Allen Institute for Brain Science-posted 3 days ago
$180,350 - $236,650/Yr
Full-time • Senior
Hybrid • Seattle, WA
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
Craft a resume that recruiters will want to see with Teal's resume Matching Mode

The mission of the Allen Institute is to understand the principles that govern life, and to advance health. Our creative and multi-dimensional teams focus on answering some of the biggest questions in bioscience. We accelerate foundational research, catalyze bold ideas, develop tools and models, and openly share our science to make a broad, transformational impact on the world. The mission of the Allen Institute for Brain Science is to accelerate the understanding of how the human brain works in health and disease. Using a big science approach, we generate useful public resources, drive technological and analytical advances, and discover fundamental brain properties through the integration of experiments, modeling, and theory. The Allen Institute for Brain Science is at a pivotal moment in the evolution of the Brain Knowledge Platform (BKP) that supports our mission to accelerate neuroscience discovery. With contributions from a growing number of organizations, BKP has become a foundational system for structuring, integrating, and leveraging vast, diverse brain datasets. We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the next phase of BKPs technical development. This individual will play a critical role in architecting a scalable, AI-enabled platform that supports multimodal data, powers scientific tools, and integrates state-of-the-art AI models. This is a unique opportunity to apply cutting-edge software, data, and AI engineering in a mission-driven environment helping to unlock the brains complexity and catalyze new therapies and insights for human health. At the Allen Institute, we believe that science is for everyone and should be open to everyone. We are dedicated to combating biases and reducing barriers to STEM careers more broadly. We also believe that science is better when it includes different perspectives and voices. We strive to make the Allen Institute a place where everyone feels like they belong and are empowered to do their best work in a supportive environment.

  • Design and evolve the Brain Knowledge Platforms technical architecture to support scalability, performance, and interoperability across diverse neuroscience data modalities.
  • Lead system-level architecture decisions that enable modularity, extensibility, and integration with external platforms across the BRAIN Initiative and global neuroscience community.
  • Establish data and service standards that promote long-term maintainability and cloud-native scalability.
  • Guide integration of AI capabilities into the knowledge platform to support intelligent search, hypothesis generation, and cross-modal reasoning.
  • Ensure the infrastructure supports real-time, data-grounded interactions between AI models and scientific workflows.
  • Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies (LLMs, vector databases, multimodal embeddings) to accelerate discovery and translational outcomes.
  • Contribute to the modernization of flagship neuroscience tools like ABC Atlas and MapMyCells, aligning them with new AI-native architectures and evolving user needs.
  • Maintain a balance between innovation and operational reliability to ensure ongoing research support and platform usability.
  • Work closely with product, data, and science teams to prioritize technical decisions that align with strategic goals.
  • Serve as a technical integrator across multiple teams to ensure architectural alignment and reduce redundancy.
  • Provide mentorship, code review, and architectural guidance to engineers across the platform.
  • Represent the Allen Institute in collaborations with external partners, industry experts, and open science consortia.
  • Bachelor's in computer science or related field (or equivalent combination of degree and experience).
  • Minimum of 7 years of experience in software engineering, including significant work on large-scale, distributed systems and data platforms.
  • Proven leadership in architecting cloud-native platforms supporting high-throughput, heterogeneous data.
  • Deep expertise in designing and deploying AI/ML systems, particularly involving multimodal models or LLMs.
  • Strong knowledge of modern backend technologies (e.g., Python, Go, Kubernetes, gRPC, Spark, cloud services like AWS or Azure).
  • Demonstrated success in leading cross-functional technical initiatives from concept to production.
  • Familiarity with the entire software tool chain, including source code management (git), build systems, debuggers, linkers, and profiling tools.
  • PhD degree in computer science or related field.
  • 8 - 11+ years of experience in software engineering, including significant work on large-scale, distributed systems and data platforms.
  • Experience with scientific data platforms in life sciences, neuroscience, or healthcare.
  • Experience integrating foundation models (e.g., GPT, CLIP, or domain-specific LLMs) into production data systems.
  • Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with scientists, engineers, and partners.
  • Familiarity with FAIR data principles and open science platforms.
  • Medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance.
  • 401k plan.
  • Paid time off.
© 2024 Teal Labs, Inc
Privacy PolicyTerms of Service