Senior AI Platform Architect — Drug Discovery

C028 (FCRS = CH028) Novartis Pharma AG; Basel; Hybrid; CHF 78,000 - 146,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hybrid working

Parental leave (14 weeks)

Performance-based bonus

Long-term equity awards

Insurance and retirement plans

Job summary

The Scientific AI Platform Expert at Novartis will join the DAx Data Science team in Basel to build enterprise-grade AI analysis platforms and data products for accelerating drug discovery. You will lead multidisciplinary projects, operationalize generative AI, and collaborate with IT teams on data strategy and governance.

Role requires 3+ years in scientific DS or AI/ML, strong software/data engineering skills, and experience with omics pipelines and cloud platforms.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in AI/ML, data science/engineering, computational biology, bioinformatics, computer science/engineering, mathematics, physics, or a related discipline, with 3+ years of hands-on experience in scientific data science or engineering, AI/ML, computational research.
• Experience building and operating production-grade multimodal data platforms for scientific analysis: omics data, data modeling, patient metadata, lineage, access controls, and reproducible workflows.
• Experience with omics analysis pipelines (i.e. genomics, transcriptomics), MCP, LLM patterns, biological foundational models, agent orchestration, and deep learning frameworks (i.e. Pytorch) is preferred.
• Familiarity with agentic frameworks like Claude Science, Biomni, Gemini or open-source co-scientist platforms.
• Deep practical experience in software or data engineering (agile), including Python, SQL, version control, testing, workflow orchestration, cloud platforms, and data lakes (Snowflake, Databricks, Palantir Foundry, AWS).
• Strong communication, interpersonal, ethical, self-awareness, and customer service skills.

Responsibilities

• Translate scientific and operational AI needs into impactful, decision-enabling solutions.
• Hands-on design, build, and sustain scalable AI-focused omics pipelines, APIs, and integrated data products.
• Scale AI workflows using reproducible, transparent, secure, and FAIR data practices.
• Prioritize resources against evolving research needs.
• Provide input on project evaluation, deployment, lifecycle, and governance practices.
• Assist with onboarding of external vendors and service providers.
• Present results and strategy through internal/external communications and documentation.

Skills

Python

SQL

Cloud platforms

FAIR data practices

Communication skills

Education

BS or MS in AI/ML, data science/engineering, computational biology, bioinformatics, computer science/engineering, mathematics, physics

PhD (recent graduates considered)

Tools

Snowflake

Databricks

Palantir Foundry

AWS

Git

Job description

The Scientific AI Platform Expert at Novartis will join the DAx Data Science team in Basel to build enterprise-grade AI analysis platforms and data products for accelerating drug discovery. You will lead multidisciplinary projects, operationalize generative AI, and collaborate with IT teams on data strategy and governance.

Role requires 3+ years in scientific DS or AI/ML, strong software/data engineering skills, and experience with omics pipelines and cloud platforms.