Senior Staff Associate I

Columbia University's Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute unites world-class scientists across diverse academic disciplines to conduct groundbreaking research that transforms our understanding of the brain and its influence on the mind and behavior.

As a leading neuroscience institute, our mission is to decipher the mind and brain to better understand behavior. Our researchers are committed to foundational science, uncovering the principles that shape how the brain develops, functions, and recovers.

With more than 50 labs, the Zuckerman Institute serves as a hub for collaboration, bringing together Columbia’s top scholars to drive research in bold new directions.

Located in Manhattanville, our state-of-the-art Jerome L. Greene Science Center provides an inspiring home for discovery in one of the world’s most dynamic cities.

We are seeking a Senior Staff Associate I who will work closely with both computational and experimental labs within the Zuckerman Institute and the International Brain Lab to help develop and maintain software tools, particularly for the analysis of large-scale behavioral video data. The Senior Staff Associate I will also play an important role in translating research code into robust and easy-to-use software packages. The Senior Staff Associate I will also develop and maintain browser- and cloud-based user interfaces for these packages, support the worldwide scientific community's adoption and use of the software through dissemination efforts including publishing written documentation and video tutorials and assisting with workshops.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain behavioral analysis software.
• Assist labs with deploying this software in their data processing pipelines.
• Respond to user issues submitted through various channels (GitHub Issues, Discord, Slack) by providing bug fixes.
• Engage in software dissemination efforts including written documentation, video tutorials, and assisting with workshops.
• Assist machine learning researchers in incorporating new algorithms into the software.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science, engineering, mathematics, neuroscience, or a related technical discipline.
• Six to ten years of relevant experience.
• Proficiency in high-quality scientific/mathematical coding in Python.
• Knowledge of standard software engineering practices, including continuous integration, unit testing, issue tracking, code review, and version control systems (e.g. Git/GitHub).
• Ability to collaborate on multidisciplinary research in a collegial environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree, or equivalent combination of education and experience.