Senior Software Engineer (Contractor- Tristan Croll)

Job Title: Scientific Software Engineer (Contractor)

Location: Cambridge, UK Term: 12 months

The Mission

At Altos Labs, we are driven by a singular goal: transforming medicine through cellular rejuvenation programming. We are seeking a highly skilled Programming Contractor to enhance our suite of molecular modeling and structural biology tools. You will build the engines and interfaces that allow our scientists to interact with the building blocks of life at atomic resolution, bridging the gap between experimental data and computational simulation.

The Role

You will be responsible for developing and optimizing high-performance software designed for the real-time manipulation of macromolecular structures. This role requires a developer who can move seamlessly between low-level physics optimizations and high-level user interface design.

Technical Requirements

• Python Mastery: Expert-level experience in Python for scientific computing and software architecture.
• High-Performance Plumbing: Proven experience with modern C++ and creating seamless Python bindings (ideally using PyBind11) to bridge performance-critical kernels with flexible user interfaces.
• Scientific UI/UX: Strong experience developing desktop graphical interfaces (ideally using PyQt5 or PySide2). You should be comfortable building intuitive, responsive tools for expert scientific users without sacrificing accessibility to beginners.
• Interactive 3D Graphics: Experience with high-performance 3D rendering (e.g., OpenGL) and the challenges of visualizing large-scale complex scenes in real time.

Candidates with strong depth in at least two of the above areas with clear willingness and ability to expand their scope will be considered.

Preferred Qualifications

• Molecular Dynamics (MD): Deep familiarity with classical force fields (e.g., AMBER, CHARMM) and a passion for the next generation of machine-learning force fields and potentials.
• Experimental Data Integration: Experience working with structural data derived from X-ray crystallography and/or cryo-EM, specifically regarding model building and refinement.
• ML Frameworks: Proficiency with frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow, particularly applied to geometric deep learning or molecular property prediction.
• Graphics Performance: Familiarity with shader programming and optimizing render loops for complex scenes containing millions of primitives.

Virtual and Mixed Reality: Familiarity with and interest in VR/AR 

Key Competencies

• Ability to translate complex physical equations into efficient, maintainable code.
• Strong understanding of 3D geometry manipulation and spatial data structures.
• A collaborative mindset, capable of working alongside world-class structural biologists, computational chemists and computer scientists.

Level of experience/education

• Education: Ph.D. or Master's degree in Computational Chemistry, Computational Physics, Computer Science, or a related field with a strong focus on scientific computing.
• Experience: Typically 5+ years of post-graduate experience developing and deploying scientific software, preferably in a molecular simulation or structural biology, and/or interactive 3D graphics context.

Salary Range: Cambridge

£67,300- £88,600