Human Neuroscientist, Intracranial Recording

Company Overview

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. The tools this requires do not yet exist, so we are assembling a founding team of experimental neuroscientists, computational scientists, and engineers to build them, from recording and interface hardware to software and computational methods, and to use them to study neural activity at unprecedented scale, with direct promise for treating neurological and psychiatric disease. We pursue high-risk, high-reward science in a collaborative, well-resourced environment with competitive compensation, and share our tools, data, and discoveries openly under Astera's Open Science Policy

Position Summary

Astera Neuro is setting up a human neuroscience initiative to collect, process, and analyze intracranial data at scale. We are hiring human neuroscientists to lead this program, conducting large-scale studies of the compositional representations underlying language, mathematics, perception, and working memory in neurosurgical patients at the single-neuron level, in close collaboration with partner sites around the world.

This role is the human-side complement to Astera Neuro’s primate program. You will design and implement intracranial cognitive tasks suitable for wide deployment, translate primate paradigms into compatible human studies, analyze single-neuron and population recordings from the human brain, and coordinate with clinical collaborators across the world. The work runs end-to-end from conception, paradigm design, data acquisition, and pre-processing, through analysis, publication, and curated open-science data releases. It depends on strong scientific judgment, deep knowledge of the literature, careful experimental discipline, a sense for what is feasible in the human space, and genuine collaboration with outside teams.

We are hiring at multiple levels for this role. At the Scientist level, you will lead well-defined studies with regular guidance. At the Senior Scientist level, you will own research lines end-to-end and manage clinical partnerships. At the Principal Scientist level, you will define the human research roadmap, mentor scientists, and shape how Astera’s animal and human programs fit together. We will calibrate scope and title based on your experience.

What You’ll Do

• Design, implement, and deploy intracranial cognitive paradigms covering language, syntax, semantic learning, mathematical reasoning, perception, and working memory.

• Translate primate paradigms into compatible human studies, in close coordination 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) at a scale not previously attempted.

• Implement advanced computational cognitive-neuroscience methods suited to large-scale datasets, in close coordination with the Astera AI team.

• Coordinate and manage clinical partners across the world, including study setup, data-collection visits, and ongoing scientific collaboration.

• Manage IRB and regulatory documentation, data-sharing agreements, and cross-site protocol harmonization.

Who You Are

Required:

• Hands-on experience with human intracranial electrophysiology (single neuron, sEEG, ECoG, Utah array, or comparable).

• Track record, demonstrated by first-author publications, of successfully conducting high-quality science with human intracranial electrophysiology, ideally at the single-neuron level.

• Demonstrated ability to design and implement cognitive paradigms in clinical research populations.

• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, with fluency in Python and/or MATLAB.

• Strong understanding of advanced concepts used for population-level analysis of representations of cognitive variables, in real neurons or neural networks.

Preferred/Nice to Have:

• Strong AI and neuroscience background, to help interface between the neuroscience and AI sides of Astera.

• Background in cognitive neuroscience of language, syntax, semantic processing, working memory, or mathematical cognition.

• Existing collaborations with neurosurgical sites.

• Experience translating paradigms across species (rodent / primate / human).

• Working proficiency in Mandarin or a major European language, given the lab’s international site network.

What We Value

• Conviction that the brain’s internal model can be understood in full, and that getting there requires a kind of science no single academic lab can do.

• Comfort building on shared infrastructure rather than private projects: paradigms, preprocessing, and analysis will be standardized so recordings from different patients, sessions, and sites can be combined, and human and primate results compared directly.

• Stewardship of clinical partnerships. Our access to the human brain rests on the trust of patients, surgeons, and neurosurgical monitoring teams, and we’re looking for someone who can earn that trust through clear communication and real presence at partner sites.

• Resourcefulness and the ability to self-direct; you scope out what needs to be done, identify the right collaborators, and move forward.

• Commitment to open science. We release tools, data, and methods, and aim to create a new dynamic of rapid, open exchange in neuroscience.

Additionally Expected at Senior / Principal Level

• Experience managing multi-site clinical research, including IRB submissions and protocol standardization.

• History of successful mentorship of scientists or leading clinical research initiatives (Principal level).

Education

A PhD, or MD/PhD with 8-12+ years of experience, is expected for this role. Backgrounds in engineering, computational neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, or related fields are all welcome. We value demonstrated skill and relevant experience above credentials.

Compensation

Total compensation is competitive and commensurate with the level of experience and qualifications.

Why Join Us

Human Neuroscientist at Astera Neuro, focused on what is most distinctively human about the brain: language, mathematics, and the ability to build and manipulate abstract thoughts. We seek to read out the compositional neural code supporting this ability directly from the human brain, in neurosurgical patients recorded during cognition, and to relate it to the codes we are mapping across species. If you want to investigate what is distinctively human about the brain at single-neuron resolution, let’s talk.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity and inclusion.