Principal Research Software Engineer - Health Policy AI

University of California, San Francisco; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

University of California, San Francisco is seeking a Principal Research Software Engineer to serve as the primary technical expert supporting a nationally recognized health policy research program.

The role leads the development of research software, data platforms, and computational capabilities with multi-institutional impact, ensuring security, interoperability, and regulatory compliance across diverse partners including federal and academic institutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS, Data Science, Information Systems or a related field with extensive experience.
• 10+ years of progressive responsibility leading technical strategy, architecture, and platform development.
• Expert-level proficiency in Python and SQL, with experience in other data science languages.
• Advanced full-stack development with modern web frameworks, APIs, databases, and secure deployment.
• Experience with healthcare, clinical, public health, policy, or large-scale observational datasets.
• Experience evaluating and implementing AI technologies in research environments.
• Knowledge of HIPAA-regulated data governance and IRB considerations.
• Data engineering, data modeling, metadata management, governance, and reproducible research.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of research software, data platforms, and AI capabilities across multi-institution collaborations.
• Establish technical standards, architecture principles, and governance for research technology.
• Collaborate with investigators and external partners to amplify research productivity and impact.

Skills

Python

SQL

Data engineering

AI/ML

Regulated data governance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS or related field

Tools

PostgreSQL

MySQL

Parquet

DuckDB

Linux

CI/CD

Job description

University of California, San Francisco is seeking a Principal Research Software Engineer to serve as the primary technical expert supporting a nationally recognized health policy research program.

The role leads the development of research software, data platforms, and computational capabilities with multi-institutional impact, ensuring security, interoperability, and regulatory compliance across diverse partners including federal and academic institutions.