Lead Developer

University of Washington Medical Center•Seattle, WA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Department of Neurology has an open opportunity for a Lead Developer to join a new initiative focused on brain health, aging, and resilience. The Lead Developer will play a critical role in advancing the Department’s mission to improve brain health across the lifespan by leading the design, development, and maintenance of secure, scalable, and research-ready software platforms. This position supports interdisciplinary initiatives focused on brain aging, cognitive resilience, and precision-medicine approaches by building technical infrastructure that enables high-quality data collection, integration, analysis, and translation. Working at the intersection of neuroscience, aging, population health, and data science, the Lead Developer will partner with faculty, clinicians, and researchers to translate scientific and clinical priorities into robust digital systems that support longitudinal research, biomarker pipelines, digital phenotyping, and personalized risk and resilience modeling. The position emphasizes scalability, accessibility, responsible data stewardship, and alignment with UW and UW Medicine standards for security, privacy, and compliance, ensuring that technology solutions effectively support research innovation and public impact. The Lead Developer must convert evolving research questions in brain health, aging, resilience, and precision medicine into clear, adaptable technical solutions. This includes supporting diverse and complex data types while ensuring systems remain flexible, maintainable, and scalable over long research timelines. This position will collaborate closely with clinicians, neuroscientists, researchers, analysts, and community-engagement staff and successfully aligning technical development with diverse priorities, workflows, and timelines will require strong communication skills and the ability to translate between technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Biomedical Informatics, Software Engineering, or a related field and a minimum 5 years of relevant experience
Equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license, certification, and/or registration.
Substantial experience in software development, including designing and maintaining complex applications or platforms
Demonstrated experience providing technical leadership on multi-stakeholder projects
Proficiency in modern programming languages, frameworks, and database systems
Experience with cloud-based infrastructure, APIs, and system integrations
Strong understanding of version control, CI/CD, and agile or iterative development methodologies

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or advanced training in Computer Science, Data Science, Biomedical Informatics, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
Experience supporting research, academic, healthcare, or public sector environments
Seven or more years of relevant experience, with demonstrated senior-level technical expertise, product management work, and and leadership responsibilities
Familiarity with artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches, including predictive modeling and precision analytics applied to complex, multi-modal data
Experience working with data-intensive systems, research registries, or longitudinal analytics platforms
Ability to collaborate effectively with interdisciplinary teams spanning research, clinical, and community-engaged domains
Knowledge of accessibility standards, inclusive design principles, and ethical data use

Responsibilities

Serve as a hands-on developer for complex features, core services, and mission-critical components
Oversee the full software development lifecycle, including requirements gathering, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance
Ensure code quality, performance, accessibility, and security through rigorous review, testing, and monitoring practices
Guide implementation of CI/CD pipelines, version control workflows, and automated testing strategies
Lead the architectural design and technical implementation of software platforms supporting research, clinical programs, registries, and community-engaged initiatives
Define system architecture, data models, APIs, and integration strategies that enable scalable and interoperable solutions
Establish and maintain technical standards, development best practices, and documentation aligned with UW and UW Medicine guidelines
Evaluate, select, and implement appropriate technologies, frameworks, and cloud services to meet evolving institutional needs
Ensure systems adhere to UW, UW Medicine, and regulatory requirements related to data security, privacy, and compliance (e.g., HIPAA, IRB, as applicable)
Implement best practices for data governance, access controls, auditability, and long-term data stewardship
Proactively identify and mitigate technical risks, vulnerabilities, and technical debt
Work closely with faculty, researchers, clinicians, project managers, and community partners to translate programmatic and research needs into technical requirements
Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders
Support grant-funded projects by contributing to technical sections of proposals, progress reports, and documentation
Stay current with emerging technologies, development methodologies, and research-enabling tools
Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, scalability, and user experience across UW-supported platforms
Contribute to long-term technical roadmaps that support sustainable growth of research and community-focused initiatives
Provide technical leadership and professional development support to developers, analysts, and trainees
Coordinate development efforts across internal teams, collaborators, and external vendors, as needed
Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and learning-oriented development culture consistent with UW values
Support onboarding and training of new team members and student developers, as needed