Senior Scientist

Epistemix draws on expertise in epidemiology, clinical practice, and computer science to understand and represent how epidemics spread in populations using the FRED agent-based modeling platform. We use FRED (Framework for Reconstructing Epidemiological Dynamics) to create and analyze epidemiological models and reconstruct social dynamics and decision making with the goal of simulating how populations change over time. FRED was developed with funding support from the NIH and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Over the last 10 years, FRED has had a real impact on health policy and the scientific community. FRED modeling forecasts enabled California State Senator Richard Pan to introduce and pass legislation for tighter state vaccine exemption laws, examined social determinants of health with respect to natural disaster response, led to dozens of scientific publications, and are currently informing states, health systems, school districts, and businesses on the forecasted spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The Opportunity

We are seeking motivated scientists to join our team. As a team member, you will be responsible for building models that span infectious disease epidemics, human-environment interactions of climate change, and individual decision making. Your goal will be to advance the use of agent-based modeling (ABM) in multiple disciplines, but may also require leading an internal project, a client relationship, or a modeling project within a particular industry.

Your day-to-day activities will be a combination of developing models, data analysis, developing internal systems to streamline modeling activities, joining and presenting at internal meetings, interfacing with clients, mentoring junior researchers, and participating in the process of creating solutions for people to better understand the world. This position is highly dynamic and fast-paced. You will be working with software developers to advance our internal software capabilities and user experience. We also expect that you would be an active contributor to the intellectual advancement and growth of others on the team through participating in weekly and monthly ideation sessions and thought leadership discussions.

Who We Are Looking For

We are in search of team members who can effectively interact with many different internal and external partners with a high level of integrity and professionalism. Our expectation is that you are able to work independently and within smaller groups to accomplish individual and company-wide goals. Three traits that make Senior Scientists successful at Epistemix are curiosity, self-motivation, and willingness to ask questions or to suggest better solutions to internal and external problems.


Email jobs@epistemix.com with your resume to apply.


Responsibilities are determined by active project needs.
Some examples are as follows:

  • Use our specialized FRED modeling language to build agent-based models that advance the science of ABM across disciplines and to help clients solve problems
  • Develop component conditions of models
  • Write scripts for parameterization, visualization, calibration, network, or sensitivity analyses for models or components of models
  • Lead project team on client engagement including client meetings, managing staffing and deadlines
  • Engage with product owner and engineering team to define and refine use-cases and user-stories to enhance the platform and to guide best practices for modelling workflows
  • Research and evaluate new technologies and approaches to advance our software and professional practice
  • Write proposals for new business and research opportunities
  • Troubleshoot performance and scalability issues when needed
  • Engage with team members across the company in mentoring, pair coding, and other activities to support the overall intellectual and professional growth of the team
  • Be curious!

Skills & Experience:

  • Proficiency at building models in areas of agent-based models, complex adaptive systems, systems dynamics, theoretical modeling, or other forms of modeling
  • Proficiency in programming in a range of languages
  • Proficiency at presenting and communicating scientific information to range of audiences
  • Preferred proficiency with building larger computationally intense models
  • Preferred proficiency in data management, data science, and statistics
  • Superb communication skills and ability to work in a team environment
  • Experience mentoring less experienced researchers
  • Experience developing and maintaining coding standards for building models
  • Excellent problem-solving skills and creativity
  • Ability to handle multiple priorities and a multi-disciplinary environment
  • Ability to work under uncertainty
  • Has the humility to ask questions when needed

Qualifications:

  • Doctorate Degree or Masters Degree in Engineering, mathematics, statistics, or the physical, biological, or social sciences.
  • Minimum 3 years of experience working on scientific teams in academia, research institute, or industry
  • Preferred experience of a post-doc or 2 years of work experience
  • Preferred experience providing technical / research-based leadership and mentoring on team-based projects