Research Software Engineer

Position Details

Position Information


Posting date
03/13/2026


Closing date

Open Until Filled
Yes


Position Number
1129555


Position Title
Research Software Engineer


Hiring Range Minimum
$87,700


Hiring Range Maximum
$109,600


Union Type
Not a Union Position


SEIU Level
Not an SEIU Position


FLSA Status
Exempt


Employment Category
Regular Full Time


Scheduled Months per Year
12


Scheduled Hours per Week
40


Schedule

Location of Position


Hanover, NH
Moore Hall

Remote Work Eligibility?
Hybrid


Is this a term position?
No


If yes, length of term in months.
NA


Is this a grant funded position?
Yes


Position Purpose


The Center for Open Neuroscience ([CON]( part of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College, is seeking a Neuroinformagician - an enthusiastic Research Software Engineer to help build the infrastructure that makes neuroscience FAIR, Open, and Reproducible at scale. You will work on and with flagship open-source projects - including DataLad, DANDI, EMBER, and OpenNeuro Archives, and others - that are used by thousands of researchers worldwide and are central to the NIH BRAIN Initiative's ecosystem.

This is a high-impact role at the intersection of scientific computing, data engineering, and open-source community building. You will design and implement workflows for versioned data management and processing, apply them to real data wrangling tasks, contribute to national neuroimaging data archives, and help shape the standards that define how neuroscience data is organized and shared. Your work will directly accelerate brain research across hundreds of laboratories.

You will collaborate with a diverse network of developers, neuroscientists, and standards architects across institutions and countries. The role offers genuine opportunities for professional growth - whether that means deepening expertise in distributed systems, learning neuroscience domain knowledge, contributing to published research, or developing leadership within open-source communities. Opportunities to present work and engage with collaborators at scientific conferences and developer sprints are available for those who enjoy them and have content to deliver!

Description

Required Qualifications - Education and Yrs Exp
Bachelors or equivalent combination of education and experience


Required Qualifications - Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, neuroscience, or related field, or ability to demonstrate equivalent proficiency through a public track record of software engineering contributions (e.g., GitHub/GitLab profile).
• 2 years of relevant software engineering and programming experience.
• Deep understanding of git - comfortable with its internals and able to script around git plumbing, not just routine commit-and-push workflows.
• Solid proficiency in Python and its ecosystem: pytest, CLI frameworks, packaging.
• Experience with free and open source software development workflows: public code review, continuous integration, issue-driven development.
• Familiarity with virtualization/containerization (Docker/Podman, Singularity/Apptainer) and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or similar).
• Ability to work independently, prioritize across multiple concurrent projects, and communicate effectively in a distributed team.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with git-annex or another data versioning system (DVC, LFS) for managing large files alongside code. Even better: demonstrated depth with git-annex, DataLad, or significant contributions to git's ecosystem.
• Hands-on experience with neuroscience data and standards : familiarity with the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) and/or Neurodata Without Borders (NWB), including practical work with neuroimaging data (fMRI, EEG, MEG) or neurophysiology recordings. Experience contributing to standards development is a strong plus.
• Demonstrable public history of open-source development - we will review your public GitHub/GitLab profile, commit history, and community interactions as part of the evaluation.
• Demonstrated efficiency with agentic AI systems for software development and beyond - e.g., using LLM-powered coding assistants, AI-driven code review, automated refactoring, or building AI-augmented workflows. We value candidates who thoughtfully integrate AI tools into their engineering practice to amplify productivity while maintaining code quality.
• Working knowledge of additional languages and platforms relevant to our stack: Rust, Haskell, JavaScript/TypeScript, shell scripting.
• Experience with high-performance computing environments and job schedulers: SLURM, HTCondor.

Department Contact for Recruitment Inquiries
Angela Beaupre


Department Contact Phone Number
646-9074


Department Contact for Cover Letter and Title
Yaroslav Halchenko, Research Professor


Department Contact's Phone Number
646-9074


Equal Opportunity Employer


Dartmouth College is an equal opportunity employer under federal law. We prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, marital status, or any other legally protected status. Applications are welcome from all.

Background Check


Employment in this position is contingent upon consent to and successful completion of a pre-employment background check, which may include a criminal background check, reference checks, verification of work history, conduct review, and verification of any required academic credentials, licenses, and/or certifications, with results acceptable to Dartmouth College. A criminal conviction will not automatically disqualify an applicant from employment. Background check information will be used in a confidential, non-discriminatory manner consistent with state and federal law.

Is driving a vehicle (e.g. Dartmouth vehicle or off road vehicle, rental car, personal car) an essential function of this job?
Not an essential function


Special Instructions to Applicants


This position is funded by a grant. Continuation is based upon available funds.
Dartmouth College has a Tobacco-Free Policy. Smoking and the use of tobacco-based products (including smokeless tobacco) are prohibited in all facilities, grounds, vehicles or other areas owned, operated or occupied by Dartmouth College with no exceptions. For details, please see our policy.

Additional Instructions

Quick Link

Key Accountabilities


Description

Code Development and Maintenance

• Design, implement, and maintain open-source software and standards for large-scale scientific data versioning, distribution, and archiving. This includes contributing to core tools (DataLad and git-annex ecosystem, DANDI CLI/API), building and improving pipelines for ingesting and validating datasets against community standards (BIDS, NWB, HED), and developing containerized and cloud-native solutions for data processing and delivery.
• Work in the open on GitHub and other code hubs like hub.datalad.org using modern CI/CD practices, automated testing, and code review.

Percentage Of Time
50%


Description

Data Wrangling and Curation

• Apply the tools and workflows you build to real-world datasets - organizing, validating, and curating neuroimaging and neurophysiology data from the Dartmouth Brain Imaging Center and public archives (DANDI, OpenNeuro). This includes converting raw acquisitions into standards-compliant formats (BIDS, NWB), enhancing annotations (e.g. with HED), troubleshooting data quality issues, and ensuring datasets are properly versioned and published. This hands-on work keeps development grounded in actual researcher needs and provides direct feedback into tool design.

Percentage Of Time
25%


Description

Community Engagement and Support

• Collaborate with a distributed team of developers and researchers.
• Engage with the open-source and neuroscience communities through issue triage, code review, user support, and participation in standards development (BIDS, NWB, HED, and related specifications).
• Demonstrate a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and cultural awareness through actions, interactions, and communications with others.

Percentage Of Time
15%


Description

Documentation and Dissemination

• Create and improve developer and user documentation for project components.
• Contribute to blog posts, tutorials, and scientific publications that communicate the impact and usage of the tools you build.

Percentage Of Time
10%

--
Demonstrates professionalism and collegiality through actions, interactions, and communications with others appropriate to an environment that is welcoming to all.


--
Performs other duties as assigned.