Lead Research Software Engineer

Yale University • New Haven, CT

26d • $90,000 - $165,750 • Remote

About The Position

The Lead Research Software Engineer serves as the principal technical architect for the newly launched Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions (YCGS). This role bridges cutting-edge research needs and production-grade engineering to develop software systems that enable geospatial discovery, AI applications, and data-driven decision making across disciplines. Working closely with faculty, researchers, and partners from digital humanities and economics to climate science and engineering, the lead RSE will design scalable infrastructure, mentor a multidisciplinary team, and establish campus-wide standards for reproducible computational research.

Requirements

• Proven ability to design and lead interdisciplinary software projects from concept to deployment.
• Expertise in spatial modeling, data fusion, and interpretation of complex computational outputs.
• Experience developing tools leveraging AI, NLP, and/or geospatial analytics for applied research.
• Exceptional ability to communicate computational concepts clearly to non-technical audiences.
• Demonstrated effectiveness collaborating across disciplines with senior faculty or staff, students, and technical staff.
• Requires a bachelor's degree in a related area and a minimum of four years of experience in the field or in a related area.

Nice To Haves

• 6+ years of professional programming experience with Python and at least one additional language (e.g., R, JavaScript, C/C++ or Rust).
• Expertise in geospatial data structures, analysis, and visualization frameworks (e.g., GeoPandas, GDAL, Leaflet, Mapbox, or Cesium).
• Experience building data pipelines and APIs for large, heterogeneous datasets.
• Strong familiarity with cloud and HPC environments (AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Working knowledge of AI/ML frameworks (e.g., Hugging Face, LangChain, PyTorch) and GeoAI techniques.
• Experience with spatial databases and formats (e.g., PostGIS, GeoJSON, Parquet, Zarr, NetCDF).
• Proficiency with data visualization and dashboard frameworks (e.g., D3.js, Plotly, Streamlit, Observable).
• Familiarity with geospatial data portals (e.g., NASA Earthdata, Copernicus, Planet API, OpenStreetMap).
• Demonstrated application of reproducible software development practices (GitHub/GitLab, CI/CD, testing, documentation).

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership: Design and implement geospatial and computational software solutions that support diverse research initiatives. Design scalable data pipelines, APIs, and cloud-based infrastructure for spatial, temporal, and text-based data.
• Develop reusable tools for data integration, analysis, and visualization. Apply best practices in DevOps (CI/CD, testing, containerization, documentation, version control)
• Software Development and Research Support: Develop end-to-end systems, from geocoding and data harmonization pipelines to LLM-based analytics and interactive dashboards.Collaborate with faculty and students with research design, code optimization, and publication-quality outputs. Ensure reproducibility, accessibility, and sustainability of Center-developed software.Contribute to grant proposals and scientific publications.
• Team Leadership and Mentorship: Supervise and mentor software engineers and student developers. Lead code reviews, manage project milestones, and uphold software quality standards. Foster an inclusive, collaborative, and learning-oriented technical culture.
• Training, Outreach, and Strategic Engagement: Conduct workshops on computational and geospatial tools. Represent YCGS in campus collaborations and external technical networks. Advise on infrastructure planning, funding proposals, and emerging technologies in AI, ML, and geospatial analytics.
• Designs, modifies, develops, writes and implements software programming applications. Supports and/or installs software applications/operating systems. Participates in the testing process through test review and analysis, test witnessing and certification of software.
• Familiar with a variety of the field's concepts, practices, and procedures. Relies on experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals. Performs a variety of complicated tasks. May lead and direct the work of others. May report directly to a project lead or manager. A wide degree of creativity and latitude is expected.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Industry: Educational Services
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees