Software Developer - Cell Atlas Projects

Join our team of researchers, engineers, and designers to shape the future of biomedical research!

The HIDIVE Lab in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School is funded to develop data visualization tools and user interfaces for multiple national and international cell atlas projects such as the Human Biomolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP), the Cellular Senescence Network (SenNet), the Human Tumor Atlas Network (HTAN), the Kidney Precision Medicine Network(KPMP), and the Human Cell Atlas (HCA).

You will participate in the full software development life cycle for the cell atlas projects that we are involved in such as the HuBMAP Data Portal and Vitessce. Under the guidance of more senior developers on our team, you will implement client-side user interfaces and visualization tools using state of the art web development technologies. Your primary focus will be on developing user interface components and implementing them following well-known React.js workflows. You will ensure that these components and the overall application are robust and easy to maintain. You will coordinate with teams working on different layers of the infrastructure. You will be using automated testing, CI/CD, packaging, and documentation techniques to ensure high quality of our software.

We value diversity, creativity, and initiative in a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary work environment. The HIDIVE Lab has an international reputation for creating high impact data visualization tools and we are driven to solve the most challenging design and engineering problems in biomedical data science. We would love to have you on our team!

Typical Core Duties

• Participate fully in software development life cycle
• Implement and support technical solutions to deliver business requirements
• Identify and evaluate opportunities to improve services
• Contribute ideas to coding best practices and new technologies
• Draw on relationship and technical skills to act as technical liaison to internal and external clients
• Abide by and follow the Harvard University IT technical standards, policies and Code of Conduct

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of two years post-secondary education or relevant work experience

Additional Qualifications and Skills

• Ability to produce high-quality code in JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Python, and shell scripting languages
• Working knowledge of automated testing approaches, ranging from granular unit tests to functional tests of entire applications, using tools such as Jest, Cypress, and Pytest
• Hands-on experience with GitHub or other collaborative version control systems
• Building reusable UI components and ensure that the UI components adhere to design guidelines
• Experience with CSS and React design patterns and libraries e.g. Webpack, MaterialUI, Styled Components, or Storybook is highly preferred
• Experience with browser-based debugging and performance testing software
• Familiarity with search engines (e.g., Lucene/Elasticsearch) is desirable
• Experience with data visualization, data portals, or software development in support of academic research is desirable
• Familiarity with development of Python or R software packages, server-side components, and data-processing scripts (regular expressions/JSON schema) is helpful
• Understanding of basics of molecular biology and biomedical research is helpful but not required

Work Environment

The HIDIVE Lab is using a hybrid workplace model and this position can be fully remote, hybrid, or in-person.

Additional Information

This is a one-year term position with strong potential for renewal.

This position is based in Boston, but the work may be done primarily remote. Any remote work must be performed in a state in which Harvard is registered to do business (CA*, CT, GA, IL, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, RI, VA, VT, and WA). Individual flexible and remote work options for this role will be discussed during the interview process. *Note: Harvard employees working in California must be exempt.

How to Apply

Apply on Harvard Careers.

Harvard Medical School is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply.