Job Details

Senior Scientist / Head of Informatics for Women's Brain Health Initiative in the Psychological & Brain Sciences Department

University of California Santa Barbara

Position overview
Salary range: A reasonable estimate for this position at 100% time is $78,500 - $176,500 Percent time: 100% Anticipated start: Spring 2026 or later Position duration: This will be a one year position with the possibility of renewal. Continuation beyond one year will be based on performance and availability of funding. Application Window

Open date: March 19, 2026

Next review date: Thursday, Apr 2, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Wednesday, Sep 30, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

Position description

The Bowers Women's Brain Health Initiative (WBHI) seeks a Senior Data Analyst / Head of Informatics to lead and scale the consortium's data science and neuroinformatics infrastructure. This individual will oversee data management, quality control, and analytic pipeline development for large-scale MRI and multimodal datasets across federally and privately funded studies.

This position is designed for a scholar who can build reproducible, scalable workflows while fostering a collaborative, open-science culture. The successful candidate will work closely with PIs, trainees, and research coordinators to ensure that WBHI's data ecosystem is rigorous, secure, and future-facing.

This role offers the opportunity to shape the informatics backbone of a growing research consortium focused on advancing women's brain health across the lifespan.

Informatics Leadership & Strategy

Develop and oversee WBHI's data architecture and informatics strategy across multiple grants and study sites.
Establish best practices for data governance, documentation, harmonization, and reproducibility.
Lead the design and implementation of scalable, modular analytic pipelines for structural, functional, and diffusion MRI, as well as multimodal data (e.g., clinical, behavioral, multi-omics).
Guide decisions around computing infrastructure (local HPC, cloud platforms, containerization).

Data Management & Quality Control

Implement standardized data ingestion, organization (e.g., BIDS-compliant), and version control systems.
Oversee automated and manual quality control (QC) pipelines for MRI and related datasets.
Develop dashboards or reporting tools for monitoring data completeness, QC metrics, and study progress.
Ensure compliance with institutional, federal, and sponsor data security and sharing requirements.

Pipeline Development & Advanced Analytics

Build and maintain reproducible workflows using tools such as Python, R, Bash, Docker/Singularity, Git, and workflow engines (e.g., Snakemake, Nextflow).
Integrate established neuroimaging tools (e.g., FSL, FreeSurfer, AFNI, ANTs, fMRIPrep, QSIPrep) into standardized processing streams.
Support advanced modeling approaches including network analysis, multivariate methods, machine learning, and longitudinal modeling.
Contribute to data harmonization across multi-site studies and large consortia datasets.

Team Building & Mentorship

Supervise data analysts and research staff as the informatics team grows.
Train students, postdocs, and staff in best practices for data management and reproducible research.
Foster a collaborative, transparent, and open-science culture aligned with leading neuroinformatics groups.
Partner with investigators on grant applications, including drafting data management and analysis plans.

Collaboration & Dissemination

Contribute intellectually to manuscripts, conference presentations, and grant proposals.
Engage with national and international neuroimaging and data science communities.
Promote open science principles, including code sharing, documentation, and reproducible workflows.

Qualifications

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)

-PhD in neuroscience, bioinformatics, biomedical engineering, statistics, computer science, or related field.
Additional qualifications (required at time of start)

-5+ years of experience working with neuroimaging data (structural MRI, fMRI, diffusion MRI).

One or more years of Demonstrated expertise in:
Python and/or R
Unix/Linux environments
Workflow automation and pipeline development
Version control (Git)

Preferred qualifications

-Excellent communication skills.
-Proven ability to manage complex datasets across multiple projects.
-Experience leading or contributing to large-scale neuroimaging initiatives or consortia.
-Familiarity with multimodal integration (e.g., imaging + clinical + hormonal + genetics).
-Experience with cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP) and containerization.
-Background in longitudinal modeling or machine learning applications in neuroimaging.
-Experience supervising technical staff or trainees.
-Experience implementing BIDS standards and MRI quality control workflows.
-Strong understanding of reproducible research principles and computational best practices.

Application Requirements

Document requirements

• Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.
  
• Cover Letter
  
• Samples of Scholarly Work - 1-3 samples of published, in print, submitted, or in-preparation scholarly work (article, book chapter, book, writing sample, etc.). - co-authorship on peer-reviewed publications
  

Reference requirements

• 3 required (contact information only)

References for finalist(s) may be contacted by phone/email after interviews.
Apply link: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF03071

Help contact: pamelawilks@ucsb.edu
About UC Santa Barbara

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct.

• "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment or discrimination as defined by the employer.
• UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
• UC Anti-Discrimination Policy for Employees, students and third parties
• APM - 035: Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment

Additionally, you will be required to comply with the University of California Policy on Vaccination Programs, as may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.
Job location
Remote or Santa Barbara, CA

To apply, please visit: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF03071







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