Software Engineer I – IT and Software Development - Immunology

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 mission of the Allen Institute for Immunology is to advance the fundamental understanding of human immunology through the study of immune health and diseases where excessive or impaired immune responses drive pathological processes. The Institute will employ a multi-disciplinary team approach in collaboration with academic centers of human immunology to generate novel mechanistic insights into the immune synapse in health and in diseases such as autoimmunity or oncology. The Institute will simultaneously provide a foundational data set and tools for future immunological research as well as a novel collaboration portal for the broader scientific community.

We are seeking a talented and enthusiastic Software Engineer to join the Allen Institute for Immunology’s software engineering team. You will be involved in all areas of development from design to development to testing. You will be working with other engineers to develop cloud-based solutions involving front-end and back-end components. You will be jointly responsible for defining requirements, creating prototypes, implementing great solutions, testing your code, and working with scientists and computational biologists to incorporate user feedback as part of the iterative development cycle. This is a customer facing position providing an exceptional experience to our collaborators for a cloud-based research platform used by scientists and computational biologists to gather, analyze, interpret, and share findings. The Software Engineer is curious about immunology and life sciences research and enjoys learning new scientific analysis techniques.

The Allen Institute believes that team science significantly benefits from the participation of diverse voices, experiences and backgrounds. High-quality science can only be produced when it includes different perspectives. We are committed to increasing diversity across every team and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply for this role.

Essential Functions

• Work with others on the team to design and build scalable and secure libraries, data storage solutions, and web services to capture data and enable fast access to it
• Contribute to creating, documenting and communicating software architecture, design decisions, code approach, and socializing these decisions through peer review and architectural review
• Work with scientists, computational biologists and software engineers to transform complex requirements into software
• Perform software development duties using best practices - apply the concepts of iterative design and development, develop unit tests, participate in code reviews, etc.
• Onboard new customers’ projects onto the Human Immune System Explorer
• Lead product demos and training, documenting use cases, scientific needs, data volume and financial opportunity
• Responsible for application setup and configuration, communication and ongoing customer support
• Work closely with technical program management, product architecture and software engineering to manage the customer experience and communicate new feature requests
• Provide ongoing technical support to existing customers through regular check-ins, assisting with troubleshooting, incorporating new features, reviewing usage patterns and account monitoring
• Be a subject matter expert on the use of the research platform
• Create technical solutions that solve real problems for customers, based on data analysis, user interviews, and feedback loops

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 prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent combination of degree and experience
• Proficiency in Python or R

Preferred Education and Experience

• 0 – 2 years of equivalent working experience
• Demonstrated experience with customer or application engineering for a cloud-based software product
• Demonstrated experience working in a scientific research or health care organization
• Creative problem-solving skills
• Passion for new technology and customer focused
• Passion for scientific research
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Work Environment

• May enter laboratory environment, including potential exposure to lasers, biohazards

Physical Demands

• Fine motor movements in fingers/hands to operate computers and other office equipment; lab equipment
• Working at a computer and using a mouse for extended periods of time

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

• Occasional evening and weekend hours may be required
• 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 flexibility to work remotely on a limited basis.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

• In keeping with our focus on employee safety, all employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment unless a medical or religious exemption is approved. All employees will be required to keep their vaccination status up to date according to CDC guidance and our policy.

Additional Comments

• **Please note, this opportunity does not offer relocation assistance**
• **Please note, this opportunity offers work visa sponsorship**

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 about 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.