Neural Circuits Theory Scientist — Data-Driven Brain Dynamics

ClearCompany Talent Management Software; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 87,000 - 108,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Visa sponsorship possible

Job summary

Allen Institute in Seattle seeks a Scientist to develop data-driven theories of how circuit structure shapes neural computation. You will use the Institute's connectomics data and brain-wide recordings to distill theories from large-scale data and guide experiments.

The role requires collaboration with experimentalists and the ability to present findings at conferences and in publications. This onsite position emphasizes rigorous theory development aligned with cutting-edge neuroscience data.

Qualifications

• PhD in neuroscience, physics, applied mathematics, statistics or related field.
• Ability to build theories of collective dynamics in systems of many interacting elements.
• Strong scientific‑computing skills and familiarity with modern machine learning.

Responsibilities

• Develop mechanistic models of many interacting neurons that can be fit directly to connectivity and neural activity data.
• Derive coarse-grained descriptions of these models, reducing them to a small number of variables that reveal which features of connectivity govern neural dynamics.
• Characterize the space of models consistent with a given dataset, and determine how connectivity constrains that space.
• Develop theories for how different perturbations narrow that space, and use them to identify the most informative experiments to perform next.
• Collaborate with experimentalists to turn theory into testable hypotheses about neural computation.
• Present results to collaborators and the wider scientific community through talks, conferences, and publications.

Skills

Machine learning

Scientific computing

Collaboration

Education

PhD in neuroscience or related field

Job description

Allen Institute in Seattle seeks a Scientist to develop data-driven theories of how circuit structure shapes neural computation. You will use the Institute's connectomics data and brain-wide recordings to distill theories from large-scale data and guide experiments.

The role requires collaboration with experimentalists and the ability to present findings at conferences and in publications. This onsite position emphasizes rigorous theory development aligned with cutting-edge neuroscience data.