Lead AI Scientist

Flagship Pioneering Company; Cambridge; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading biotech firm in Cambridge is seeking a Lead AI Scientist to drive innovation in drug development through advanced AI techniques. As a collaborative leader, you'll guide the AI/ML team, set technical strategies, and leverage next-generation sequencing and imaging AI for target validation. Candidates should hold a PhD and have 3-7 years of experience in AI/ML system delivery. This hybrid role requires permission to work in the UK.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent experience in a relevant field is required.
• 3–7 years of industry experience in AI/ML systems.
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical strategy for AI across the platform.
• Lead and mentor the AI/ML team.
• Develop and deploy AI methods for target discovery.

Skills

Leadership

Collaboration

Python proficiency

AI/ML system delivery

Attention to detail

Education

PhD in genomics, computational biology, computer science, or similar

Tools

AWS

Testing and CI/CD tools

Containerization technologies

Job description

Lead AI Scientist – Flagship Pioneering

Quotient Therapeutics develops breakthrough medicines informed by natural somatic genetic diversity present in patients. Through our work in somatic genomics, we are forging a new status quo for biopharma research and development across a broad pipeline of internal and partnered programs. We are a privately held, early‑stage company and are an equal opportunity employer.

We are seeking a lead AI scientist to invent and productionize computational capabilities that power target identification, validation, and drug development. The candidate is experienced and excited to operate in a deeply collaborative way with peers in data infrastructure, assay development, biology validation, and drug discovery. They bring enthusiasm, intellectual curiosity, scientific rigor, and a deep‑rooted desire to innovate. The candidate will have Director level seniority and report to the head of assay development and data science. This role is based in the vicinity of Cambridge, UK and hybrid work arrangements will be considered, but all applicants will require permission to work in the UK.

Key Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with key stakeholders to set the technical strategy and roadmap for AI across the platform and drug discovery, then define execution plans and deliver against them.
• Lead, mentor, and grow the AI/ML team, fostering a focus on collaboration and delivery, while maintaining standards for quality and reproducibility.
• Develop and deploy methods leveraging next‑generation sequencing for target discovery and validation.
• Develop and deploy methods leveraging imaging AI of histology images, such as segmentation/detection/classification, weak/self‑supervised learning, and rigorous model evaluation tied to biological goals.
• Develop and deploy methods to accelerate the validation of targets using standardised assays and accelerate drug development.
• Communicate results and decisions clearly to technical and non‑technical stakeholders.

Requirements:

• PhD or equivalent experience in genomics, computational biology, computer science, or similar discipline is required.
• 3–7 years of industry experience delivering AI/ML systems for target discovery and/or drug development, with end‑to‑end ownership from method development to production.
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills in a matrix environment with a low‑ego, high‑ownership working style.
• High proficiency in Python and modern ML tooling, cloud computing environments (e.g., AWS), as well as solid software engineering habits (testing, CI/CD, containers, etc.).
• Priority domain experience:
  • Genomics/NGS: development of methods to leveraging sequencing technologies.
  • Imaging AI: microscopy/histology, WSI pipelines, dataset curation/labeling strategies, scalable training and evaluation.
  • Validation and drug discovery: development or application of AI tools to target validation using in‑vitro models and/or drug discovery in any modality.
• A high degree of energy, accuracy and attention to detail, and a passion for creating transformative medicines for patients with serious diseases.