Researcher, Math Sciences and Computational Algorithms

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills, and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research center at the University of Washington. Its mission is to deliver to the world timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice. IHME carries out its mission through a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD); Future Health Scenarios; Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations.

IHME is committed to providing the evidence base necessary to help solve the world’s most important health problems. This requires creativity and innovation, which are cultivated by an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment that respects and appreciates differences, embraces collaboration, and invites the voices of all IHME team members.

We have an excellent opportunity for a Researcher to join the Mathematical Sciences and Computational Algorithms (MSCA) team.

POSITION PURPOSE

This role is designed to support IHME’s growing work on the Burden of Proof (BoP) framework and risk-attributable burden estimation. The successful applicant will play a key role in the development and operationalization of methods to compute Summary Exposure Values (SEVs), Population Attributable Fractions (PAFs), and burden, by integrating complex exposure distributions and risk curves across diverse populations and settings. The Researcher will lead the transition of prototype methods for exposure distribution modeling into a robust, production-ready Python package. This will involve designing a usable interface, implementing key statistical routines (e.g., quantile-matching density estimation), and scaling the tool for use by downstream research teams. The work has immediate application across IHME’s risk modeling portfolio and potential for broader methodological innovation in causal inference and resource allocation.

You will also contribute to improving computational efficiency for PAF estimation and will provide support through our internal Help Desk system and collaborative Office Hours. The ideal candidate will be a scientific programmer with expertise in Python and a background in nonparametric or semi-parametric statistics. This position is contingent on project funding availability.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and apply advanced statistical models for exposure distribution estimation.
• Finalize and deploy tools for modeling exposure distributions using limited summary statistics (e.g., quantiles).
• Support scalable SEV and PAF computation through tool development and research consulting.
• Write reproducible, documented code that aligns with MSCA’s software development standards.
• Document code and analytic approaches systematically so that analyses can be replicated by other team members.
• Provide consultation and support to other researchers through Help Desk and Office Hours.
• Coauthor scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• Contribute to the creation of presentations and manuscripts to validate and disseminate MSCA’s scientific methodology.
• Collaborate with faculty and senior staff to refine methods and scope future methodological development.
• Lead discussion in research meeting about methods validation, results, and engineered code to improve methods and package design.
• Maintain scientific awareness and intellectual agility with mathematical and statistical theory and analytic techniques.
• Other duties as assigned that fall within reasonable scope of research team.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• Master’s degree in public health, epidemiology, statistics, biostatistics, math, economics, quantitative social sciences, or related discipline, plus 1 year of experience with nonparametric or semi-parametric estimation, particularly in exposure or risk modeling, and ensemble distributions, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Advanced proficiency in Python for scientific computing, including use of standard statistical libraries.
• Demonstrated interest in or experience with density estimation and risk modeling.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work both independently and within teams.
• Long-term interest in advancing the methodological foundations of population health research.
• Previous work with MSCA tools or similar analytic platforms.
• Record of contributions to scientific publications and conference presentations.
• Strong analytic, critical thinking, and quantitative skills.
• Ability to professionally and effectively communicate and work with other staff at all levels in order to achieve team goals for the analyses and related outputs.
• Results- and detail-oriented individual who can initiate and complete tasks under tight deadlines and changing priorities both independently and in a team environment. Flexibility with hours and workload is key.
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written.
• Ability to work both independently and in collaboration with a team.
• A commitment to working alongside others at IHME to illuminate the health impacts of systemic racism and to work within IHME to make our organization more diverse and inclusive. See IHME’s DEI statement here: https://www.healthdata.org/about/dei.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master’s degree in statistics, biostatistics, applied mathematics, computer science, or a related STEM field.
• Track record of success in co-authorship on scientific papers, presenting results, and representing research at meetings.
• Knowledge of machine learning, data mining, and analytic techniques.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

• Weekend and evening work sometimes required.
• This position is open to anyone authorized to work in the US.
• Working internationally is only allowed for IHME sponsored work that requires in-country participation.
• Office is located in Seattle, Washington. This position is eligible to work fully remote in the US; work schedule required to overlap 50% of IHME office hours, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific Time as agreed upon between employee and supervisor.