Research Software Engineer

Position Overview

Position Title: Research Software Engineer
Location: Hanover, NH – Moore Hall
Schedule: Full Time, 40 hours per week – Hybrid
Funding: Grant funded; continuation depends on available funds.

The Center for Open Neuroscience (CON), part of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College, seeks an enthusiastic Research Software Engineer to build infrastructure that makes neuroscience FAIR, Open, and Reproducible  will work on flagship open‑source projects – including Data Lad, DANDI, EMBER, Open Neuro Archives, and others – used by thousands of researchers worldwide and central to the NIH BRAIN Initiative’s ecosystem.

• Design, implement, and maintain open‑source software and standards for large‑scale scientific data versioning, distribution, and archiving. Contribute to core tools (Data Lad and git‑annex ecosystem, DANDI CLI/API), build and improve pipelines for ingesting and validating datasets against community standards (BIDS, NWB, HED), and develop containerized and cloud‑native solutions for data processing and delivery.
• 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, Open Neuro). Convert raw acquisitions into standards‑compliant formats (BIDS, NWB), enhance annotations (e.g., with HED), troubleshoot data quality issues, and ensure datasets are properly versioned and published.
• Collaborate with a distributed team of developers and researchers, and engage with the open‑source and neuroscience communities through issue triage, code review, user support, and participation in standards development (BIDS, NWB, HED).
• 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.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, neuroscience, or related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 2 years of relevant software engineering and programming experience.
• Deep understanding of git—comfortable with its internals and able to script around git plumbing.
• 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.

• Experience with git‑annex or another data versioning system (DVC, LFS) for managing large files alongside code.
• Hands‑on experience with neuroscience data and standards—familiarity with BIDS and/or NWB, including practical work with neuroimaging data (fMRI, EEG, MEG) or neurophysiology recordings.
• Demonstrable public history of open‑source development; review of public Git Hub/Git Lab profile, commit history, and community interactions.
• Demonstrated efficiency with agentic AI systems for software development and beyond—using LLM‑powered coding assistants, AI‑driven code review, automated refactoring, or building AI‑augmented workflows.
• Experience with high-performance computing environments and job schedulers: SLURM, HTCondor.

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.

Employment in this position is contingent upon consent to and successful completion of a pre‑employment background check. 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.