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Research Software Engineer Jobs in Washington (NOW HIRING)

Usmd

Research Software and Data Engineer

College Park, MD · On-site

$203K/yr

The Research Software and Data Engineer will play a key role in designing, implementing, and supporting research cyberinfrastructure, software, and data-facing solutions. Primary Responsibilities The ...

Umd

Research Software and Data Engineer

College Park, MD

$202K/yr

The Research Software and Data Engineer will play a key role in designing, implementing, and supporting research cyberinfrastructure, software, and data-facing solutions. Primary Responsibilities:

Peraton

Software Research Engineer

Silver Spring, MD · On-site

$211K/yr

Artificial intelligence (reasoning, probabilistic inference, machine learning) Peraton Labs is seeking a talented Software Research Engineer to join our high performing team. This position is onsite ...

Peraton

Software Research Engineer

Silver Spring, MD · On-site

$104K - $166K/yr

Artificial intelligence (reasoning, probabilistic inference, machine learning) Peraton Labs is seeking a talented Software Research Engineer to join our high performing team. This position is onsite ...

Peraton

Software Research Engineer

Silver Spring, MD · On-site

$211K/yr

Artificial intelligence (reasoning, probabilistic inference, machine learning) Peraton Labs is seeking a talented Software Research Engineer to join our high performing team. This position is onsite ...

Verisign

Research Engineer

Reston, VA · Hybrid

$108K - $147K/yr

The Engineer III - Research Software Engineer plays a role in identifying and developing novel and operationally relevant research concepts related to Internet infrastructure applications and ...

Verisign

Research Engineer

Reston, VA · On-site

$108K - $147K/yr

The Engineer III - Research Software Engineer plays a role in identifying and developing novel and operationally relevant research concepts related to Internet infrastructure applications and ...

The Josef Group

Senior CNO Software Developer

Columbia, MD · On-site

$54 - $71.50/hr

Research software and hardware vulnerabilities * Document findings and present technical ... Experience programming in Assembly (any architecture) * Background in vulnerability research ...

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$126.3K

$233.3K

How much do research software engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 12, 2026, the average yearly pay for research software engineer in Washington is $227,097.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $232,200.00 and $232,200.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What does a research software engineer do?

As a Research Software Engineer, your daily work often involves designing and implementing software to support cutting-edge research projects, collaborating with scientists to understand their computational needs, and ensuring code reliability and reproducibility. You may spend time optimizing algorithms, writing unit tests, documenting software, and participating in code reviews within a collaborative team environment. Additionally, you might help deploy research applications on high-performance or cloud computing platforms and contribute to research publications. Balancing independent programming tasks with ongoing communication is key to making meaningful contributions to both the research and software development processes.

What skills and qualifications are needed to be a research software engineer?

To thrive as a Research Software Engineer, you need strong programming skills (often in Python, C++, or Java), a solid understanding of algorithms, and an academic or industry background in computer science or a related field. Familiarity with version control systems like Git, cloud platforms, and experience using scientific computing libraries and frameworks are valuable, while a master's or Ph.D. can be advantageous for specialized roles. Excellent problem-solving, communication, and collaborative skills help in working closely with researchers and multidisciplinary teams. These capabilities are crucial for successfully translating complex research problems into robust, reproducible software solutions that advance scientific inquiry.

What are the most commonly searched types of Research Software Engineer jobs in Washington?

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For Research Software Engineer jobs in Washington, the most frequently searched job titles are:

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Research Software Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Research Software Engineer job openings in Washington as of September 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Internship, 1% As Needed, 82% Full Time, 12% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 85% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 12% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $227,097 per year, or $109.2 per hour.

NIST PREP Research Software Engineer

Gaithersburg, MD • On-site

Southeastern Universities Research Association
11 - 50 employees
Learn more about Southeastern Universities Research Associationexternal

$65K - $95K/yr

Full-time

Posted 29 days ago

Job description

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Professional Research Experience Program (PREP). NIST recognizes that its research staff may want to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest and, therefore, requires those institutions to be recipients of a PREP award. The PREP program involves staff from a wide range of backgrounds conducting scientific research across various fields. Individuals in this position will perform technical work supporting the collaboration's scientific research.
Research Title: Research Software Engineer
The work will entail: The Data Center and Business group (DCB) in the NIST Material Measurement Laboratory is seeking a Research Software Engineer (RSE) to help build sustainable software infrastructure for Measurement Service related projects. The successful candidate will provide both hands-on support for the development, maintenance, deployment, and long-term sustainability of critical software, databases, workflows, and scientific infrastructure.
In this role you will work as an embedded technical team member, participating in project planning, code creation and revision, code review, architecture discussions, reproducibility efforts, and deployment decisions. The successful candidate will help prioritize coding work across projects in consultation with DCB programmers, balancing near-term needs with long-term software sustainability.
Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
  • Design, expand, and deploy to an existing scientific database layout supporting active research and internal NIST datasets.
  • Develop, refactor, profile, test, and package prototype code for long-term maintainability and performance.
  • Develop new user-friendly intuitive features based around data input forms and display of data for an existing reference material dataset website.
  • Develop features to store, retrieve, and manage files related to the data records.

Qualifications
  • A Master's degree in software engineering, computer science, information technology, a STEM field, or equivalent professional experience.
  • Proficiency in HTML, CSS, SASS, and JavaScript for user-facing layouts and behavior.
  • Proficiency in Server-side languages or runtimes (Node.js and PHP), alongside database management (MongoDB).
  • Proficiency in Version control systems like Git, API integration, responsive design, and debugging/testing procedures
  • Proficiency in Linux based file system and programming
  • Experience building data pipelines and reproducible workflows.
  • Library and API design and release management, documentation for scientific users and developers, automated testing and continuous integration, code review and maintainability practices.
  • The ability to work alongside researchers in adopting modern, collaborative software development workflows (e.g., git-based collaboration, issue tracking, lightweight project management).
  • Experience creating tutorials, examples, API documentation, or other user-facing materials for scientific software.

Privacy Act StatementAuthority: 15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)
Purpose: The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor's degree holders, graduate students, master's degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.
PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate administrative functions of the PREP Program.
Routine Uses: NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices: NIST-1: NIST Associates.
Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.
SURA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that no one should be discriminated against because of their differences, such as age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, religion, or sexual orientation. All employment decisions shall be made without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, or any other basis as protected by federal, state, or local law.
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