Staff Scientist Supervisor - NSF NCEMS (Huck Institutes)

The Pennsylvania State University•University Park, FL

About The Position

The National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences (NCEMS), supported by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, seeks a Staff Scientist Supervisor. The position is filled at the Research Computing Software Engineer - Supervisor level and leads development of research software, analytical tools, and reproducible computational workflows that help NCEMS Working Groups synthesize molecular and cellular science datasets. The role works with investigators, staff scientists, and technical partners to translate scientific requirements into software supporting cross-study analysis, modeling, and data-driven discovery. This is a hands-on research computing and software engineering leadership role combining technical implementation, computational problem-solving, software quality, and supervision of assigned staff. The incumbent oversees software development, testing, deployment, maintenance, and integration with shared computing environments, and advises the NCEMS Director on technical priorities, risks, staffing, and resource needs. The position is funded for one year; continuation beyond that period depends on university need, performance, and/or funding availability. The successful candidate works with minimal supervision on complex research computing assignments and establishes daily priorities for assigned staff within Director-approved objectives. Routine issues are handled independently using established practices and technical judgment. Decisions involving significant changes to Center strategy, staffing, budgets, or major resource commitments are referred to the NCEMS Director.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree.
At least 3 years of relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S.; Penn State does not sponsor or take over sponsorship of a staff employment visa.
Successful completion of required background check(s).

Responsibilities

Design, develop, adapt, test, document, and maintain research applications, analytical scripts, software tools, algorithms, and data-processing routines for NCEMS Working Groups.
Coordinate software testing, validation, version control, release management, and ongoing maintenance of NCEMS-supported tools and workflows.
Develop and support computational pipelines for organizing, harmonizing, analyzing, and reusing datasets from multiple sources.
Integrate tools and workflows with university, high-performance computing, cloud, and other approved research computing environments.
Collaborate with computing specialists and research personnel to identify storage, processing, access, and workflow execution requirements; optimize performance and resolve efficiency constraints.
Promote portability, reproducibility, and sustainable operation of analytical workflows across participating research teams.
Partner with investigators to translate scientific questions into analysis plans and software requirements; contribute expertise in data integration, quantitative analysis, model evaluation, and AI/ML-enabled research where appropriate.
Evaluate data quality, interoperability, formatting, and analytical limitations affecting validity and reproducibility; develop reusable analytical components and advise on computational methods and tools.
Investigate and resolve software defects, pipeline failures, data-processing issues, and other computational challenges; provide consultation, training, and user support.
Participate in Working Group planning and project reviews to define computing requirements, technical milestones, deliverables, and dependencies.
Lead or contribute to software and workflow projects from requirements gathering through development, deployment, and long-term support; coordinate activities, monitor progress, and recommend adjustments as needed.
Collaborate with scientific leadership and project management staff to align technical work with research goals and timelines, and identify opportunities to reuse solutions across projects.
Supervise assigned research computing and scientific personnel by distributing work, setting priorities, monitoring progress, and reviewing software, computational outputs, and technical documentation.
Coach staff and students on software development, analytical methods, troubleshooting, reproducibility, and cross-disciplinary collaboration; participate in onboarding, hiring, performance feedback, and staff development.
Develop and maintain technical documentation, software specifications, operating procedures, user guides, and troubleshooting resources; promote reproducible practices and appropriate software testing.
Share technical methods and lessons learned through workshops, presentations, discussions, and written materials; contribute technical methods, analyses, results, figures, and descriptions to research outputs.
Advise the NCEMS Director on research computing capabilities, technology options, software support requirements, and resource needs.
Coordinate with university computing units, external collaborators, and NCEMS researchers; provide updates on development progress, operational issues, staffing capacity, deliverables, and corrective actions.
Stay current with advances in research software engineering, computational biology, scientific data management, and analytical technologies, and recommend practical improvements.