Scientific Programmer Analyst, YSPH

Working at Yale means contributing to a better tomorrow. Whether you are a current resident of our New Haven-based community, eligible for opportunities through the New Haven Hiring Initiative, or a newcomer, interested in exploring all that Yale has to offer, your talents and contributions are welcome. Discover your opportunities at Yale!

Overview

The McDougal Lab at the Yale School of Public Health seeks a scientific programmer analyst to help advance open-source neuroscience simulation, with an initial focus on the NEURON simulator ( https://www.neuronsimulator.org ), a widely used platform for detailed biophysical modeling of neurons and neural networks.

In your first projects, you will contribute to NEURON by working on areas such as:

- Performance and scalability: optimize internal data structures and algorithms for improved CPU and GPU performance
- Modeling features: extend the model description language to support new model types (including, potentially, machine-learning-based approaches)
- Usability and documentation: improve human-computer interaction, developer experience, and user documentation

NEURON is an active, collaborative open-source project. The 84 existing contributors listed on GitHub ( https://github.com/neuronsimulator/nrn ) are a mix of researchers and software developers.

Principal Responsibilities

1. Develops programs or systems of small to moderate size and complexity. Modifies existing systems at all levels of difficulty. 2. Provides informational input into decisions concerning the development and delivery of applications, programs and systems. Defines and analyzes requirements to meet the expectations of stakeholders and intended end users needs, scheduled timeline, and budgetary targets. 3. Analyzes, defines and designs new systems and applications. Writes code in support of business solutions. 4. Responsible for the creation, definition, communication, and management of project plans which includes architectural design, technology selection and methodologies to apply. 5. Troubleshoots problems and provide ongoing maintenance and support for applications and systems. 6. Prepares documentation, user manuals and develops formal proposals for new systems and modifications to existing systems. Mentors technical staff and provide training for end users. 7. Contributes in the development of policies or modifications to exiting policies. 8. Applies and keeps current with existing and emerging technologies and methodologies. Provides ongoing input to the establishment of programming standards, procedures, and methodologies. 9. May perform other duties as assigned.

Required Education and Experience

Bachelor's degree. Three years of experience in analysis and programming of small to medium scale systems or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Job Posting Date

11/09/2026

Job Category

Professional

Bargaining Unit

NON

Compensation Grade

Administration & Operations

Compensation Grade Profile

Manager; Program Leader (24)

Salary Range

$68,000.00 - $120,500.00

Benefits

A general description of the benefits to be offered with this Managerial & Professional position is available at:

Yale Benefits

Time Type

Full time

Duration Type

Staff Fixed Duration (Fixed Term)

Work Model

On-site

Health Requirements

Certain positions have associated health requirements based on specific job responsibilities. These may include vaccinations, tests, or examinations, as required by law, regulation, or university policy.

Note

Yale University is a tobacco-free campus.

Responsibilities

Modify and extend the NEURON simulator. Develop additional related programs of small to moderate size and complexity.; Develop, implement, and validate algorithms and data structures for computational neuroscience simulation.; Create, define, communicate, and manage project plans, including: architectural design, technology selection and methodologies to apply.; Provide informational input into decisions concerning the development and delivery of applications, programs, and systems. Defines and analyzes requirements to meet the expectations of stakeholders and intended end users needs, scheduled timeline, and budgetary targets.; Work directly with research personnel to identify and resolve technical issues, troubleshoot problems, and create reports.; Prepares documentation, user manuals and develops formal proposals for new systems and modifications to existing systems. Mentors technical staff and provide training for end users.; Apply and keep current with existing and emerging technologies and methodologies. Provide ongoing input to the establishment of programming standards, procedures, and methodologies.; May perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Strong programming ability in Python and C++; Comfort with collaborative development workflows (e.g., git, pull requests, issue tracking, code review)

Nice to have

NEURON or computational neuroscience; Numerical methods / scientific computing; GPU computing; Parallel computing (e.g., MPI ); Machine learning methods used in scientific modeling