Position Summary
PASCALL is a growing multidisciplinary medical device company building an FDA-cleared, EEG-based brain state monitoring platform — a wearable EEG sensor paired with an Android tablet application — now in active clinical use. As our platform matures and enters more hospitals, we are hiring a Senior Algorithm Engineer to lead the development of the signal processing and machine learning models at the core of the product.
We are looking for a self-motivated engineer and scientist who treats an open problem as an invitation — someone who invents, prototypes, and champions ideas that create measurable business value. This is a hands-on, technically deep role based in Cambridge, working closely with our CEO, our product team, and our device/hardware team. You'll own algorithm development end-to-end: from feature extraction and artifact removal through to real-time state estimation, validated and documented to the standard required for a regulated medical device.
PASCALL actively uses agentic AI tools to accelerate development, documentation, and algorithm research. We welcome engineers who are comfortable experimenting with AI-assisted workflows and applying them responsibly in a regulated environment.
In addition, because the team is small and much of the algorithm roadmap is still being written, you will have unusual latitude to shape what gets built. We invite you to bring creative approaches to problems that have no established answer and to argue for the bets you believe in.
Responsibilities
- Design and Own Signal Processing Algorithms: Develop and refine algorithms for feature extraction, artifact removal and parameter estimation from EEG signals, spanning statistical time-series methods, control-engineering approaches and state-space modeling.
- Build Real-Time, Deployable Estimators: Design sequential, real-time algorithms — including Kalman filtering and related recursive estimation techniques — that run reliably on the device in live clinical settings.
- Advance the Brain State Platform: Drive the next generation of brain-state estimation and related algorithm deliverables, working across the full path from research prototype to shipped, validated feature.
- Lead Regulated Algorithm Development: Define, write, and validate algorithms under PASCALL's Quality Management System, producing the documentation, verification, and validation evidence needed for FDA submissions in partnership with Quality and Regulatory.
- Use AI-assisted tools (e.g., LLM-powered coding assistants, automated documentation) to accelerate development tasks.
- Apply AI tools responsibly within PASCALL's regulated development environment.
- Mentor and Set Technical Direction: Provide technical leadership to the algorithm team, review designs and code and help set the standards other engineers build against.
- Collaborate Across Disciplines: Partner closely with the device/hardware, software, and clinical teams to ensure algorithms perform correctly in real-time and reflect real clinical needs.
- Solve Hard Problems: Investigate and root-cause complex, intermittent issues across the signal path — from sensor to algorithm output — bringing inventive, unconventional approaches when the obvious path is blocked.
- Innovate on the Product: Prototype new ideas quickly, propose approaches nobody has asked for, and think past the current architecture about what the platform's algorithms could do for clinicians, hospitals and the business.
Qualifications
Education
- Advanced degree (PhD) in Statistics, Mathematics, Computational Neuroscience, Biomedical or Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computational Biology or a related field.
Experience and Skills
- 5+ years of industry experience developing signal processing or machine learning algorithms for production-level systems. Medical device or other regulated industry experience strongly preferred.
- Strong command of statistical signal processing, including time-series and frequency-domain/spectral analysis.
- Strong command of biomedical signal processing, including control engineering, state-space modeling,
- sequential algorithms and Kalman filtering.
- Strong coder in Python with solid scientific engineering practices (you write reusable modules and libraries and use OOP where it makes sense).
- Comfort using AI-assisted tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude / Claude Code, ChatGPT, Cursor) for coding and research.
- Versatility and initiative: ****you can take an ambiguous, high-level objective, scope it yourself, and run it to completion and you look for the next problem rather than waiting to be assigned one.
- Creativity and independent drive: ****a track record of thinking outside the box — finding a simpler algorithmic approach, repurposing a technique in an unexpected way, or solving something others had accepted as fixed and the self-motivation to pursue it without being asked.
- Commercial instinct: ****you understand how algorithm choices translate into customer adoption, regulatory timelines and revenue and can prioritize accordingly.
- Clear communications: you are comfortable working across an interdisciplinary team of engineers, neuroscientists, and physicians.
- Documentation rigor: ****you have the discipline to document algorithms, decisions and validation evidence precisely.
Preferred
- Software engineering experience and knowledge of best practices.
- Direct experience developing a medical device or working under an FDA QSR- or ISO 13485-certified Quality Management System.
- Experience with AWS managed services, cloud computing and MLOps.
- Comfort using AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor) responsibly in a regulated environment.
- Evidence of building something of your own — ****a side project, an internal tool that spread, a patent, a publication, or a product idea you took from sketch to something real.
About PASCALL Systems
PASCALL is a Cambridge-based medical device company focused on advancing neuroscience-based personalized anesthesia monitoring. Our team includes leading academic and clinical experts from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and Massachusetts General Hospital.
We achieved ISO 13485 certification for medical device design and development and received FDA 510(k) clearance for our first platform system in 2022. We are now building the next generation of EEG-based brain state algorithms to improve anesthesia care and patient outcomes worldwide. We are a small team solving problems that do not have textbook answers, and we give engineers real ownership over the direction of the product.
Our vision is to bring personalized, science-based anesthesia care to all patients.
How to Apply
In your Cover Letter, answer each of the following questions clearly:
1. What excites you about this role and PASCALL's mission?
2. Tell us about a technical project you are most proud of — ideally one involving signal processing, state
estimation, or algorithm development under real-world constraints.
3. Tell us about something you invented, prototyped, or improved that nobody asked you to build — what made you pursue it, and what value did it create?
Pay: $130,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid parental leave
- Paid time off
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Cambridge, MA 02139
