IT Software Engineer 3, Research Application Developer, Yale School of Management

Working at Yale means contributing to a better tomorrow. Whether you are a current resident of our New Haven-based community- eligible for opportunities through the New Haven Hiring Initiative or a newcomer, interested in exploring all that Yale has to offer, your talents and contributions are welcome. Discover your opportunities at Yale!

Salary Range
$101,300.00 - $151,925.00

Overview
The Yale School of Management (SOM) is a world-renowned graduate business school that offers several degrees and programs. SOM's mission is to educate leaders for business and society. That mission is deeply wound into all our activities from classroom pedagogy to the choices we make in managing our campus.

We are seeking a Research Application Developer for the Yale School of Management to work closely with faculty members. This role is an integral member of the Yale School of Management (SOM) Behavioral Lab research staff with primary responsibility for developing research-specific applications to facilitate data collection for Marketing and Organizational Behavior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students, translating study ideas into working code. Reports to the Senior Associate Director, Initiative on Leadership and Organization with a dual report to the Manager for Application Development.

The Research Application Developer will work closely with the PIs/Faculty who are facing many challenges, e.g., assisting them, or working independently with commercially available software and writing code to create capabilities not included in the packages, enabling data collection as these labor-intensive projects can demand. Developing web apps for study subjects to interact with, often mimicking existing sides, apps, and portal that we are unable to or prevented from collecting data. The role needs to create a front and back end, enabling PIs to see how subjects interact and make judgments and decisions. Examples are clones of Wordle, CrunchBase, Glassdoor, and Gmail. These need to be built so they can be dependably deployed to subjects and securely collect valid, replicable empirical findings. This role will create a fully virtual lab where invited subjects from targeted populations can interact with each other in real time.

Executes all phases of the application development process, including gathering requirements, designing readable code, carrying out unit testing, generating usable documentation, managing data storage, and supporting and maintaining projects post-deployment. Develops both the front-end and back-end aspects of each application and ensures the secure and accurate collection of data from end users into a database.

This position is responsible for project management of applications developed through third-party vendors. Gathers requirements, holds meetings with stakeholders, and coordinates with supervisors to establish new projects. Manages the vendor relationship through regular meetings and ensures that any projects are delivered successfully with respect to budget and timeline. Responsible for maintaining the final product delivered by the vendor and works with the vendor to resolve any critical issues.

Essential Duties:

1. Develop and maintain study-specific applications, along with supplementary web services or processes, for the purpose of accurately and securely collecting various forms of response data from users. Consult regularly with Marketing and OB researchers to gather and validate requirements, utilizing existing knowledge of psychological experimentation and behavioral science. Translate gathered requirements into readable, well-documented code. Adhere to modern standards of ethical and secure data collection outlined by the Yale Central Institutional Review Board (IRB). Manage all other aspects of application development, including creating design specifications, mapping out data flows and structures, managing data storage, performing unit testing, troubleshooting, deploying the application, and monitoring end user feedback. Troubleshoot and maintain existing projects, upgrade and modernize when necessary. Perform complex systems analysis and programming tasks requiring advanced techniques. Define system objectives and prepare systems design specifications to meet user requirements and satisfy interface demands. Provide routine daily maintenance, code review and updates of existing sites and applications of all sizes.

2. Manage technical projects for the Marketing and OB researchers that are developed through third-party vendors, maintain and support final deliverables. Launch projects by gathering requirements, meeting with stakeholders, interfacing with other Yale SOM departments, reviewing potential bids, and selecting a correct vendor for the task. Work with external vendors during the discovery and requirements gathering process to provide information about the needs of the requested application and background information about Behavioral Lab research operations. Coordinate with Yale SOM IT for compliance and integration. Ensure that ongoing projects stay on budget and on time by regularly meeting with external vendors and reviewing progress. Maintain and support the final deliverables provided by external vendors, including coordinating user acceptance testing (UAT) generating documentation for end users, resolving critical bugs, and managing and monitoring the application post-deployment.

3. Develop non-study-specific applications to support staff and lab operations when necessary.

4. Contribute technical knowledge and expertise to the staff to help streamline and improve lab operations.

Required Skills and Abilities

1. Extensive proficiency with front-end development including UI/UX design, HTML5/CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery. Proficiency with server-side development including PHP and Node.js.Proficiency with relational databases (e.g. SQL) and non-relational databases (e.g. MongoDB).

2. Ability to leverage knowledge of psychological experimentation and behavioral psychology to translate research ideas into working code.

3. Solid analytical skills with ability to assess complex problems and translate them into a functioning solution.

4. Exceptional communication skills; clear and quick responsiveness, ability to provide accurate progress updates, ability to communicate about programming with a non-technical audience. Professional demeanor and discretion.

5. Ability to work collaboratively with researchers and staff. Ability to work independently. Ability to establish and maintain strong working relationships within the Behavioral Lab, SOM and broader Yale communities.

Preferred Skills and Abilities

1.Master's degree and education in research psychology or related field. 2.Knowledge of SQL under SQL Server, MySQL, Postgre; knowledge of NoSQL solutions such as Redis, Memcached or equivalent.

3.Experience working with Java, PHP, Python, other current software development platforms.

4.Deployment knowledge of Jenkins, Ansible, CircleCL.

5.Familiarity with common statistical platforms, including SPSS, Stata, and R, and advanced Excel.

6.Experience working in an academic environment.

Principal Responsibilities

1. Design, analyze, code, test, debug, document and maintain moderately complex enterprise systems; develop enhancements that enable a positive end-user experience.
2. Research, analyze, design, document, and modify software specifications throughout the production life cycle.
3. Create and implement project specifications/plans for projects with straightforward inter-dependency with other systems and/or projects.
4. Modify moderately complex application programs from detailed specifications.
5. Develop and validate test routines and schedules, evaluate code to ensure that it is valid, is properly structured, meets industry standards and is compatible with browsers, devices, or operating systems.

Required Education and Experience

Bachelor's Degree and four years of experience or equivalent education and experience.

Job Posting Date
12/02/2025

Job Category
Professional

Bargaining Unit
NON

Compensation Grade
GS-3

Compensation Grade Profile
GS-3k

Time Type
Full time

Duration Type
Staff

Work Model
Hybrid

Location
165 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut

Background Check Requirements

All candidates for employment will be subject to pre-employment background screening for this position, which may include motor vehicle, DOT certification, drug testing and credit checks based on the position description and job requirements. All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of the background check. For additional information on the background check requirements and process visit "Learn about background checks" under the Applicant Support Resources section of Careers on the It's Your Yale website.

Health Requirements

Certain positions have associated health requirements based on specific job responsibilities. These may include vaccinations, tests, or examinations, as required by law, regulation, or university policy.

Posting Disclaimer

Salary offers are determined by a candidate's qualifications, experience, skills, and education in relation to the position requirements, along with the role's grade profile and current internal and external market conditions.

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential functions that will be required of the position and should not be construed as a declaration of specific duties and responsibilities of the position. Employees will be assigned specific job-related duties through their hiring department.

The University is committed to basing judgments concerning the admission, education, and employment of individuals upon their qualifications and abilities and seeks to attract to its faculty, staff, and student body qualified persons from a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives. In accordance with this policy and as delineated by federal and Connecticut law, Yale does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment against any individual on account of that individual's sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, disability, status as a special disabled veteran, veteran of the Vietnam era or other covered veteran.

Inquiries concerning Yale's Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment may be referred to the Office of Institutional Equity and Accessibility (OIEA).

Note

Yale University is a tobacco-free campus.