Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Structural Biology | Pharma/BioTech | Series A, Drug disco[...]

JR United Kingdom; Ashton-under-Lyne; Remote; GBP 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading organization in drug discovery seeks a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to lead structural biology models. This fully remote role offers a competitive salary of up to £160,000, stock options, and the chance to mentor team members while tackling complex biological challenges.

Benefits

Stock options

Flexible hours

Fully remote culture

Full-time benefits

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent in ML, computational biology, or structural biology required.
• Extensive experience with transformer models in protein folding.

Responsibilities

• Define data preprocessing and benchmarking for protein structures.
• Lead technical strategy for ML in structural biology.

Skills

Machine Learning

Mentorship

Data Processing

Collaboration

Education

PhD in ML, Computational Biology, or Structural Biology

Tools

PyTorch

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

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Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Structural Biology | Pharma/BioTech | Series A, Drug discovery | Fully Remote, EU

Location: ashton-under-lyne, United Kingdom

Job Category: Other

EU work permit required: Yes

Job Views: 4

Posted: 12.05.2025

Expiry Date: 26.06.2025

Job Description:

Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Structural Biology | Pharma/BioTech expertise | Series A - Drug discovery B2B Platform | Fully Remote, EU | Base Salary Up to £160,000, plus early equity+benefits

The Client: A leading organization in the drug discovery field is currently looking for a Principal ML Engineer to lead their structural biology models. This role involves hands-on work and offers the chance to advance foundational models in complex biological challenges.

The candidate will work closely with leadership, serving as the technical authority on ML modeling and architecture. While not managing people directly, mentorship and guidance to engineers and researchers are expected.

The ideal candidate has deep expertise in training and deploying transformer models for protein structure prediction and understands their application in drug discovery. Proven experience in strategy, solving technical problems, and delivering impactful ML systems is essential.

Responsibilities:

• Define data preprocessing, selection, and benchmarking approaches for training tasks involving protein structures and biological datasets.
• Design and implement model extensions for challenges like protein interactions and binding affinities, including data processing and evaluation pipelines.
• Mentor team members and assist with project planning and execution.
• Lead technical strategy for ML in structural biology, focusing on foundational models for protein folding and related tasks.
• Influence decisions on model architecture, data infrastructure, and deployment strategies.
• Collaborate with teams to ensure models meet scientific discovery needs.
• Contribute to publications or open-source projects where applicable.
• Develop scalable ML systems, including training, inference, and deployment pipelines.

Milestones:

• By month 3: Lead a structural biology modeling project, creating a strategy for adapting foundational models.
• By month 6: Deliver initial model extension with benchmarking and pipelines.
• By month 12: Oversee multiple ML initiatives, demonstrating improvements and mentorship.

Qualifications:

• PhD or equivalent in ML, computational biology, or structural biology, with relevant experience.
• Extensive experience with transformer models (e.g., protein folding) using frameworks like PyTorch.
• Understanding of data challenges in structural biology and scalable workflows.
• Experience with ML deployment at scale, CI/CD, versioning, distributed training.
• Proficiency with MLOps tools (Docker, Kubernetes, cloud platforms).
• Ability to navigate complex environments and execute ambitious projects.
• Knowledge of how structural biology models contribute to drug discovery.

Remuneration:

• Fully remote culture
• Up to £160,000 base salary
• Stock options and full-time benefits
• Flexible hours, CET ±3 hours

If you are a good fit for the Principal Machine Learning Engineer role, send your CV for consideration!