Manager, Applied AI Science - Healthcare

UBC; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Growth opportunities for promotion

RRSP with company match

Flexible work environment

Discretionary PTO

Paid Holidays

Employee assistance programs

Medical, Dental, and vision coverage

Wellness program

Adoption assistance

Short term disability

Long term disability

Life insurance

Job summary

UBC's AI Center of Excellence in Vancouver seeks a Manager, Applied AI Science to lead a small team while actively contributing technically. You will design, develop, and evaluate reusable AI capabilities that are reliable, measurable, and explainable for enterprise use.

Partner with AI Architecture, Product Management, and application teams to translate operational needs into effective AI capabilities and performance expectations, while guiding scientific evaluation and continuous improvement

Qualifications

• 5+ years of AI/ML experience in applied environments.
• Healthcare/CRO experience and familiarity with GxP, 21 CFR Part 11, HIPAA, GDPR or related regulated-system expectations.
• Strong programming experience using Python, R, or a comparable language.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a small team of Applied AI Scientists.
• Design, develop, and refine reusable AI capabilities using ML, LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, and AI agents.
• Collaborate with AI Architecture, Product Management, application teams, and business stakeholders to translate needs into AI capabilities.

Skills

Applied AI leadership

Generative AI

Python

Team mentoring

Education

Master's degree in quantitative field

Bachelor's degree with AI focus

Tools

Azure AI

ML libraries

Python

Job description

Manager, Applied AI Science - Healthcare

Regular Vancouver, BC, CA

3 days ago Requisition ID: 7685

A pharmaceutical support industry leader, UBCis devoted to empowering health solutions for a better tomorrow. We take pride in improving patient outcomes andadvancing healthcare. At UBC, we provide services to enhance the entire drug development process and commercialization lifecycle - from clinical trial support to real-world evidence generation. Embark on arewarding career journey with UBC! Growyour career while making a meaningful impacton the worldaround you. UBCfosters a culture built on our Core Values of Respect, Accountability, Innovation, Quality, Integrity, and Collaboration. We believe in an inclusive workplacethat fosters creativity.

If you are seeking a career that will challenge, inspire, and rewardyou, join us at UBC!

Job Title: IXT96I - Manager, Applied AI Science

Brief Description:

Join UBC’s AI Center of Excellence as a Manager, Applied AI Science, where you will lead a small team of Applied AI Scientists while remaining a hands-on technical contributor responsible for designing, developing, and scientifically evaluating reusable AI capabilities that are reliable, measurable, explainable, and appropriate for their intended use.

You will partner with AI Architecture, Product Management, application teams, and business subject matter experts to translate operational needs into effective AI capabilities and measurable performance expectations. You will guide the scientific approach used to evaluate these capabilities, chartaacterize their strengths and limitations, and use empirical evidence to improve their reliability and readiness for broader enterprise use.

Specific Job Duties:

• Applied AI Science Leadership:Lead, mentor, and develop a small team of Applied AI Scientists and provide technical and scientific guidance across their work.
• AI Capability Development: Design, develop, and refine reusable AI capabilities using machine learning, large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, AI agents, and other approved enterprise AI technologies.
• AI System Design: Design solutions that combine models, prompts, context, retrieval, tools, structured outputs, human review, and workflow integration to support defined intended uses.
• Scientific Evaluation: Design and execute evaluations using representative datasets, reference standards, appropriate performance metrics, acceptance criteria, and statistical methods.
• AI Behavior and Performance Analysis: Define expected behavior, analyze outputs and failure modes, assess uncertainty and limitations, and recommend improvements based on evaluation evidence.
• Programming and Technical Implementation: Develop maintainable Python code, analytical workflows, evaluation tools, and reusable software components supporting AI development and testing.
• Collaboration: Work with AI Architecture, Product Management, application teams, subject matter experts, Quality, and Governance to ensure capabilities address operational needs and can progress toward enterprise use.
• Continuous Improvement: Stay current on advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics, and evaluation methods, and contribute to evolving practices within the AI Center of Excellence.

Supervisory Responsibility:

Directly responsible for hiring, mentoring, work direction, and performance management of a small group (2-5) of Applied AI Scientists.

Desired Skills and Qualifications:

Education:

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Biomedical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Computer Engineering, or a related quantitative discipline.
• Bachelor's degree in a related quantitative discipline with significant applied AI, machine learning, or statistical experience will also be considered.

Experience:

• 5+ years of experience developing AI, machine learning, data science, or applied AI solutions in applied environments.
• Must have Healthcare/CRO experience and familiarity with GxP, 21 CFR Part 11, HIPAA, GDPR, software validation, or related regulated-system expectations.
• Strong programming experience using Python, R, or a comparable language.
• Experience mentoring technical staff, leading scientific work, or providing technical direction across projects.
• Experience applying statistical methods, experimental design, or performance analysis to complex technical problems.
• Experience defining AI evaluation metrics, assessing the effectiveness of AI controls, and developing monitoring approaches for AI system performance and risk.
• Experience collaborating with software engineers, architects, product teams, and business stakeholders throughout the AI development lifecycle.

Technical Expertise:

• Statistics and Machine Learning: Strong understanding of statistics, experimental design, sampling, machine learning, model validation, uncertainty, bias, and generalizability.
• Generative AI: Experience developing capabilities using large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, prompt and context design, AI agents, tool integration, and structured outputs.
• AI Evaluation: Experience developing evaluation datasets and reference standards, selecting appropriate metrics, defining acceptance criteria, and analyzing performance and failure modes.
• Programming: Strong programming skills with the ability to develop maintainable analytical software, AI capabilities, and evaluation tooling.
• AI System Design: Understanding of how models, data, retrieval, prompts, tools, human review, and workflow context combine to shape AI system behavior.
• Scientific Communication: Ability to document and communicate evaluation methods, assumptions, results, uncertainty, limitations, and recommendations.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, patents, or other demonstrated scientific contributions.
• Experience using Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar agentic development tools.
• Experience with Azure AI, Azure OpenAI, Snowflake Cortex AI, LangGraph, Model Context Protocol, or comparable enterprise AI technologies.
• Experience developing supervised or unsupervised machine learning models.

Additional Skills:

• Strategic Thinking: Ability to connect technical decisions to enterprise architecture, long-term reuse, scalability, and business strategy.
• Problem Framing: Ability to translate operational needs and workflows into structured AI capabilities and measurable evaluation questions.
• Problem Solving: Advanced ability to resolve complex architecture and engineering challenges through practical and maintainable solutions.
• Communication: Ability to communicate architectural concepts, tradeoffs, and recommendations clearly to executives, engineers, scientists, architects, and business stakeholders.
• Collaboration: Ability to work effectively across Product Management, AI Science, Application Development, Platform Engineering, DevOps, Security, Data, Quality, and business teams.
• Adaptability: Ability to evaluate emerging technologies and evolve architectural direction while maintaining engineering discipline and operational reliability.

At UBC, employee growth and well-being are always at the forefront. We offer an extensive range of benefits to ensure that you have everything you need to thrive personally and professionally. Here are some of the exciting perks UBC offers:

• Growth opportunities for promotion
• RRSP with company match*
• Flexible work environment
• Discretionary PTO (Paid Time Off)
• Paid Holidays
• Employee assistance programs
• Medical, Dental, and vision coverage
• Wellness program
• Adoption assistance
• Short term disability
• Long term disability
• Life insurance

UBC is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state, or local protected class. We are committed to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture that fosters respect for each other, our clients, and our patients.