Research Software Engineer II

Princeton Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence (the “AI Lab”) invites applications for a full-time Research Software Engineer (RSE). As an RSE joining the AI Lab, you will contribute to the current research that the AI Lab supports across the university. Candidates can read more about the AI Lab on the website.

In this position, you will be both a member of Princeton’s RSE team, as well as an integral member of the AI Lab and the research community it supports. You will work with a diverse group of faculty, postdocs, and students from multiple disciplines.

If you are passionate about advancing AI research, working alongside leading researchers, and contributing to impactful open-source projects, we encourage you to apply for this position.

• This position is located in Princeton, NJ. This is not a remote position.
• The position is up to a 3-year term, with a possibility of reappointment.
• Competitive compensation package with attractive work conditions.
• Access to state-of-the-art research facilities and a new GPU cluster.
• Opportunities for professional growth and career advancement.
• Collaborative and inclusive work environment that fosters creativity and innovation.
• Application of Domain Expertise.
• Initiate and maintain open collaboration with researchers across Princeton University. Regularly meet with, listen to, and ask questions of researchers to ensure the engineered solutions fit the research need.
• Apply AI and machine learning algorithms to software engineering projects in the researcher’s specific domain.

Application of Domain Expertise

• Initiate and maintain open collaboration with researchers across Princeton University. Regularly meet with, listen to, and ask questions of researchers to ensure the engineered solutions fit the research need.
• Apply AI and machine learning algorithms to software engineering projects in the researcher’s specific domain.

Research Software Engineering

• Working independently with minimal guidance to understand and translate research priorities into flexible software solutions.
• Collaborate with a team to develop comprehensive open source software solutions and models based on researcher-provided requirements and desired outcomes. Conduct independent or team research to identify and solve problems, and provide detailed documentation for the research team.
• Contribute to software solutions by establishing project-specific best practices, including version control, continuous integration and delivery, software design, and programming models.
• Ensure long-term maintainability, sustainability and open access by thoroughly documenting projects. Provide support for the use of software libraries, including detailed documentation that is accessible to both researchers and future Research Software Engineers.
• Provide technical expertise and improve the performance and quality of new and existing code bases through hands-on work with ongoing research.
• Collaborate with researchers to ensure solutions meet their needs, addressing software engineering questions during research planning. Communicate software engineering concepts to project teams with varying levels of expertise. Serve as a liaison with Princeton Research Computing staff on GPU cluster-related issues.

Professional Development

• Learn the underlying science, mathematics, statistics, data analysis, and algorithms of computational research questions through independent research, studying existing code bases, and staying current with publications.
• Build awareness of software development tools and techniques, best practices in software engineering, programming languages, high-performance computing hardware, and computational research solutions.
• Participate in a community of research software engineers and engage in continued professional development opportunities at Princeton Research Computing.

ESSENTIAL Minimum Required Knowledge, Skills, Competencies, and Abilities

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in computer science, engineering, applied math, sciences, or related computational field.
• A minimum of 4 years as a Research Software Engineer or equivalent experience (e.g. graduate school, industry experience, open-source software development, etc.).
• Proficiency in programming languages used in AI and computational research (e.g. Python, C++, R, MATLAB, Julia).
• Expertise in machine learning algorithms and techniques. Familiarity with AI frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Scikit-learn.
• Experience working with large datasets and familiarity with GPU computing environments.
• Demonstrated success:
• Consistently using conventional and readable coding style.
• Creating comprehensive and well-written documentation.
• Using version control systems.
• Demonstrated successes contributing to a collaborative research team.
• Ability to work independently.
• Strong written and oral technical communication skills with the ability to present complex research findings to technical and non-technical audiences.

PREFERRED Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Experience, and Other Education

• Expertise in conducting research in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Contributions to open-source libraries and publications in relevant journals or conferences are highly valued.
• Experience participating in multiple software development projects simultaneously, ensuring timely delivery and adherence to quality standards. An eagerness to take on more responsibility and develop project management skills.
• A Masters/Ph.D. in computer science, applied science, or other related field with a strong computational focus or equivalent experience in a research setting preferred.

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

The University considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's qualifications, work experience, education/training, key skills, market, collective bargaining agreements as applicable, and organizational considerations when extending an offer. The posted salary range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate for a full-time position; salaries for part-time positions are pro-rated accordingly.

If the salary range on the posted position shows an hourly rate, this is the baseline; the actual hourly rate may be higher, depending on the position and factors listed above.

The University also offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees. Please see this link for more information.