Director, Data Scientist - Clinical AI

AstraZeneca GmbH; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

AstraZeneca seeks a Director, Data Scientist to lead AI methods for Clinical AI programmes, spanning early and late phase development. You will shape methodology standards, drive collaboration with biometrics, regulatory, and study teams, and influence external scientific venues.

You will champion cutting-edge AI techniques, raise the bar for evidence in regulatory submissions, and mentor junior data scientists while promoting a culture of rigorous scientific practice.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Mathematics, Biomedical Informatics, Computational Biology, or a closely related quantitative discipline — with a strong, hands-on computational track record.
• 4–8 years of post-PhD experience in AI and machine learning method development with impact in clinical, biomedical, or drug development settings.
• Deep expertise in biology with hands-on experience with molecular, imaging, or clinical data.
• Proven modern AI methodologies including foundation models, Bayesian inference, multimodal learning, model calibration, and data-centric AI.
• Excellent software engineering skills: Python, PyTorch, and cloud platforms.
• Demonstrated experience translating AI methods into clinically relevant evidence and regulatory submissions.
• Peer-reviewed publications in clinical AI, computational drug development, or leading ML venues.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for clinical, regulatory, and executive audiences.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the AI methodology roadmap for assigned Clinical AI programmes.
• Lead high-stakes AI projects from problem definition through validation, regulatory alignment, and scaled adoption.
• Develop and govern reusable enterprise-grade AI methods for clinical trial settings.
• Champion data-centric AI practices across programme level data acquisition, curation, and quality control.
• Collaborate with Clinical Development, Biometrics, Regulatory, and Study Teams to embed AI strategy into study design.
• Shape the AI evidence component for regulatory submissions and serve as a scientific voice in regulatory engagements.
• Evaluate cutting-edge AI methodologies and propose fit-for-purpose approaches with robust evaluation criteria.
• Establish external collaborations to access novel capabilities and advance scientific agenda.

Skills

Python

PyTorch

AI/ML methods

Regulatory awareness

Education

PhD in Computer Science / ML / Biomed Informatics

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

MLOps

Job description

Locations: Cambridge, UK or Barcelona, Spain

Salary & Benefits: Competitive

About AstraZeneca and AISI

At AstraZeneca,technologyand science meet to change what is possible for patients. We are building a connected, end-to-end Enterprise AI engine — uniting data foundations, AI technology, process reinvention, and business-facing AI to accelerate results across the whole value chain. Success depends on being exceptional connectors: you will activelyleverageexisting capabilities, celebrate and promote reuse, export breakthrough ideas across geographies and functions, and obsess over scaling impact rather than building in isolation.

AI Science & Innovation (AISI) sits at thecentreof AstraZeneca's R&D AI transformation. Our remit is to build, buy, and deliver the AI models and agents that change pipeline outcomes across discovery, translational science, biomarkers, and clinical development.

Within AISI, theClinical AI team arebuilding world-class AI capability to accelerate the design, conduct, and analysis of clinical trials across ourBioPharmaceuticalspipelines— spanning both early and late phaseprogrammes. We partner closely with clinical development, regulatory, and biometrics teams to bring better treatments to patients faster, while adhering to the highest evidentiary standards.

The Opportunity

Bringing new treatments to patients demands scientific excellence at every stage of development. In theClinical AI team, we focus on one of the most data-rich and decision-intensive parts of that journey: clinical development. Trial design, patient selection, doseoptimisation, biomarker strategy, and safety evaluation each represent genuine opportunities where AI and machine learning can addrigour, speed, and precision — not as a replacement for clinical and statistical expertise, but as a powerful complement to it. We hold ourselves to measurable standards of improvement, and we build methods that can be evaluated, reproduced, and trusted in regulatory settings.

You will work across the enterprise to define and deliver on AstraZeneca's most pressing clinical development questions — leading cross-functional teamsspanning the keyBioPharmaceuticalsdisease areas of cardiovascular, renal, metabolic disease, respiratory,immunologyand cell-therapy.You and the team will develop reusable methods and enterprise-scale approaches that measurably advance the late-stage drug pipeline. This is a high-visibility opportunity to shape how AstraZeneca does AI forBioPharmaceuticalsclinical development — frommethodologystandards to external scientific influence.

AI for clinical development is a field in motion. Foundation models, agentic systems, and causal AI are advancing rapidly, and the regulatory and methodological frameworks around them are evolving in parallel. As a Director, Data Scientist, you will define and drive the AImethodologyagenda for one or moreprogrammeswithinClinical AI, leading by scientific influence and matrix coordination rather than through a formal hierarchy. You will be the scientific authority that study teams, biometrics, and regulatory colleagues turn to — and AstraZeneca's voice externally at the critical moment when the rules of the road for AI in clinical trials are being written.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and drive the AImethodologyroadmap for assignedClinical AIprogrammes, spanning early and late phase clinical development, and aligning AI/ML priorities with clinical and businessobjectives.
• Lead, by matrix influence and scientific authority, the delivery of the most complex and high-stakes AI projects — from problem definition andmethodologyselectionthrough validation, regulatory alignment, and scaled adoption across the enterprise.
• Develop and govern reusable, enterprise-grade AI methods and evaluation frameworks for clinical trial settings, including innovative trial design support, doseoptimisation, biomarker discovery, digital twins, predictive and prognostic modelling, and safety and efficacy signal detection.
• Champion data-centric AI practices atprogrammelevel: govern the acquisition, curation, and quality control of datasets for model training, post-training, benchmarking, and evaluation across clinical and regulatory settings.
• Partner with Clinical Development, Biometrics, Regulatory, and Study Teams to embed AI strategy andvalidatedsolutions into study design and decision-making atprogrammelevel.
• Shape the AI evidence componentfor regulatory submission packages; act as the scientific and methodological voice in regulatory engagements involving AI/ML methods or innovative trial designs (FDA, EMA, MHRA).
• Evaluate and championcutting-edgeAI methodologies — including foundation models, agentic AI systems, generative patient models, multimodal learning, Bayesian inference, causal inference, and model calibration and domain adaptation — proposing fit-for-purpose approaches with robust evaluation criteria and risk assessment.
• Establish andmaintainexternal collaborations with academic institutions, technology partners, and industry consortia to access novel capabilities and advance the scientific agenda.
• Represent AstraZeneca at scientific conferences, standards bodies, and peer-reviewed venues;contributefirst- or last-author publications in leading ML and clinical AI journals.
• Serve as a technical mentor and thought partner for Associate Directors and Senior Data Scientists within the Clinical AI team; promote scientificrigour, reuse, and a culture of learning in public.
• Contribute to the broader AISI AI for Clinical Development strategy, including cross-functional ways of working, tooling governance, andmethodologystandards.

Essential Requirements

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Mathematics, Biomedical Informatics, Computational Biology, or a closely related quantitative discipline — with a strong, hands-on computationaltrack record.
• 4–8 years of post-PhD experience in AI and machine learning method development, with demonstrated and sustained impact in clinical, biomedical, or drug development settings (e.g.models delivered, first-author publications, patents, SaMD filings, open-source projects).
• Deep experience, knowledge, and understanding of one or more fields of biology, with hands-on experience working with biological data such as molecular (DNA, RNA, protein), imaging (radiology, microscopy), or clinical text (EHR, clinical notes).
• Deepexpertisein modern AI methodologies, including one or more of: foundation model training and fine-tuning; Bayesian inference; temporal and longitudinal modelling; multimodal integration; model calibration and domain adaptation; data-centric AI; model interpretability; model post-training and alignment.
• Exceptional software engineering skills: Python, deep learning frameworks (e.g.PyTorch), frontier coding agent frameworks, modern LLM tooling, and cloud platforms (e.g.AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Demonstrated experience translating AI methods into applications that inform clinical and/or biomedical decisions, including prospective evaluation or contribution to submission-relevant evidence.
• Trackrecord ofdriving scientific influence across cross-functional communities — ML, clinical, biostatistics, regulatory — without relying on formal authority.
• Peer-reviewed publications in clinical AI, computational drug development, or leading ML venues (e.g.NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, Nature Medicine, Lancet Digital Health).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, withdemonstratedability to translate technical findings for clinical, regulatory, and executive audiences.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Direct industry experience in early or late phaseBioPharmaceuticalsclinical development, including clinical trial design, biomarker discovery, companion diagnostics, dosing, safety, endpoints, or regulatory processes.
• Direct experience contributing to FDA, EMA, PMDA, or MHRA submissions involving AI/ML methods or innovative trial designs.
• Priorregulatory engagement on AI methodology, complex innovative trial design, or AI/ML qualification opinions.
• Experience withMLOpsandLLMOpsat scale, including CI/CD pipelines and enterprise deployment.
• Open-source contributions, workshoporganisation, or standards-body participation.
• Knowledge of computing hardware and its impact on model training and inference at scale.
• Experience in a complex globalorganisationspanning multiple sites and therapy areas.
• Strongproficiencyin augmenting — but not supplanting — daily knowledgeworkwith agentic AI tools.
• Proactivelyup-to-datewith the latest AIresearch;tries out new tools and methods of interest without waiting to be directed.
• Team-oriented mindset: does what is best for the team and theprogramme, not just the individual deliverable.
• Ability to deliver high-quality, high-impact contributions independently and atpace.
• Comfort with ambiguity and an instinct to learn in public, prototype early, and fail forward.
• Deep, up-to-date knowledge of the ML literature and active connections with the ML community.

Why AstraZeneca?

Here, technology and science meet to change what is possible for patients. You will join a company investing boldly in AI and data to become truly data-led, where unexpected teams come together to address problems that have never been solved before. When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we ignite bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines.

The playbook for AI in clinical development will be written in the next two to three years. You will help write it — with an outsized voice at regulatory agencies, scientific consortia, and external partners during the narrow window when the rules of the road for AI in pivotal evidence are being defined. That is the reasonto come.

We hire for learning agility and technical excellence. The strongest candidates here learn fast, are comfortable with ambiguity, prototype early, fail forward, and partner credibly across communities. We balance the expectation of being in the office — on averageat leastthree days per week — while respecting individual flexibility.

Date Posted

10-sep.-2026

Closing Date

29-sep.-2026

Our mission is to build an inclusive and equitable environment. We want people to feel they belong at AstraZeneca and Alexion, starting with our recruitment process. We welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of characteristics. We offer reasonable adjustments/accommodations to help all candidates to perform at their best.