Research Programmer IV- Machine Learning & Computational Neuroscience, Kennedy Lab

Scripps Research • San Diego, CA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Kennedy laboratory at Scripps Research develops computational methods to track, quantify, and forecast individual and group behavior and relate it to recorded neural activity. Its research explores how animals, humans, and virtual agents gather information about their sensory environments, integrate it with internal motivational needs, and execute goal-directed actions in complex, naturalistic environments. The lab also develops machine learning and computer vision platforms for high-throughput animal phenotyping to accelerate drug screening and repurposing.

The role offers hands-on participation in scientific research, with opportunities to contribute to scientific papers and an active lab environment. The employee may lead independent research projects using existing datasets from collaborators, including U Penn, UCLA, Harvard, U Utah, and Northwestern. The position may suit applicants preparing for graduate study in Computational Neuroscience or Machine Learning, as well as those seeking a longer-term role contributing to original scientific research and model development.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience. A degree in a biological or chemical science may be accepted if applicable to the science developed or performed in the individual lab.
• At least 8 years of experience in software application development or research programming.
• Extensive experience with software development in Python.
• Experience building and training deep neural networks for supervised, unsupervised, or reinforcement learning problems.
• Demonstrated ability to apply the fundamentals of software application development.
• Experience with version control, including Git and GitHub.
• Include code samples and/or a link to a public code repository with examples of your work.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with sequence or time-series data, control or reinforcement learning problems and environments, or time-series forecasting.
• Understanding of generative modeling, such as hidden Markov models or diffusion models.
• Familiarity with motor control, robotics, and neuroscience.
• Experience developing scalable system architectures that follow good software engineering principles.
• Ability to tackle large, open-ended research questions independently and as part of a team.
• Willingness to actively participate in a computational lab, including lab meetings, journal clubs, and hackathons.
• Experience working within a diverse, interdisciplinary team.
• Experience contributing to open-source software projects.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to scientific research projects involving tracking, quantifying, and forecasting individual and group behavior and relating it to recorded neural activity.
• Develop computational methods to study sensory information gathering, motivational needs, and goal-directed behavior in complex environments.
• Develop machine learning and computer vision platforms for high-throughput animal phenotyping.
• Contribute to scientific papers and participate in the lab environment.
• Lead independent research projects using existing datasets from collaborators.

Benefits

• Employer-contributed retirement plan, subject to eligibility, with no employee contribution required.
• Option to contribute to a 403(b) plan using pre-tax or post-tax dollars.
• Three medical plan options, including an HSA-available option.
• Dental, vision, life insurance, disability, and employee assistance program coverage.
• Flexible Spending Accounts for medical and dependent care.
• Competitive vacation and sick leave policies.
• Free on-site parking.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior