Experimental Neuroscientist

Company Overview

Astera Neuro, part of the Astera Institute, is building the tools to decipher and ultimately write the neural codes behind perception, thought, behavior, and internal state. Since these tools don't yet exist, we're assembling a founding team of neuroscientists, computational scientists, and engineers to build them (hardware, software, and methods) and use them to study neural activity at unprecedented scale, with direct relevance to neurological and psychiatric disease.

We do high-risk, high-reward science in a well-resourced, collaborative environment with competitive pay, and share our work openly under Astera's Open Science Policy.

Astera Neuro, part of the Astera Institute, is building the tools to decipher and ultimately write the neural codes behind perception, thought, behavior, and internal state. Since these tools don't yet exist, we're assembling a founding team of neuroscientists, computational scientists, and engineers to build them (hardware, software, and methods) and use them to study neural activity at unprecedented scale, with direct relevance to neurological and psychiatric disease.

We do high-risk, high-reward science in a well-resourced, collaborative environment with competitive pay, and share our work openly under Astera's Open Science Policy.

Experimental Neuroscientists at Astera Neuro develop and lead research programs aimed at understanding how the brain builds a model of the physical world, forms new thoughts, and creates a stable model of the self. The goal is enough understanding and technical ability to precisely and reversibly modulate each of these functions through write-in experiments.

The role requires both the ability to independently drive a research program from start to finish and to collaborate closely with a diverse team of scientists to collect novel datasets that can transform our understanding of the neurobiology of intelligence and consciousness. Experimental work combines large-scale neural recordings, targeted stimulation, and behavioral design, working closely with computational, engineering, and software teams to translate biological insight into a detailed model of the brain that can guide causal perturbation experiments and inform new AI architectures.

Title and scope are calibrated to track record.

Successful applicants will focus on one or more of Astera Neuro’s primary research tracks. Background and interest will help determine the best fit among programs aimed at discovering how the primate brain builds a stable model of the physical world, how it generates a model of its own physical and mental states and plans, and how it combines abstract representations of thoughts into new configurations to support complex, flexible behavior.

• Design behavioral paradigms (perceptual and cognitive tasks) aligned with the lab’s scientific goals.
• Design and execute large-scale, multi-area neural recording experiments in awake, behaving subjects performing complex perceptual, working-memory, and higher-cognitive tasks, using high-density Neuropixels probes, chronic polymer probe arrays, two-photon imaging, and holographic optogenetics.
• Design and execute write-in (causal perturbation) experiments targeting visual percepts, thoughts, and internal states using model-guided closed-loop stimulation.
• Build and analyze datasets that stitch across sessions, animals, and paradigms to support stable, brain-wide, single-neuron-resolution representations.
• Collaborate across electrophysiology, holography, computational, and engineering teams to keep recording, perturbation, and modeling tightly coupled.
• Mentor research technicians and, at the senior or principal level, more junior scientists; contribute to hiring, onboarding, and lab culture.
• Contribute to publications, talks, open data and tooling releases, and engagement with the broader scientific community.

• PhD with 5-12+ years of experience in neuroscience, cognitive, behavioral, or medical sciences, biology, biomedical engineering, or a related field, or equivalent research experience.
• Hands-on experience with chronic, multi-area,…