Associate Director – Data Architecture

The mission of the Allen Institute is to unlock the complexities of bioscience and advance our knowledge to improve human health. Using an open science, multi-scale, team-oriented approach, the Allen Institute focuses on accelerating foundational research, developing standards and models, and cultivating new ideas to make a broad, transformational impact on science.

The Allen Institute is launching a new moonshot initiative on human brain health and disease. This initiative aims to dramatically accelerate our understanding of human brain structure and function, identify the molecular, cellular and circuit basis of disease progression, and pioneer new therapeutic strategies targeting vulnerable and affected cell types. Our mission focuses on taking a human-centric approach to understanding and treating disease, combining a large-scale open science discovery approach across multiple diseases, AI-based disease modeling, and translational programs in specific diseases to move from discovery to clinical application. We aim to make transformational change in understanding and treating brain disorders, the biggest health challenge of our time.

We are hiring an Associate Director, Data Architecture, to play a critical leadership role within the organization, leading a team to architect, design and implement a scalable, reliable, and high-performance data platform that meets the initiative’s and scientists' needs. The successful candidate will develop a roadmap and framework for data architecture across the initiative, establishing key linkages to existing Institute data frameworks and developing new federated data architectures allowing cross-institutional data sharing and modeling. This position will interact regularly with neuroscientists and a wide variety of data scientists and engineers, both internally and as part of a large collaborative network, collaborating on developing vast data resources for research in brain health and disease.

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.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and strongly encourage people from all backgrounds to apply for our open positions.

Essential Functions

• Build and lead a high-performing team of data and platform engineers, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement. Provide mentorship, technical guidance, and career development
• Partner with senior leadership to define and execute the data platform strategy, aligning technical investments with organizational and scientific priorities
• Own platform architecture and evolution, designing scalable, secure, and interoperable systems that support diverse neuroscience and neuro-disease data across internal and external ecosystems
• Lead development of data infrastructure, including data architecture, pipelines, and ETL systems that power analytics, machine learning, AI applications, and scientific workflows
• Drive engineering excellence, establishing best practices, standards, and processes to ensure high-quality, reliable, and maintainable systems
• Enable AI-driven capabilities, guiding integration of intelligent systems for search, hypothesis generation, and cross-modal reasoning, and ensuring infrastructure supports real-time, data-grounded AI workflows
• Deliver scientist-focused solutions, overseeing the design and implementation of tools and services that meet evolving research and technical needs
• Provide technical leadership and advisory, conducting architectural reviews, guiding complex implementations, and supporting strategic decision-making with data and platform insights
• Ensure operational execution, managing project timelines, resources, budgets, dependencies, and risks to deliver outcomes aligned with organizational goals
• Balance innovation with reliability, advancing new technologies and approaches while maintaining stable, production-grade systems that support ongoing research
• Drive ecosystem integration and standards, enabling modularity, extensibility, and interoperability with external platforms, consortia, and partners across the broader neuro disease research community
• Represent the organization externally, engaging with partners, industry, and open science communities to shape collaborations and advance platform impact
• Stay at the forefront of technology, continuously evaluating and adopting emerging tools, cloud capabilities, and engineering practices to enhance platform performance and team effectiveness

*Note: Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions; it does not proscribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.*

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent combination of education and experience
• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, or platform engineering, including significant work on large-scale, distributed systems and data platforms
• Proven leadership experience (3+ years) managing and mentoring engineering teams and leading cross-functional initiatives from concept through production
• Strong technical expertise in cloud-native architecture and modern data platforms, including experience with AWS, Azure, or GCP
• Hands-on experience with backend and data technologies, such as Python, Go, Spark, Kubernetes, APIs (e.g., gRPC/REST), and distributed systems design
• Demonstrated experience delivering complex, large-scale systems, including data pipelines, ETL workflows, and production-grade platform services
• Experience with AI/ML systems, including deploying or supporting machine learning workflows, with familiarity in multimodal data or large language models
• Strong foundation in software engineering practices, including version control (e.g., Git), CI/CD pipelines, DevOps, testing, and system observability
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate between technical and scientific domains
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a focus on execution, scalability, and innovation

Preferred Education and Experience

• Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Computer Science or a related technical discipline.
• Experience building or operating scientific data platforms, particularly in life sciences, neuroscience, or healthcare
• Experience contributing to open-source projects or leading collaborative, community-driven software efforts
• Deep expertise in AI/ML systems, including multimodal models, foundation models, or large-scale model deployment
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and modern engineering workflows in high-performing teams

Physical Demands

• Fine motor movements in fingers/hands to operate computers and other office equipment

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

• This role is currently working onsite and is expected to work onsite for the majority of working hours. The primary work location for this role is 615 Westlake Ave N., with the flexibility to work remotely on a limited basis.

Travel

• Occasional attendance and participation in conferences

Annualized Salary Range

$195,850 - $256,950 *

* Final salary depends on the required education for the role, experience, level of skills relevant to the role, and work location, where applicable.

Benefits

Employees (and their families) are eligible to enroll in benefits per eligibility rules outlined in the Allen Institute’s Benefits Guide. These benefits include medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance. Employees are also eligible to enroll in the Allen Institute’s 401k plan. Paid time off is also available as outlined in the Allen Institutes Benefits Guide. Details on the Allen Institute’s benefits offering are located at the following link to the Benefits Guide: https://alleninstitute.org/careers/benefits

It is the policy of the Allen Institute to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, the Allen Institute will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.