AI BioDesign Research Scientist - Innovate at Scale

Allen Institute; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 147,000 - 183,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Visa sponsorship

Job summary

The Allen Institute is seeking an AI Research Scientist to invent and advance AI/ML methods for biological discovery at scale. You will design, test, and refine models that handle diverse biological data, translating complex questions into computational frameworks for rigorous experimentation.

Working with scientists and engineers, you will publish benchmarks, contribute reusable tooling, and drive methodological advances in a high-ambiguity research environment.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Computational Biology, or related field; or equivalent combination of degree and experience.
• Demonstrated experience developing and evaluating novel AI/ML approaches for complex, large-scale datasets.
• Proficiency in Python and modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, JAX).
• Strong foundation in machine learning, deep learning, and scientific computing, including experimentation, benchmarking, and model analysis.

Responsibilities

• Develop, train, and evaluate large-scale AI/ML models across diverse biological data types, with attention to scientific relevance and rigor.
• Investigate new modeling paradigms – such as representation learning, generative models, foundation models, and multimodal learning – to address open biological research questions.
• Translate complex scientific questions into well-posed computational frameworks, experiments, and benchmarks.
• Assess model behavior, limitations, and interpretability in scientific contexts, and communicate findings clearly to scientific and technical collaborators.
• Design and run experiments at scale, including benchmarking and model analysis, using modern training and evaluation environments.
• Build reusable modeling frameworks and reference implementations that accelerate research across teams.
• Document methods and support reproducibility and open science practices, including code, data, and benchmark release where appropriate.
• Contribute to the broader scientific community through publications, collaborations, conference participation, and methodological work.
• Participate in institute-wide initiatives, workshops, and seminars to promote scientific and engineering excellence through technical leadership and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Skills

AI/ML research

Python proficiency

PyTorch/JAX

Experimentation & benchmarking

Education

PhD in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Computational Biology, or related field

Postdoctoral experience 0-2 years

Job description

The Allen Institute is seeking an AI Research Scientist to invent and advance AI/ML methods for biological discovery at scale. You will design, test, and refine models that handle diverse biological data, translating complex questions into computational frameworks for rigorous experimentation.

Working with scientists and engineers, you will publish benchmarks, contribute reusable tooling, and drive methodological advances in a high-ambiguity research environment.