Jobs in Portland, United States

Principal Data Scientist

Company: Norstella

Location: Remote, United States

Date Posted: Sep 5, 2025

Employment Type: Full Time

Job ID: R-1423

Description

Principal Data Scientist

About NORSTELLA:

At Norstella, our mission is simple: to help our clients bring life-saving therapies to market quicker—and help patients in need. Founded in 2022, but with history going back to 1939, Norstella unites best-in-class brands to help clients navigate the complexities at each step of the drug development life cycle —and get the right treatments to the right patients at the right time.

Each organization (Citeline, Evaluate, MMIT, Panalgo, The Dedham Group) delivers must-have answers for critical strategic and commercial decision-making. Together, via our market-leading brands, we help our clients:

• Citeline – accelerate the drug development cycle
• Evaluate – bring the right drugs to market
• MMIT – identify barrier to patient access
• Panalgo – turn data into insight faster
• The Dedham Group – think strategically for specialty therapeutics

By combining the efforts of each organization under Norstella, we can offer an even wider breadth of expertise, cutting-edge data solutions and expert advisory services alongside advanced technologies such as real-world data, machine learning and predictive analytics. As one of the largest global pharma intelligence solution providers, Norstella has a footprint across the globe with teams of experts delivering world class solutions in the USA, UK, The Netherlands, Japan, China and India.

The Team:

Our dedicated Data Science team is at the forefront of revolutionizing pharma intelligence and how patients gain access to life-saving therapies. Armed with cutting-edge technology and a passion for innovation, we leverage the vast landscape of data to extract actionable insights that drive informed decision making.

Our unique collaborative approach fosters a dynamic synergy between data science and product development. Our deep expertise in machine learning, artificial intelligence, advanced statistical modelling, and big data, combined with our domain knowledge, enables us to deliver comprehensive solutions that empower our clients to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry.

The Role:

In this role as a Principal Data Scientist, you will:

• Collaborate with product leadership to identity, elaborate and prioritize projects

• Lead a team of data scientists and developers to deliver AI-enabled microservices in collaboration with content and product engineering teams

• Define reference architectures suitable to answer complex questions, including via code interpreting, LLM tool use and leveraging secondary data science models

• Coach and train a team of data scientists and developers to use these architectures

• Stay up-to-date, constantly learning about advances in the field, and deliver periodic presentations to internal teams on these developments

• Serve as the company-wide expert in one or more complex technical areas (e.g., entity mastering, knowledge graphs, search optimization, RAG)

Requirements:

• 10+ years of experience developing AI / ML applications and delivering data driven solutions

• Graduate degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics or a related quantitative discipline, or equivalent work experience

• Substantial depth and breadth in NLP, Deep Learning, Generative AI and other state of the art AI / ML techniques

• Excellent knowledge of high-level programming languages (Python, Java, or C++) and core data science libraries including Pandas, NumPy and other similar libraries

• Deep understanding of CS fundamentals, computational complexity and algorithm design

• Experience with building large-scale distributed systems in an agile environment and the ability to build quick prototypes

• Experience leading a portfolio of complex data science projects and mentoring junior team members

• Excellent problem solving and communication skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• PhD in Computer Science with an AI / ML research focus and publications in top-tier journals and conferences

• Knowledge of the healthcare domain and experience with applying AI to healthcare data

• Experience with AWS especially in relation to ML workflows with SageMaker, serverless compute and storage such as S3 and Snowflake

• Experience with LLMs, prompt engineering, retrieval augmented generation, model fine tuning and knowledge graphs

Please note all candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. We do not provide visa sponsorship or transfers. We are not currently accepting candidates who are on an OPT visa.

Our Guiding Principles for success at Norstella:

1. Bold, Passionate, and Mission-First
2. Integrity, Truth, and Reality
3. Kindness, Empathy, and Grace
4. Resilience, Mettle, and Perseverance
5. Humility, Gratitude, and Learning

Benefits:

• Medical and Prescription Drug Benefits
• Health Savings Accounts (HSA) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Dental & Vision Benefits
• Basic Life and AD&D Benefits
• 401k Retirement Plan with Company Match
• Company Paid Short & Long-Term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid Time Off & Company Holidays

Norstella is an equal opportunities employer and does not discriminate on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, gender reassignment, race, color, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, disability or age. Our ethos is to respect and value people’s differences, to help everyone achieve more at work as well as in their personal lives so that they feel proud of the part they play in our success. We believe that all decisions about people at work should be based on the individual’s abilities, skills, performance and behavior and our business requirements. Norstella operates a zero-tolerance policy to any form of discrimination, abuse or harassment.

Sometimes the best opportunities are hidden by self-doubt. We disqualify ourselves before we have the opportunity to be considered. Regardless of where you came from, how you identify, or the path that led you here- you are welcome. If you read this job description and feel passion and excitement, we’re just as excited about you.

Norstella is an equal opportunity employer. All job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability or handicap, medical condition, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), marital or domestic partner status, military or veteran status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, reproductive health decision making, or any other protected characteristic as established by federal, state, or local law.