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Scientific Software Engineer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

QA Engineer, Scientific Workflows

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $200K/yr

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Retirement

ABOUT THE ROLE We are hiring a QA Engineer, Scientific Software to build the test, validation, and monitoring infrastructure that guarantees the correctness and reliability of the Mithrl AI Co ...

QA Engineer, Scientific Workflows

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $200K/yr

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Retirement

ABOUT THE ROLE We are hiring a QA Engineer, Scientific Software to build the test, validation, and monitoring infrastructure that guarantees the correctness and reliability of the Mithrl AI Co ...

Senior Software Engineer

San Mateo, CA · On-site

$139K - $184K/yr

... scientists and product partners to develop reliable software for therapeutic antibodies ... Required : • 7+ years of professional software engineering experience building and owning ...

Job requirements: - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field. - Proven experience as a Software Engineer or similar role in software development. - Strong ...

Software Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

  • Medical

  • PTO

B achelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field. * P roven experience as a Software Engineer or similar role in software development. * S trong proficiency in ...

Software Engineer

Chula Vista, CA · On-site

$100K - $130K/yr

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Retirement

  • PTO

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field. * Minimum of 2 years of experience in software engineering or a related field, with a proven track record of ...

Showing results 21-40

Scientific Software Engineer information

See California salary details

$14

$38

$84

How much do scientific software engineer jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 13, 2026, the average hourly pay for scientific software engineer in California is $38.84, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $16.59 and $56.68 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

How does a scientific software engineer typically collaborate with researchers and domain experts on projects?

Scientific Software Engineers frequently work closely with researchers, scientists, and domain experts to translate complex scientific requirements into robust and efficient software solutions. Collaboration often involves participating in project meetings, understanding specific scientific models or data workflows, and iteratively refining software based on user feedback. This role requires strong communication skills and the ability to bridge the gap between technical software development and domain-specific needs, ensuring that the resulting tools are both scientifically accurate and user-friendly.

What is a scientific software engineer?

Scientific Software Engineers are professionals who design, develop, and maintain software applications tailored for scientific research and data analysis. They collaborate with scientists and researchers to create computational tools, simulations, or data processing pipelines that enable complex experiments and facilitate discovery. Their role often requires expertise in both domain-specific science and advanced programming, ensuring that software solutions are robust, efficient, and reproducible. Scientific Software Engineers typically work in academic institutions, research labs, or industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and climate science.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a scientific software engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Scientific Software Engineer, you need a strong background in computer science, mathematics, and scientific domains, often with an advanced degree in a STEM field. Familiarity with programming languages like Python, C++, and MATLAB, as well as experience with scientific computing libraries and version control systems, is typically required. Excellent problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and effective collaboration are essential soft skills for this role. These competencies enable the development of robust and efficient scientific software, facilitating research and innovation in scientific projects.

What is the difference between Scientific Software Engineer vs Data Scientist?

AspectScientific Software EngineerData Scientist
Required CredentialsBachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Engineering, or related fields; programming skillsBachelor's or Master's in Data Science, Statistics, or related fields; programming and analytical skills
Work EnvironmentResearch labs, scientific organizations, tech companies focusing on simulation and modelingBusiness, tech companies, research institutions analyzing large datasets
Industry UsageScientific research, engineering, simulation developmentData analysis, predictive modeling, machine learning applications

While both roles require programming skills and a strong technical background, Scientific Software Engineers focus on developing software for scientific research and simulations, whereas Data Scientists analyze data to extract insights and build models. The roles often overlap in skills but differ in their primary objectives and work environments.

What job categories do people searching Scientific Software Engineer jobs in California look for?

The top searched job categories for Scientific Software Engineer jobs in California are:

What cities in California are hiring for Scientific Software Engineer jobs?

Cities in California with the most Scientific Software Engineer job openings:

Infographic showing various Scientific Software Engineer job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Internship, 85% Full Time, 9% Part Time, 2% Temporary, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $80,788 per year, or $38.8 per hour.

Senior Software Engineer - Scientific Evaluation

Nvidia

Santa Clara, CA • On-site

$143K - $189K/yr

Full-time

Posted 3 days ago

New


Nvidia rating

9.6

Company rating: 9.6 out of 10

Based on 17 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

7th of 244 rated software companies


Job description

NVIDIA has been transforming computer graphics, PC gaming, and accelerated computing for more than 25 years. It's a unique legacy of innovation that's fueled by great technology-and amazing people. Today, we're tapping into the unlimited potential of AI to define the next era of computing. An era in which our GPU acts as the brains of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can understand the world. Doing what's never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world's best talent. As an NVIDIAN, you'll be immersed in a diverse, supportive environment where everyone is inspired to do their best work. Come join the team and see how you can make a lasting impact on the world.

We are seeking a Software Engineer - Scientific Evaluation to own a shared platform for classical testing, scientific benchmarking, and agentic evaluation. The portfolio spans CUDA and C++ libraries, Python packages, PyTorch integrations, scientific models, and AI agents. This hands-on role combines production software engineering, rigorous measurement, distributed systems, and large GPU fleets.

What you will be doing:

  • Own the architecture and roadmap for evaluation and benchmarking of scientific software, serving agentic and numerical evaluations.

  • Design and implement infrastructure, benchmarks and test levels for classical software and scientific agents, balancing rapid turnaround time and thorough scientific coverage.

  • Establish trusted references, numerical tolerances, calibrated scorers, regression thresholds, and human-review hooks for nondeterministic workloads.

  • Operate heterogeneous GPU capacity using multiple control plane technologies, self-hosted runners, schedulers, queues, containers, caching, observability, and automated recovery.

  • We partner with applied scientists, kernel and framework engineers, product teams, and release owners to create reproducible quality signals and production-readiness gates.

What we need to see:

  • A BS or MS, or equivalent experience, in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field.

  • 5 plus years of relevant industry experience.

  • Strong CS fundamentals and production C++ and Python skills, with fluency in Linux, Git, GitHub/GitLab pipeline orchestration, CMake, Docker, Python packaging, and containers.

  • A record of creating test, benchmark, evaluation, or distributed execution systems that deliver versioned, reproducible results across repositories.

  • Hands-on operation of shared GPU compute with Slurm, Kubernetes, or a similar scheduler, including monitoring, isolation, and failure recovery. Sound measurement practices cover correctness, variance, flakiness, scorer calibration, and regression detection.

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

  • Background in agentic or LLM evaluation is valuable, especially tool-use tasks, sandboxed execution, trace analysis, model-assisted scoring, and calibration. Multi-GPU or multi-node systems, CUDA software development, statistical benchmarking, and Nsight profiling can also distinguish an application.

  • Creative, collaborative engineers who care about reliable science are encouraged to apply!

With competitive salaries and a generous benefits package, we are widely considered to be one of the technology world's most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people in the world working for us and, due to unprecedented growth, our exclusive engineering teams are rapidly growing. If you're a creative and autonomous engineer with a real passion for technology, we want to hear from you. NVIDIA is widely considered to be one of the technology world's most desirable employers. We have some of the most hard-working and talented people in the world working for us. If you're creative and passionate about developing cloud services we want to hear from you!

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 152,000 USD - 241,500 USD for Level 3, and 184,000 USD - 287,500 USD for Level 4.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until August 13, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.#deeplearning

What Nvidia employees say

Pay

Benefits

Hours and flexibility

Workplace

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About Nvidia

Sourced by ZipRecruiter

NVIDIA has been transforming computer graphics, PC gaming, and accelerated computing for more than 25 years. It's a unique legacy of innovation that's fueled by great technology--and amazing people. Today, we're tapping into the unlimited potential of AI to define the next era of computing. An era in which our GPU acts as the brains of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can understand the world. Doing what's never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world's best talent.

Industry

Computer and electronic product manufacturing

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

Santa Clara, CA, US

Year founded

1993