Data Architecture and Engineering Lead

This is a rare opportunity to join a team that is bringing an entirely new category of brain health to the world. At Cognito, we are developing therapies designed to promote dignity, clarity, and coherence in the lives they touch.

Cognito is a neurotechnology company developing a new therapeutic approach to cognitive and neurological health, designed to work with the brain's own activity and biology. Born from pioneering neuroscience research at MIT, Cognito brings together neuroscience, engineering, medicine and technology to translate breakthroughs in brain science into practical therapies designed for everyday life.

Our first therapeutic application, Spectris AD, is an investigational, prescription, at-home therapy for Alzheimer's disease. With our pivotal HOPE study now complete, Cognito is entering an important new phase as we advance Spectris AD toward regulatory review, prepare for potential commercialization and continue exploring the broader potential of our science across neurological health.

We are building an interdisciplinary team united by a shared purpose: protecting and progressing the human ability to think, learn and remember. For innovators who want to work at the intersection of breakthrough science, technology and human health, Cognito offers the chance to help shape what comes next.

About the Job

Cognito Therapeutics is building a Data Platform. You will be the first technical hire on this initiative and the person who sets the architectural foundation for everything that follows. This is a hands-on, high-agency role: you will design, build, and translate requirements into precise architectural decisions.

Responsibilities

Data Architecture & Standards

• Architect the core data model: design the schemas and data models that define how we represent patients, indications, clinical signals, and market intelligence — with historical accuracy, scalability, and query performance as first-order constraints.

• Define the technology standards and strategy, collaborating with data leadership to set the overarching approach for our data stack.

Data Integration & Harmonization

• Integrate and harmonize real-world patient data, clinical literature (PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov), commercial market intelligence feeds, and external sources (HIEs, payers, EMRs) into a unified, governed platform.

Pipeline Engineering

• Develop scalable ETL/ELT pipelines to ingest and transform HL7, FHIR, and EDI data into clean, normalized tables; architect real-time and event-streaming pipelines where appropriate.

Governance, Quality & Reliability

• Establish data governance, quality standards, observability tooling, and pipeline reliability practices that can scale as the team grows.

Compliance & Security

• Embed HIPAA compliance and security controls into pipelines and schemas from day one.

Qualifications

Required

• BS in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or a related field; advanced degree a plus.

• 8+ years of hands-on experience owning healthcare data systems, ideally in a therapeutic development, digital health, or payvider context.

• Healthcare domain mastery: fluent in HL7, FHIR, ADT, EDI (837/835), ICD-10, CPT, and how these standards are aggregated and modeled to support clinical and commercial execution.

• Proven experience designing highly scalable data platforms from scratch, including column-oriented databases (Snowflake or equivalent), real-time processing, and schema design that optimizes partition pruning and compute costs at scale.

• dbt fluency: experience structuring large dbt projects for enterprise scale, including macro-architecture, incremental strategies, and dependency management.

• Deep familiarity with real-world evidence data (claims, EHR, patient registries) and the challenges of integrating highly fragmented external sources.

• Technical influence: able to write performant, readable SQL and review Python pipelines, and to coach engineers through architectural standards and reviews.

• Player-coach mindset: comfortable building independently while knowing when and how to grow and support a team around you.

• Experience working within HIPAA or similar regulatory frameworks, embedding compliance into engineering practice.

• Occasional travel for company offsites, conferences, or partner meetings may be required.

Preferred

• Background in neurology, CNS, or rare disease therapeutic development.

• Experience building or integrating biomedical NLP or literature mining pipelines.

• Familiarity with HEOR concepts and payer data sources.

Other

• Remote (USA) position; flexibility required during peak periods, which may include cross-time zone collaboration with data leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

Competitive Benefits

Taking care of our own is one of our highest priorities. That’s why we offer benefits including unlimited PTO, wellness perks, virtual medical support, and health, dental, and vision insurance.

Physical Requirements & Work Environment

• This role is primarily performed in an office or home-office setting. Essential physical requirements include the ability to work at a computer for extended periods, communicating effectively in written and verbal formats, and participate in video and in-person meetings.

• Occasional travel to partner sites may be required. For remote roles, occasional travel to Cognito’s Cambridge, MA office may also be required.

Cognito Therapeutics is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and hiring process. If you require accommodation, please contact us at [email protected].

Cognito Therapeutics is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace and make employment decisions based on qualifications, merit, business needs, and job requirements. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States.