Co-Op, Bayesian Methods for Complex Decision Making

Lila Sciences, Inc.; Cambridge, San Francisco (MA, CA); On-site; USD 34,000 - 62,000; Full time

Job summary

Lila Sciences seeks a Co-Op in Bayesian Methods for Complex Decision Making in Cambridge, MA. You will collaborate with research scientists and engineers to design Bayesian strategies for experiment selection and autonomous discovery agents, using Gaussian processes, Bayesian optimization, and probabilistic modeling.

Work will involve evaluating methods on live campaign data, communicating results to ML and experimental teams, and potentially contributing to publications.

Qualifications

• Pursuing a Master’s or PhD in statistics, ML, CS, operations research, applied math, or a quantitative science.
• Solid grounding in Bayesian inference and decision making (priors and posterior predictive distributions).
• Experience with Gaussian processes, Bayesian optimization, bandits, reinforcement learning, or probabilistic modeling.
• Strong Python skills with PyTorch and probabilistic libraries (Pyro, PyMC, BoTorch).

Responsibilities

• Design and benchmark Bayesian experiment-selection strategies under realistic budgets.
• Build autonomous discovery agents that propose next experiments from surrogate models.
• Develop in-context learning approaches inspired by Bayesian inference and evaluate calibration/robustness.
• Run retrospective and live evaluations on active campaign data with clear baselines and metrics.
• Present findings to ML and experimental teams, with potential for publication.

Skills

Bayesian inference

Posterior distributions

Gaussian processes

Bayesian optimization

Bandits

Reinforcement learning

Probabilistic programming

Python (PyTorch)

Pyro

PyMC

BoTorch

Communication

Education

Master's or PhD in statistics / ML / CS / OR / applied math

Tools

PyTorch

Pyro

PyMC

BoTorch

Job description

Co-Op, Bayesian Methods for Complex Decision Making

Cambridge, MA USA; San Francisco, CA USA

Lila Sciences builds AI systems that accelerate discovery across the physical and life sciences. Within Physical Sciences AI, we work with experimental teams to build autonomous discovery agents that decide which experiments Lila's AI Science Factories should run next.

Real scientific campaigns rarely look like textbook optimization problems. A single campaign can mix large discrete choices (which components, which recipe) with continuous settings (amounts, temperatures, times), pursue several objectives under hard constraints, and draw on evidence from literature and characterization data. Every experiment costs real time and materials. Off-the-shelf methods often struggle here, and they ignore the domain structure that could guide the search.

As a Bayesian Methods Co-Op, you will work alongside research scientists and engineers on a focused project within one broad question: how AI systems can make better experimental decisions. Depending on your background, that could mean building agents that choose the next experiment, testing when in-context learners can be trusted as decision-makers, or developing Bayesian strategies for tight experimental budgets. Your methods will be tested against live campaigns.

What You'll Be Building

• Design and benchmark experiment-selection strategies that balance exploration and exploitation under realistic budgets
• Build autonomous discovery agents that propose the next experiment from surrogate models
• Develop in-context learning approaches inspired by Bayesian inference, evaluating calibration and robustness
• Run retrospective and live evaluations on active campaign data with clear baselines and metrics
• Present findings to ML and experimental teams, with the option to contribute to a publication

What You'll Need to Succeed

• Pursuing a Master's or PhD in statistics, ML, CS, operations research, applied math, or a quantitative science
• Solid grounding in Bayesian inference and decision making, including priors and posterior predictive distributions
• Research experience in Gaussian processes, Bayesian optimization, bandits, reinforcement learning, or probabilistic modeling
• Strong Python skills with PyTorch and probabilistic libraries such as Pyro, PyMC, or BoTorch
• Comfort working with small, noisy, and heterogeneous datasets
• Clear communication with both ML and experimental collaborators

Bonus Points For

• Applying these methods to real problems in materials science, chemistry, or another physical science
• Familiarity with in-context learning as implicit Bayesian inference, meta-learning, or prior-data fitted networks
• Optimization over categorical or combinatorial spaces, including mixed-variable, multi-objective, or batch settings
• Reinforcement learning for sequential decision making or Bayesian experimental design
• Training models on multimodal scientific data such as text, images, spectra, or simulations

About LILA

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.

LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.

Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.

Lila Sciences iscommitted to equal employment opportunityregardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

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