Job ID

75595

Job Title

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE (I)

Regular/Temporary

Regular

Location

McMaster Innovation Park (MIP)

Open Date

2026/05/06

Job Type

Limited Term (>12 months)

Close Date

2026/05/15

Employee Group

Unifor Unit 1, Staff

Favorite Job

Department

Inst for Research on Aging

Full/Part Time

Full-Time

Salary Grade/Band

Grade 12

Salary Range

$46.04 - $64.75 (hourly)

Job Code

JD0550

Existing Vacancy

Yes - Newly Created Position

Contract Duration

13.1 Months

Target Number of Openings

1

Hours per Week

35

Posting Details

Schedule

Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 4:30am, 60 minutes unpaid lunch, 35 hours per week

Education Level

Doctoral degree in a relevant field of study.

Career Level

Requires a minimum of 7 years of relevant experience.

Anticipated Fill date

June 1, 2026

Job Description

Description:

The McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) houses CANWEAR (Canadian Wearables Research Hub). CANWEAR is a national core research facility, collaborating with with partners across Canada (University of Western Ontario, UBC) that accelerates high-quality, reproducible wearable and remote monitoring research to support health and mobility across the adult life course. CANWEAR provides standardized, validated, and device-agnostic analytics to support the integration of wearable-derived mobility and activity measures across McMaster’s research programs and external cohorts. CANWEAR enhances the scientific value and comparability of digital measures by reducing reliance on proprietary algorithms and enabling transparent, scalable data pipelines. The hub also serves as a national platform for methodological innovation, training, and interdisciplinary collaboration in wearable data science.

CANWEAR is seeking a Research Associate that will work closely with its Director and affiliated researchers to deliver its mission through integrated core activities that address the full wearable research lifecycle: 1) Wearable device evaluation; developing standardized criteria for data acquisition, sensor selection, and study design, and evaluation and validation of existing and emerging wearable technologies for research suitability, 2) Analytics development and implementation: providing access to validated, device-agnostic, open-source analytics and data pipelines that ensure transparency, reproducibility, and comparability of wearable-derived measures across studies and populations. 3) Development and integration of novel analytic methods, including advanced statistical and AI-enabled approaches, into the open-source platform. This position will report to Dr. Beauchamp, Director CANWEAR.

Job Summary:

Responsible for planning, managing, and overseeing a large, multi-site, multi-disciplinary research program, with the potential to compose, lead, and conduct research as an independent investigator or as a co-investigator within a faculty member's program. Develops collaborations and partnerships with research user groups to help shape research directions and ensure effective research transfer.

Purpose and Key Functions:

• Initiate, design, and lead a research program.
• Formulate research questions and generate and test hypotheses.
• Make significant contributions to the design of a research program to answer questions and solve complex research problems.
• Publish results as first author in scientific peer-reviewed journals.
• Author scientific papers, funding proposals, and abstracts.
• Write research proposals, submit proposals to external funding agencies, and secure funding to conduct research through grants and contracts.
• Plan and coordinate all aspects of a major research program across multiple sites.
• Develop inter-disciplinary, inter-institutional, and inter-sectoral research collaborations.
• Negotiate research agreements and subcontracts to meet site and coordinating centre requirements.
• Develop budget for a research program.
• Implement and maintain a research program budget. Create financial projections and make adjustments to a research program budget throughout the fiscal year.
• Troubleshoot problems at all stages of program development and implementation and modify protocol or program procedures to address challenges.
• Participate with a team in the development and authoring of research protocols.
• Design a promotional strategy and related materials to encourage participation and support for a research program.
• Conduct quantitative and qualitative program participant interviews.
• Facilitate focus group sessions with program participants.
• Coordinate and manage the collection, delivery, entry, verification, analysis, and reporting of data.
• Oversee the design of data management systems.
• Apply specialized knowledge and scientific principles to review, critically appraise and interpret published literature.
• Develop estimates of time and resources for a research program.
• Use statistical software to analyze complex data and interpret results.
• Liaise between the program centre and remote program sites and personnel.
• Develop presentations and present at meetings, seminars, and conferences.
• Conduct literature searches..

Supervision:

• Provide lead hand supervision and is responsible for the quality and quantity of work of others.
• Ongoing responsibility for supervising up to 9 casual employees at any one time.

Requirements:

• Doctoral degree in a relevant field of study.
• Requires 7 years of relevant experience.

Assets:

Required:
This role requires expertise in multi-sensor wearable technology processing and pipeline development within a research setting. The ideal candidate brings 5+ years of professional experience in Python, with strong skills in version control and package management using Git, GitHub, and PyPI, and a proven ability to lead complex software development projects, including managing timelines, resources, and sub-projects. They have extensive experience working with large datasets (NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib), handling binary data, and using SQL for relational databases. A deep technical understanding of wearable biosensor systems is essential, including device evaluation, sensor calibration, data quality assessment, sensor fusion, and feature extraction across time and frequency domains, with specific experience in accelerometer, gyroscope, ECG, PPG, and GPS data. The candidate should also have knowledge of clinical outcomes related to mobility and health in aging populations (e.g., gait, sleep, physical activity, cognition, posture) and demonstrated experience applying wearable technologies across all stages of research, from study design through to analysis, interpretation, and publication.

Additional assets desired:
Proficiency in R, Matlab, C# - Familiarity with the European Data Format (EDF) for storing standardized time-series dataPrevious experience related to the development of standards for the use of wearable devices to measure health and mobility outcomes in aging populations. -Experience developing and validating novel techniques for deriving real-world health and mobility outcomes form wearable device data. - Experience participating in collaborative, interdisciplinary research (i.e., team science)

How To Apply

To apply for this job, please submit your application online.

Employment Equity Statement

McMaster University is located on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee and Mississauga Nations and within the lands protected by the “Dish With One Spoon” wampum agreement.

The diversity of our workforce is at the core of our innovation and creativity and strengthens our research and teaching excellence. In keeping with its Statement on Building an Inclusive Community with a Shared Purpose, McMaster University strives to embody the values of respect, collaboration and diversity, and has a strong commitment to employment equity.

The University seeks qualified candidates who share our commitment to equity and inclusion, who will contribute to the diversification of ideas and perspectives, and especially welcomes applications from indigenous (First Nations, Métis or Inuit) peoples, members of racialized communities, persons with disabilities, women, and persons who identify as 2SLGBTQ+.

As part of McMaster’s commitment, all applicants are invited to complete a confidential Applicant Diversity Survey through the online application submission process. The Survey questionnaire requests voluntary self-identification in relation to equity-seeking groups that have historically faced and continue to face barriers in employment. Please refer to the Applicant Diversity Survey - Statement of Collection for additional information.

Job applicants requiring accommodation to participate in the hiring process should contact:

• Human Resources Service Centre at 905-525-9140 ext. 222-HR (22247), or
• Faculty of Health Sciences HR Office at ext. 22207, or
• School of Graduate Studies at ext. 23679

to communicate accommodation needs.

Hybrid Work Language

This position is a hybrid position that requires presence in the office some of the time.

AI Statement

McMaster and its third-party partners may use AI tools to screen, assess, or select applicants during the hiring process. Please note that currently our recruitment platform does not use AI nor is it part of our current recommended recruitment process.