Research Software Engineer

Harvard University • Boston, MA

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

The HIDIVE Lab in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School is conducting research at the interface of human and artificial intelligence. We create methods and tools that enable humans and machines alike to interact with and generate insights from biomedical data. In our work, we combine state-of-the-art biomedical informatics, data visualization, and AI/ML techniques across the full spectrum of biomedical data. We are currently looking for a Research Software Engineer who wants to contribute to our mission by leading software projects in areas such as Generative AI for visual exploration of biomedical data, Mixed Reality for 2D and 3D tissue data visualization in spatial biology, Multimodal spatial and single-cell data visualization, 2D and 3D bioimaging data visualization, and Data analysis and data management infrastructure for biomedical data visualization. The HIDIVE Lab participates in large-scale collaborative projects such as the NIH Human Biomolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP), NIH Cellular Senescence Network (SenNet), NIH Kidney Precision Medicine Network (KPMP), NIH Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE), ARPA-H Biomedical Data Fabric (BDF, and Pediatric Care eXpansion - PCX), Human Cell Atlas (HCA), and NIH 4D Nucleome Consortium (4DN).

Requirements

• Minimum of seven years’ post-secondary education or relevant work experience.
• Doctoral degree in biomedical informatics, computer science, computational biology, data science or a related field- strongly preferred.
• 5+ years software engineering experience with focus on web applications.
• 5+ years experience in data analysis and visualization of single-cell and spatial biology data.
• 5+ years biomedical data research experience.
• 5+ years experience working in large scale collaborative research projects in academic/publicly funded research, track record of leading major academic research software projects.
• 3+ years experience in open source software development and community building.
• 3+ years experience in training and community outreach.
• 1+ years experience in mentoring trainees and staff.
• Proven success in publishing in bioinformatics and computational biology venues.
• Data visualization research experience.
• Python and R software development.
• Grant writing skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain open-source research software tools for the visualization and analysis of genomic, single-cell, and spatial omics data.
• Take engineering and research ownership of one or more software projects, developing and executing project strategy and roadmaps.
• Establish and uphold engineering best practices, including code review, testing, continuous integration, documentation, and release management, to ensure long-term sustainability of lab software.
• Lead the writing of peer-reviewed publications describing novel methods, tools, and applications, and present work at scientific conferences.
• Grow and support open-source user and developer communities through documentation, tutorials, workshops, issue triage, and engagement with external contributors.
• Work with collaborators in national and international research consortia and with domain scientists to gather requirements, integrate tools into their workflows, and deliver on joint milestones.
• Conduct user studies and gather feedback from domain scientists to inform tool design and prioritization.
• Contribute to the development and adoption of community data standards and file formats for genomic and spatial omics data.
• Contribute to the preparation of grant proposals and pursue industry sponsorship and other funding opportunities to sustain and expand software projects.
• Mentor and supervise trainees, including interns, Masters and PhD students, as well as staff members, on software engineering practices and research methods.
• Participate in teaching activities, such as guest lectures, course modules, or training sessions.
• In collaboration with the engineering team, deploy, monitor, and maintain cloud-based and on-premise services supporting lab software and data portals.

Benefits

• Generous paid time off including parental leave
• Medical, dental, and vision health insurance coverage starting on day one
• Retirement plans with university contributions
• Wellbeing and mental health resources
• Support for families and caregivers
• Professional development opportunities including tuition assistance and reimbursement
• Commuter benefits, discounts and campus perks

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree