Social Science/Humanities Research Associate III

Dr. Nicholas Duran, Associate Professor of Psychology at UT Austin, is building a new cognitive and behavioral data science lab and seeks a Social Science/Humanities Research Associate III to serve as the lab’s technical lead—designing, building, and maintaining the multimodal behavioral data-collection infrastructure and the computational pipelines that process audio, video, motion, physiological, and language data. This is a senior, hands-on technical role under the direct supervision of the Principal Investigator. This is a one-year fixed term position.

Purpose

Dr. Nicholas Duran, Associate Professor of Psychology at UT Austin, is building a new cognitive and behavioral data science lab and seeks a Social Science/Humanities Research Associate III to serve as the lab’s technical lead.

Responsibilities

• Technical infrastructure and data pipelines. Design, build, configure, and maintain the lab’s multimodal behavior-capture systems (motion capture, cameras, microphones, and multichannel recording hardware); develop, document, and maintain data-processing and analysis pipelines for audio, video, motion, physiological, and language channels; and apply and integrate automated tools, including large language models, for transcription, annotation, and feature extraction.
• Data analysis and technical mentoring. Lead data quality assurance and reproducible analysis workflows under PI direction; write and maintain code and documentation in Python, R, or MATLAB; and provide technical guidance and training to undergraduate research assistants on data collection, coding, and pipeline use.
• Operations and data management. Maintain shared drives, code repositories, and datasets consistent with IRB and UT data-management requirements; and support equipment procurement, inventory, and lab coordination in collaboration with the PI and the Psychology Business Office.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science, cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, engineering, or a related field.
• Demonstrated programming experience (e.g., Python, R, or MATLAB), including experience building or maintaining data-processing or analysis pipelines.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, ability to work independently, and excellent written and oral communication.
• Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

• Two or more years of research-laboratory, technical, or data-engineering experience, including hands-on experience with multimodal or multichannel behavior-capture systems (motion capture such as Vicon, OptiTrack, Qualisys, or Captury; eye-tracking; physiological recording; or VR).
• Experience with machine-learning or large-language-model tooling for transcription, annotation, or feature extraction, and with version control (e.g., Git) and reproducible research workflows.
• Interest in communication, behavioral dynamics, language and motion research, or behavioral data science more broadly.

Pay

$45,000 - $55,000 per year

Schedule

• Weekly scheduled hours: 40
• FLSA status: Exempt
• Earliest start date: September 1, 2026
• Expected duration: One year (until August 31, 2027)