Human Neuroscientist, Intracranial Recording

Astera Neuro is a philanthropically funded research organization within the Astera Institute, working to decipher and ultimately write the neural codes underlying perception, thought, behavior, and internal state. We are assembling a founding team to build the tools required—from recording hardware to computational methods—and to use them to study neural activity at unprecedented scale, with direct promise for treating neurological and psychiatric disease. Our work is high-risk, high-reward, and conducted in a collaborative, well-resourced environment under Astera's Open Science Policy.

About the role

This role focuses on what is most distinctively human about the brain: language, mathematics, and abstract thought. You will lead Astera Neuro’s human neuroscience initiative to collect, process, and analyze intracranial data at scale. The position complements our primate program, involving large-scale studies of compositional representations in neurosurgical patients at the single-neuron level, in collaboration with global partner sites.

We are hiring at multiple levels (Scientist, Senior Scientist, Principal Scientist), with responsibilities calibrated to experience. At the Scientist level, you will lead well-defined studies with guidance. At the Senior Scientist level, you will own research lines and manage clinical partnerships. At the Principal Scientist level, you will define the human research roadmap, mentor scientists, and integrate Astera’s human and animal programs.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, implementation, and deployment of intracranial cognitive paradigms covering language, syntax, semantic learning, mathematical reasoning, perception, and working memory.
• Translate primate paradigms into compatible human studies, coordinating with experimental and computational teams.
• Process and analyze single-neuron, multi-unit, and local field potential recordings from the human brain (sEEG, ECoG, microelectrode arrays).
• Implement advanced computational cognitive neuroscience methods for large-scale datasets, in collaboration with Astera’s AI team.
• Coordinate and manage clinical partners worldwide, including study setup, data collection, and scientific collaboration.
• Own IRB and regulatory documentation, data-sharing agreements, and cross-site protocol harmonization.

Requirements

• Hands-on experience with human intracranial electrophysiology (single neuron, sEEG, ECoG, Utah array, or comparable).
• Track record of high-quality science with human intracranial electrophysiology, demonstrated by first-author publications (ideally at the single-neuron level).
• Ability to design and implement cognitive paradigms in clinical research populations.
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, with fluency in Python and/or MATLAB.
• Deep understanding of population-level analysis of cognitive representations in neurons or neural networks.
• Comfort building on shared infrastructure to standardize paradigms, preprocessing, and analysis across patients, sessions, and sites.
• Stewardship of clinical partnerships, with clear communication and presence at partner sites.
• Resourcefulness and self-direction to scope work, identify collaborators, and drive progress.
• Commitment to open science, including tool, data, and method releases.

Qualifications

• PhD or MD/PhD in engineering, computational neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, or related fields. Demonstrated skill and experience are valued above credentials.
• Preferred: Experience managing multi-site clinical research, including IRB submissions and protocol standardization.
• Preferred: History of mentorship or leading clinical research initiatives (expected at Principal Scientist level).
• Preferred: Combined AI and neuroscience background to strengthen collaboration between Astera’s neuroscience and AI teams.
• Preferred: Background in cognitive neuroscience of language, syntax, semantic processing, working memory, or mathematical cognition.
• Preferred: Existing collaborations with neurosurgical sites or experience translating paradigms across species (rodent/primate/human).
• Preferred: Working proficiency in Mandarin or a major European language, given our international site network.

Pay

The posted salary range is $120K–$220K, based on location in the Bay Area. The successful candidate will receive a competitive compensation package, including comprehensive benefits, commensurate with experience.

Why join us

You will lead a program with access to human intracranial data at a scale few institutions can offer, tightly coupled to a primate program mapping the same questions. Our clinical partnerships are built on trust with patients, surgeons, and monitoring teams, and we uphold the highest ethical and regulatory standards. If you want to investigate what is distinctively human about the brain at single-neuron resolution, let’s talk.