Research Software Developer

McGill University

$82K — $123K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • PhD in neuroscience, computer science, or related field.
  • Over 2 years of experience with large-scale open source code bases.
  • Familiarity with common neural data file formats (NWB, NIDS, etc.).
  • Experience training AI models on high-performance GPU clusters.

Responsibilities

  • Oversee development and maintenance of NeuroGalaxy code base.
  • Manage debugging and GitHub repository, approving community pull requests.
  • Create documentation and tutorials for users.
  • Estimate compute costs for different model sizes.
  • Analyze compute usage for grant applications.
  • Incorporate community-generated models into the codebase.
  • Train and benchmark models from the Mila community.

Benefits

  • Competitive benefits package including health, dental, and life insurance.
  • Defined contribution pension plan with up to 10% employer contribution.
  • Group RRSP and TFSA options.
  • Generous vacation and personal leave policy.
  • Nine 'Summer Fridays' off during summer months.
  • Tuition waiver for employees and dependents.
  • Remote work options up to two days per week.
Full Job Description
Position Summary:

Reporting to the Research Scientist Manager, this position will play a key role in advancing neuro-foundation model research within a leading AI research lab affiliated with Mila - the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. The incumbent will lead the development, maintenance, and community support of NeuroGalaxy, a large-scale open-source platform for neuroscience AI, while collaborating with academic and industry partners to train, benchmark, and deploy state-of-the-art models using high-performance computing resources.

Primary Responsibilities:
  • Overseeing the continued development and maintenance of a large, specialized public code base for creating neuro-foundation models (NeuroGalaxy).
  • Debugging the code base, managing the GitHub, and approving new pull requests from the community of users.
  • Creating robust, accessible documentation for the code base as well as public facing websites and tutorials for new users.
  • Providing estimates of compute costs associated with different components of the code base for different model and dataset sizes.
  • Writing specialized technical analyses of existing compute usage on the DRAC and Mila clusters for use in grant applications.
  • Analyzing new models generated by the community and incorporating their designs into the codebase.
  • Training models created by the Mila community and benchmarking them against existing models
  • Maintaining a list of critical benchmarks and a leaderboard for existing models on those benchmarks.
  • Collaborating with other neuro-foundation model development groups in academia and industry.


Other Qualifying Skills and/or Abilities
  • A PhD in neuroscience of computer science (or related degrees).
  • Over 2 years experience with creating, releasing, and maintaining large-scale open source code bases.
  • Familiarity with the most common types of neural data file formats (NWB, NIDS, etc.)
  • Experience training AI models on high-performance GPU clusters.


As one of Montreal's Top Employers, here is what we offer:
  • Competitive benefits package (Health, Dental, Life Insurance) (if eligible)
  • Defined contribution pension plan (with employer contribution up to 10%) (if eligible)
  • Group Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA)
  • Competitive vacation policy
  • Two (2) personal days
  • Two (2) floating holidays
  • Nine (9) "Summer Fridays" - paid days off between the St-Jean Baptiste holiday and Labour Day
  • Paid time off over the December holiday period
  • Tuition waiver for regular employees and their dependents
  • Up to two (2) days of remote work per week where the position permits


Before applying, please note that to work at McGill University, you must be both authorized to work in Canada and willing to work in the province of Quebec at the campus where the position is based / located.

Knowledge of English: McGill University is an English-language university where day to day duties may require English communication both verbally and in writing. The level of English required for this position has been assessed at a level 4 on a scale of 0-4.

For a definition of our language proficiency levels, please click here.

Minimum Education and Experience:

Bachelor's Degree 5 Years Related Experience /

Annual Salary:

(MPEX Grade 06) $82,280.00 - $102,850.00 - $123,420.00

Job Profile:
MPEX-IST3S - Research Software Development - Senior Professional

Hours per Week:

33.75 (Full time)

Supervisor:

Associate Professor

Position End Date (If applicable):

2027-07-05

Deadline to Apply:

2026-07-07

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