ID: 2023-16265
Type: Full-Time
# of Openings: 1
Category: Engineering

Princeton University

Overview

Do you want to help enable and advance groundbreaking neuroscience research through software development? Do you have a background in research but love to write code? Are you looking to apply your scientific programming expertise to a novel set of research problems? Together, the Krienen and Pena labs (krienenlab.org; penalab.org ) at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute are looking for an outstanding Research Software Engineer. The successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary group and support a wide variety of projects conducting cutting-edge research on the molecular, cellular, and neurobiological mechanisms of brain evolution, development, and disorders.

In this position, you will be an integral member of two neuroscience research teams focused on the cutting-edge of transcriptomic and epigenomic research applied to understanding how experience shapes brain development and circuits, as well as on the development of genomics-informed tools to enable neuroscience research. Your role will be to provide computational expertise in algorithm development, selection, and optimization to create efficient and scalable research code.

If you have a strong background in scientific programming, academic research, and an interest in neuroscience and genomics, you have the right skill set to make an immediate impact on multiple high-profile research projects.

This is a one-year position with the possibility of renewal contingent upon funding availability and performance. A remote work arrangement within the United States may be considered for candidates with the appropriate background and experience.

Responsibilities

• Write, manage and optimize computational workflows that enable major analysis activities – from read alignment to cell calling to cell clustering to downstream statistical analyses
• Develop, refine, optimize and apply analysis methods and software to a variety of datasets, including single-cell RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and multiome data
• Expand the capacity of software pipelines to process expanding datasets
• Produce open-source methods that can be utilized by other researchers; carefully document and annotate source code for utilization by the scientific community
• Develop software allowing the project team, and the broader scientific community, to access, analyze and interact with data generated by projects
• Develop data-visualization software capabilities for the research team, and visualizations of data for a variety of stakeholders
• Work with scientists, data managers and other software engineers toward the creation of optimal analysis workflows for high-data-volume experiments. Participate in project-planning and project-analysis meetings as well as software-planning meetings, communicating the needs and tradeoffs

Qualifications

Essential Qualifications

Bachelor's degree plus 3+ years of experience in neuroscience, computational biology, genomics or a related field required. A graduate degree is preferred.

Experience working with cluster computing (GridEngine, SLURM, LSF)

Strong programming skills, particularly in Python and R
Demonstrated successes working in a collaborative software development environment as well as working independently
Ability to learn new tools and technologies
Ability to communicate effectively with a diverse group of researchers with varied levels of technical proficiency

Preferred Qualifications

Genomic analysis and computation, particularly with single cell genomics workflows
Experience with Shiny R or UI for data visualization
Experience with cloud computing
Academic research experience
Background in neuroscience, computational biology, genomics or a related field

This position is subject to the University's background check policy.

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

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