Senior Experimental Neuroscientist — Brain Codes

Astera Institute; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Open science policy

Job summary

Astera Neuro seeks an Experimental Neuroscientist to lead research programs investigating how the brain builds a model of the world, thoughts, and self, with the ability to reversibly modulate these functions through write-in experiments.

The role requires independent program leadership and close collaboration across software, hardware, and computation teams to translate biological insight into a detailed brain model guiding perturbation experiments.

Qualifications

• PhD with 5–12+ years in neuroscience or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Experience leading end-to-end systems neuroscience projects.
• Hands-on chronic, multi-area electrophysiology in awake, behaving animals.
• Strong Python/MATLAB and spike sorting pipelines; high-dimensional data analysis.
• Ability to collaborate with software, hardware, and computation teams.
• Experience with optogenetic or causal perturbation methods.
• Experience with closed-loop or real-time experimental control.

Responsibilities

• Design behavioral paradigms aligned with scientific goals.
• Lead large-scale neural recording experiments across brain areas.
• Develop write-in perturbation experiments and closed-loop stimulation.
• Build and analyze datasets spanning sessions and subjects.
• Collaborate across electrophysiology, holography, computation, and engineering teams.
• Mentor technicians; contribute to hiring and lab culture.
• Contribute to publications, talks, and open-data tooling releases.

Skills

Python

MATLAB

Spike sorting

Data analysis

Computational neuroscience

Team leadership

Open science

Education

PhD in Neuroscience

Tools

Neuropixels

Polymer probes

Two-photon imaging

Job description

Astera Neuro seeks an Experimental Neuroscientist to lead research programs investigating how the brain builds a model of the world, thoughts, and self, with the ability to reversibly modulate these functions through write-in experiments.

The role requires independent program leadership and close collaboration across software, hardware, and computation teams to translate biological insight into a detailed brain model guiding perturbation experiments.