Flatiron Software Research Fellow

Overview

The Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) at the Simons Foundation is recruiting Flatiron Software Research Fellows. Fellows develop, or contribute substantially to, innovative astronomical software projects that enable new or foundational science. The projects can be independently directed and involve substantial collaboration with other members of the CCA or the Flatiron Institute, and they are expected to enable new science and encourage community use of the resulting tools. Fellows build technical skills by working with software engineers and other fellows at the CCA, other Flatiron centers and the Flatiron Institute's Scientific Computing Core, including through software workshops and training. They also help build the scientific community by joining seminars, colloquia and group meetings, and may mentor graduate and undergraduate students through programmes such as the CCA Pre-Doctoral Program and the AstroCom NYC Program.

Responsibilities include developing, implementing, maintaining and supporting astrophysics software, doing astrophysical research with computational or theoretical tools, helping organise collaborative activities, preparing manuscripts and conference presentations, assisting student mentorship, and sharing expertise with CCA staff and visitors, including through the Software Group and periodic software tutorials.

Requirements

Applicants must have, or receive before appointment, a PhD in a related field. They should be able to develop or contribute to open-source software projects, work independently and collaboratively, do original research in astrophysics and present their work internally and externally, with effective communication and documentation skills. Expertise in technical elements of computational astrophysics is expected, such as algorithm and software development, computational or statistical methods, data analysis, modelling, machine learning, scientific simulation or theoretical astrophysics.

What you get

Positions are generally two-year appointments that can be renewed for a further three years, depending on performance. Fellows receive a research budget and access to the Flatiron Institute's computing resources, including two HPC clusters with a combined 180,000 cores, 600 GPUs and 60PB of raw storage. Subsidised housing within walking distance of the CCA may be available. The posts are based in the New York City offices, with start dates expected between late August and early October 2027.

Key dates

The closing date for applications is 31 October 2026.