Software Engineer: AI & Education Tech for Policy Research

Harvard Kennedy School; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous paid time off

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Retirement plans

Wellbeing resources

Tuition assistance

Commuter benefits

Job summary

Harvard Kennedy School is seeking a Software Engineer with expertise in software development, generative AI, and data science for a research-focused fellowship within the Shorenstein Center. The role involves building education-technology tools, deploying AI-powered systems, and collaborating with researchers across university projects.

Based on campus in Cambridge, MA, the position emphasizes production-ready software, rigorous empirical methods, and alignment with Harvard IT standards.

Qualifications

• Minimum of two years’ post-secondary education or relevant work experience.
• Bachelor's degree and/or relevant work experience in computer science, data science, or closely related field with emphasis on advanced software engineering, ML/AI, and empirical research methodologies.
• Minimum of two years' relevant full-time work experience.
• Experience working with generative AI pipelines.
• Experience deploying software in a cloud environment.
• Demonstrated team performance skills and service mindset.
• Full stack development with Python / TypeScript; familiarity with Svelte / React.

Responsibilities

• Independently perform complex applications/web development for large to very large projects.
• Design and develop complex software systems for large-scale research projects, focusing on education technology and AI-based tools.
• Leverage ML/NLP breakthroughs to build, test, and deploy advanced algorithmic tools for empirical research.
• Lead and collaborate on projects involving AI, ML, NLP and large-scale experimentation.
• Contribute to randomized controlled trials and empirical methods evaluating AI interventions.
• Collaborate with researchers to translate models into high-performance, production-ready systems.
• Co-author or contribute to academic publications and technical reports.

Skills

Python

TypeScript

Svelte

React

Generative AI

Cloud deployment

Team player

NLP

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science / data science or related field

Tools

Git

Job description

Harvard Kennedy School is seeking a Software Engineer with expertise in software development, generative AI, and data science for a research-focused fellowship within the Shorenstein Center. The role involves building education-technology tools, deploying AI-powered systems, and collaborating with researchers across university projects.

Based on campus in Cambridge, MA, the position emphasizes production-ready software, rigorous empirical methods, and alignment with Harvard IT standards.