iOS Developer Embedded at a UCLA Autism Lab

Full time, six months, $65,000 ($130,000 annualized). I 3% of children are autistic. 30% of them at age 9 remain minimally verbal: a handful of single words, never put together into a sentence. Does that evoke something in you beyond the number? A personal connection, or some other experience that lets you feel the texture of the problem? If so, read on.

About the role

Embedded in the Kasari Lab at UCLA from Day 1, you will partner with an implementation lead who works weekly with clinicians to create Visual Play—a delightful iOS app that distills the lab’s play‑based intervention for minimally verbal autistic children into a tool clinicians can use while playing with a child.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop the Visual Play iOS application.
• Collaborate with researchers and clinicians, incorporating their feedback.
• Integrate assistive‑technology setup and play‑improvisation elements into the app.
• Ship a real native iOS app.
• Leverage AI as a force multiplier while understanding the generated code.
• Build large, complex, yet maintainable software systems.
• Demonstrate resourcefulness, motivation, and tenacity.
• Maintain a calm, respectful presence in the research lab environment.

Requirements

• Comfortable working closely with researchers and clinicians and taking their feedback.
• Proven experience shipping real native iOS apps.
• Ability to use AI tools effectively while understanding and not being dependent on the code they produce.
• Skill in building large, complex, yet maintainable systems.
• Resourceful, motivated, and tenacious.
• Calm, respectful demeanor in a lab setting.

Pay

$65,000 for the six‑month term ($130,000 annualized).

Schedule

Full‑time, six‑month contract, in‑person at UCLA. Start date as soon as the right candidate is found.