Director/Senior Director of Research Software Engineering

POSITION SUMMARY

The Simons Foundation's Informatics group, part of the Division of Autism and Neuroscience (A&N), is seeking an experienced Director or Senior Director of Research Software Engineering (RSE) to lead the design, development, and delivery of software systems that drive scientific discovery. This is a unique opportunity to shape how the research community accesses and works with some of the world's richest autism and neuroscience datasets, and to build the systems that define that experience.

Informatics stewards the scientific data produced by A&N research programs across their full lifecycle - from collection and processing to sharing and analysis. The Director of Research Software Engineering will play a central role in that mission, leading the engineering team responsible for the software systems that make that complex scientific data accessible and useful to the broader research community. The software this team builds serves as the primary interface between the foundation’s rich scientific datasets (e.g., genomics, clinical, and neuroscience data) and the researchers who use them.

Reporting to the Vice President of Informatics, this role leads a team of software engineers and partners closely with other Informatics teams and A&N program staff to deliver software solutions to meet the needs of external researchers. The RSE Director is part of a broader Informatics leadership team that includes study systems engineering, bioinformatics, and product analytics - each responsible for distinct stages of scientific data. The RSE Director sets the technical direction for research software engineering, drives architectural decisions, and ensures that engineering efforts are aligned with the foundation’s commitment to open science and data sharing. As part of the Informatics leadership team, they shape how AI is incorporated into A&N’s research software and the broader researcher experience. They champion best practices across the software development lifecycle, and cultivate an engineering culture defined by rigor, collaboration, and a mission-driven purpose.

The ideal candidate brings an extensive software engineering background, experience building software that makes complex biological or genomic data accessible to research communities, a track record of managing and delivering complex software development projects, and a demonstrated ability to lead teams through complexity and ambiguity.

This is a full-time position based on-site at the Simons Foundation’s New York City offices. Visit the Simons Foundation career page to learn more.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS/RESPONSIBILITIES

• Technical Leadership & Strategy: In close coordination with the Vice President of Informatics, and as part of the Informatics leadership team, define and execute the long-term vision and strategy for researcher-facing software systems and the underlying data infrastructure, and help shape Informatics’ AI strategy.
• Systems Ownership: Oversee the full-stack development and ongoing evolution of SFARI Base, the foundation’s primary platform for researcher data access, while leading the design and development of new systems that give researchers richer ways to explore and analyze A&N scientific datasets. This work spans the full stack, including data visualization, APIs, and data infrastructure.
• Technical Excellence: Drive Informatics-wide engineering standards (e.g., testing, documentation, code review, and security) across research software and ensure systems are reliable, maintainable, and scalable.
• Team Management: Manage, build, mentor, and scale a team of software engineers, drive adoption of modern engineering practices, and cultivate a team culture that values technical excellence, collaboration, and openness to new ideas.
• Cross-functional Partnership: Collaborate closely with other Informatics teams and A&N program staff to understand researcher needs and translate them into software solutions. This includes working with the Bioinformatics team on genomics data, the Study Systems Engineering team on clinical data, and the Product Analytics team to define scope, requirements, and delivery priorities.
• Project Oversight: Ensure the timely and high-quality delivery of software projects, maintaining visibility into progress, managing risks, and keeping stakeholders informed.
• Researcher Experience: Champion the needs of external researchers throughout the software development process, ensuring that systems are intuitive, well-documented, and grounded in how researchers work with scientific data.
• Open Science: Ensure that engineering decisions and system designs advance the foundation’s commitment to open science, with FAIR data principles guiding how A&N scientific data is presented, shared, and made useful to the broader research community.
• Other: Perform other duties or tasks as assigned or required.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Bioinformatics, or a related field

Experience

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with 7+ years in a leadership or management role
• Demonstrated ability to set technical vision, drive architectural decisions, and deliver complex, data-intensive software projects
• Proven experience leading full-stack software development teams, including modern web application development
• Experience building software for genomics or other data-intensive life sciences research contexts, with working knowledge of genomics data types and common bioinformatics tools and workflows
• Demonstrated ability to build and develop high-performing engineering teams, with a focus on technical rigor, mentorship, and growth
• Strong proficiency in Python and experience with Python-based web development, including frameworks such as Django

Related Skills & Other Requirements

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage technical and non-technical audiences, including senior leadership
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, with a track record of working effectively with non-engineering stakeholders to translate needs into software solutions
• Deep curiosity about science and a passion for building tools that empower scientific discovery
• Commitment to reproducibility, open science, and engineering excellence

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Bioinformatics, or a related field
• Expertise in bioinformatics, including experience with genomic data processing, analysis pipelines, and related computational methods
• Familiarity with AWS or other major cloud platforms
• Experience with high-performance computing (HPC) environments

REQUIRED APPLICATION MATERIALS

• Please submit a résumé and cover letter stating your interest in the position.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

• The full-time annual compensation range for the Director level is $255,000-$275,000, depending on experience.
• The full-time annual compensation range for the Senior Director level is $275,000-$310,000, depending on experience.
• In addition to competitive salaries, the Simons Foundation provides employees with an outstanding benefits package.

Our Commitment to Expanding Pathways to Science & Opportunities for All:

Many of the greatest ideas and discoveries come from a diverse mix of minds, backgrounds, and experiences. The Simons Foundation is committed to advancing basic science and mathematics to benefit humankind and expand our collective understanding of our world. As part of our mission, we support partners, programs, and initiatives that seek to broaden the scientific community and open pathways to science and mathematics careers.

The Simons Foundation provides equal opportunities to all applicants without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, pregnancy, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic disposition, neurodiversity, disability, veteran status, or any other protected category under federal, state, and local law.