Research Engineer

The Bowden Lab at Vanderbilt University is seeking a highly capable research staff member to support the development, validation, and deployment of wearable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technologies for neuroimaging research. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys working across hardware, software, human-subject study execution, and project coordination. In addition to direct technical work, this person will help keep multiple projects moving by coordinating timelines, tracking milestones, improving documentation, and supporting communication across collaborators, trainees, and lab projects. This is a Full-time research staff position. Initial appointment length is flexible and may be renewable depending on performance and funding.

We are especially interested in candidates who are not only technically strong, but who can also help keep systems and projects together: keeping devices working, identifying weak points early, documenting workflows, improving usability, following up on open tasks, and helping research move forward reliably across multiple funded efforts. Applicants are encouraged to submit figures, photos, GitHub links, schematics, or similar files with their application demonstrating relevant technical work. A brief statement of interest and references are also desired.

Project Areas Supported

• Wearable fNIRS for reading and neuroadaptive intervention, including instrumentation, array design, data quality optimization, real-time processing, and repeated-session human studies.
• Wearable fNIRS platform development for mental health research, including variable-intensity
  electronics, AR-guided positioning, enclosure/conformity updates, signal quality validation, and
  comparison against reference instrumentation.
• Additional laboratory projects requiring technical coordination, experiment planning, documentation,
  milestone tracking, and support for funded work across the lab.

Vanderbilt University is a globally-recognized research institution committed to advancing knowledge and improving lives through discovery, innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The role is based within Vanderbilt’s Bowden Biomedical Optics Lab, run by Professor Audrey Bowden in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Build, test, debug, and maintain wearable optical/electronic neuroimaging hardware.
• Support prototype iteration, including electronics integration, enclosure/interface refinement, and bench validation.
• Develop and maintain software for data acquisition, quality control, preprocessing, visualization, and experiment support.
• Assist with real-time or near-real-time processing pipelines and decision logic for adaptive experiments.
• Support human-subject studies, including setup, instrumentation, troubleshooting, documentation, and data quality tracking.
• Create and maintain clear technical documentation, SOPs, and onboarding materials for others in the lab.
• Help coordinate project timelines, milestones, dependencies, and deliverables across multiple projects.
• Track action items and follow-up needs across collaborators, trainees, and lab personnel so that work does not stall.
• Contribute to figures, methods, technical reports, progress updates, and manuscripts as appropriate.

Supervisory Relationships: This position does not have supervisory responsibility; this position reports administratively and functionally to the lab PI.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics, neuroscience engineering, or a related field is required.
• Strong hands-on experience with at least some combination of sensing systems, electronics, embedded systems, instrumentation, signal processing, or scientific software is required.
• Proficiency in Python and/or MATLAB is required.
• Demonstrated ability to debug technical problems systematically is required.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to keep complex workstreams moving is required.
• Ability to work independently while coordinating across interdisciplinary collaborators is required.
• Experience with wearable sensing or neurotechnology is preferred.
• Experience with optical systems, photodiodes, light sources, biomedical instrumentation, or physiological signal acquisition is preferred.
• Experience with PCB/system bring-up, embedded communication, or hardware-software integration is preferred.
• Experience with computer vision, UI development, or AR-guided workflows is preferred.
• Experience supporting human-subject experiments is preferred.
• Familiarity with fNIRS, EEG, MRI, or other neuroimaging modalities is preferred.
• Experience serving in a project-management or operations-support role in a research environment is preferred.

At Vanderbilt University , our work - regardless of title or role - is in service to an important and noble mission in which every member of our community serves in advancing knowledge and transforming lives on a daily basis. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, on a 330+ acre campus and arboretum dating back to 1873, Vanderbilt is proud to have been named as one of “America’s Best Large Employers” as well as a top employer in Tennessee and the Nashville metropolitan area by Forbes for several years running. We welcome those who are interested in learning and growing professionally with an employer that strives to create, foster and sustain opportunities as an employer of choice.

We understand you have a choice when choosing where to work and pursue a career. We understand you are unique and have a story. We want to hear it. We encourage you to apply today so that you might become a part of our story.