Research Software Engineer

Brookhaven National Laboratory•Ridge, NY

1d•$104,700 - $150,733

About The Position

Brookhaven National Laboratory is hiring a Research Software Engineer / Data Scientist for the Data Science and Systems Integration (DSSI) Division at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II). The position is supported in part by the ILLUMINE initiative, a DOE-wide collaboration advancing intelligent experiment steering, and in part by the Genesis Mission BES AI Pathfinder Program, which supports automatic analysis of powder diffraction data. The projects complement one another to provide advanced capabilities to NSLS-II users. The successful candidate will develop software infrastructure for intelligent beamline control and experimental methods, and help automate powder diffraction data reduction and analysis. The work includes integrating AI-driven decision-making into experimental workflows to support self-driving beamlines and scientific discovery across DOE light and neutron sources. The position combines software engineering, AI/ML integration, real-time data systems, and advanced x-ray diffraction, with practical applications to beamline operations and user science at NSLS-II and across the DOE complex.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and 8 or more years of experience, or a Master’s degree and 6 or more years, or a Doctorate and 2 or more years of post-PhD experience in physics, chemistry, materials science, biology, computational science, an engineering discipline, or a closely related field.
Proficiency in Python or C++ programming.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively in a collaborative research environment.
Self-motivation and the ability to learn quickly and adapt to new challenges.
Experience with scientific instrument data acquisition and analysis.

Nice To Haves

Expertise in powder diffraction data analysis methods.
Experience managing distributed software systems.
Contributions to community-led open-source projects.
Familiarity with data acquisition and analysis at a synchrotron light source, neutron source, or other major scientific facility.
Experience developing and deploying AI models.
Demonstrated ability to collaborate on distributed software development teams.
Experience with HTTP APIs and microservices.
Experience with containerization technologies such as Docker or Kubernetes.
Familiarity with message bus solutions such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, Redis, or ZeroMQ.

Responsibilities

Develop, deploy, and maintain open-source software for experiment planning, control, and data acquisition within the Bluesky/Tiled ecosystem.
Develop tools to automate and streamline powder diffraction data processing and analysis.
Collaborate with scientists and engineers to integrate AI algorithms into beamline operations and enable intelligent experiment steering.
Provide user-facing support, training, and documentation.
Publish and present results to the broader community.
Apply software and AI developments in practical applications.