Sr. AI Developer

About Child Mind Institute

We're dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need. We've become the leading independent nonprofit in children's mental health by providing gold-standard evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing tomorrow's breakthrough treatments.

Position Details:

As part of the Center for Data Analytics, Innovation, and Rigor team, you will report to Technical Program Manager. You will work closely with our team of researchers, clinicians, and software engineers to design, prototype, deploy and maintain ML solutions that will enhance our mental health tools. You will design and implement advanced AI solutions, in particular in the natural language processing space, and develop automated evaluation frameworks aligned with clinical expertise. You will rigorously test and refine large language models to ensure safety and effectiveness in sensitive clinical contexts. This role requires deep expertise in large language models, agentic AI systems, and the ability to apply AI technologies responsibly while working at the intersection of AI research and mental health care.

This is an exempt, full-time, hybrid position located in our NYC headquarters office or other relevant location. This position requires a minimum of four (4) days per week in the office, on a schedule determined by your supervisor. The in-office requirement and schedule are subject to change based on the needs of the program and the organization.

You Will:

• Develop machine learning models with a focus on NLP and LLMs for real-world application in the mental health field.

• Develop and improve LLMs and agentic AI systems for generating synthetic multi-turn conversation data at scale

• Build automated evaluation systems for assessing model performance and safety · Collaborate with clinical experts to translate therapeutic expectations into quantifiable AI evaluation criteria

• Conduct evaluation of AI systems using expert-annotated benchmarks · Perform longitudinal analysis of model behavior and identify factors contributing to performance variations over time

• Ensure data quality, security, and compliance with privacy regulations for handling sensitive data.

• Contribute to scalable, well-documented code for web applications and analytic pipelines that is suitable for computing ecosystems and shared to GitHub, or equivalent, repositories for version control.

• Perform additional job-related responsibilities as assigned.

You Have:

• Master's degree in Neuroscience, Computer Science, Machine Learning, Engineering or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.

• 8+ years of experience in data analysis and data science fundamentals (e.g., algorithms, data structures, data visualization, machine learning), preferably in a clinical or research setting.

• 8+ years of experience in at least one scientific programming language (e.g., Python/R, Matlab) and related toolboxes or frameworks (e.g., Tidyverse, Scipy, Sklearn, Polars, Pytorch) is required.

• 8+ years of experience working in a Linux environment, using version control systems (e.g., GitHub), and software virtualization platforms (e.g., Docker)

• 5+ years of practical experience designing and developing Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing technologies using ML and NLP toolchains (e.g., pytorch, tensorflow, SpaCy, HuggingFace, NLTK.)

• Hands-on industry experience training, evaluating, and deploying Machine Learning models while making necessary tradeoffs given the deployment context.

#LI-hybrid

Our Benefits

Pay Range

The salary range for the position is posted. Factors such as candidate's work experience, education/training, job-related skills, internal peer equity, as well as market and business considerations affect the salary offered within this range. In addition, this salary may be subject to a geographic adjustment (according to a specific city and state and depending on the role), if an authorization is granted to work outside of the location listed in this posting.

EEO Disclaimer

Child Mind Institute is committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind.

We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment, regardless of race, color, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, marital status, military or veteran status, physical or mental disability, genetic information, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

In compliance with California law, we also prohibit discrimination based on reproductive health decision-making, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or any other category protected by the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). In New York, we extend this prohibition to include status as a victim of domestic violence, familial status, or any other characteristic protected by the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL).

Child Mind Institute is dedicated to ensuring accessibility and reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities or medical conditions. If you require an accommodation to participate in the application process or perform your job, please contact our HR Department at [email protected]

This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, benefits, and training.