Date Posted: 10/21/2025
Req ID: 45639
Faculty/Division: Faculty of Arts & Science
Department: Acceleration Consortium
Campus: St. George (Downtown Toronto)
Position Number: 00058837
Description:
About us:
The Faculty of Arts & Science is the heart of Canada’s leading university and one of the most comprehensive and diverse academic divisions in the world. The strength of Arts & Science derives from our combined teaching and research excellence in the humanities, sciences and social sciences across 29 departments, seven colleges and 46 interdisciplinary centres, institutes and programs.
We can only realize our mission with the dedication and excellence of engaged staff and faculty. The diversity of opportunities and perspectives within the Faculty reflect the local and global landscape and the need for curiosity, innovative thinking and collaboration. At Arts & Science, we take pride in our legacy of innovation and discovery that has changed the way we think about the world.
The Acceleration Consortium (AC) at the University of Toronto (U of T) is leading a transformative shift in scientific discovery that will accelerate technology development and commercialization. The AC is a global community of academia, industry, and government that leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, materials sciences, and high-throughput chemistry to create self-driving laboratories (SDLs), also called materials acceleration platforms (MAPs). These autonomous labs rapidly design materials and molecules needed for a sustainable, healthy, and resilient future, with applications ranging from renewable energy and consumer electronics to drugs. AC Staff Scientists will advance the infield of AI-driven autonomous discovery and develop the materials and molecules required to address society’s largest challenges, such as climate change, water pollution, and future pandemics.
The Acceleration Consortium received a $200M Canadian First Research Excellence Grant for seven years to develop self-driving labs for chemistry and materials, the largest ever grant to a Canadian University. This grant will provide the Acceleration Consortium with seven years of funding to execute its vision.
Your opportunity:
The AC is developing seven advanced SDLs. These include:
1. Inorganic solid-state materials,
2. Organic small molecules for advanced materials,
3. Drug discovery with chemical probes,
4. Polymers for materials science and biological applications,
5. Formulations for pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and coatings,
6. Biocompatibility (organ-on-a-chip), and
7. Synthetic scale-up of materials and molecules.
As a Software Engineer at the AC, you will play a pivotal role in managing and optimizing our software infrastructure to support these high-impact researchprojects. Your daily tasks will include designing, implementing, deploying and maintaining robust software systems required for SDL operations and ensuring the seamless orchestration of hardware and software components. You will work closely with multidisciplinary teams, troubleshoot and resolve system issues and contribute to the continuous improvement of our self-driving laboratory platforms to ultimately de-risk and democratize the SDL concept for the global research community.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Analyzing, recommending, and designing highly complex software architecture
- Analyzing and writing program scripts to extract, reformat and analyze data
- Designing, testing, and modifying programming code
- Evaluating programming code to ensure it has validity, compatibility, and that it meets appropriate standards
- Developing technical application implementation plans
- Analyzing, recommending and designing technical solutions for highly complex IT problems
- Leading and planning IT projects; serving as a resource on specific issues to a group of specialists
Essential Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related field or an acceptable combination of equivalent education and experience. Master's degree preferred.
- Minimum five years of recent and relevant hands-on experience in software development, particularly in scientific or high-tech environments with significant research and development.
- Proficiency in Python and their scientific packages (e.g. NumPy, SciPy, Pandas)
- Experience with workflow management tools such as Airflow and Prefect.
- Experience with building production-ready frontend applications using React, Angular or Vue.js (or similar)
- Experience with working in DevSecOps teams
- Familiarity with containerization (Docker) and orchestration systems (Kubernetes)
- Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced, research-driven environment.
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
Assets (Nonessential):
- Knowledge of AI/ML techniques and frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch) and their application in scientific experimentation.
- Experience in developing and managing scalable data infrastructures (e.g. databases, data pipelines)
- Familiarity with dashboard development and interactive plotting libraries (e.g. plotly, d3.js)
- Proficiency in Linux systems administration, including command-line tools, shell scripting, and system configuration.
- A track record of contributing to open-source projects.
- Familiarity with materials informatics, cheminformatics, or similar domains.
- Prior experience working in multidisciplinary teams involving academia and industry.
- Good working knowledge with AWS
To be successful in this role you will be:
- Accountable
- Communicator
- Efficient
- Goal oriented
- Insightful
- Problem solver
This role may be eligible for an Alternative Work Arrangement in accordance with the University of Toronto’s Alternative Work Arrangements Guideline.
Closing Date: 11/04/2025, 11:59PM ET
Employee Group: USW
Appointment Type: Grant - Continuing
Schedule: Full-Time
Pay Scale Group & Hiring Zone:
USW Pay Band 16 -- $103,367. with an annual step progression to a maximum of $132,188. Pay scale and job class assignment is subject to determination pursuant to the Job Evaluation/Pay Equity Maintenance Protocol.
Job Category: Engineering / Technical
Lived Experience Statement
Candidates who are members of Indigenous, Black, racialized and 2SLGBTQ+ communities, persons with disabilities, and other equity deserving groups are encouraged to apply, and their lived experience shall be taken into consideration as applicable to the posted position.
