Director / Senior Director, Machine Learning for Biology

Altos Labs; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 274,000 - 470,000; Full time

Job summary

Altos Labs seeks a Director/Senior Director-level Scientist to lead the Institute of Computing's ML capabilities, guiding large-scale ML methods in cell rejuvenation research. You will stay hands-on while setting long-term strategic direction, coordinating cross-functional partners across Altos’ IoC.

You will mentor and grow a world-class ML team, shape project design, and drive collaboration with biology programs to translate ML breakthroughs into impactful scientific advancements.

Qualifications

• PhD in a quantitative field (ML/CS/Computational Biology).
• 10+ years of relevant experience with leadership in biotech or AI-driven life sciences.
• Proven track record leading large ML programs across uncertain scientific frontiers.

Responsibilities

• Co-define and steer Altos' core technical agenda for ML in biology.
• Build partnerships across functions and lead a team of ML scientists and engineers.
• Provide technical guidance on ML project design, risk reduction, and program strategy.
• Mentor teams, grow ML talent, and recruit outstanding ML researchers.

Skills

AI/ML leadership

Biological ML

Strategic thinking

Hands-on ML

Education

PhD in Machine Learning/Computational Biology/Related field

Job description

Our Mission

Our mission is to restore cell health and resilience through cell rejuvenation to reverse disease, injury, and the disabilities that can occur throughout life.

Our Mission

Our mission is to restore cell health and resilience through cell rejuvenation to reverse disease, injury, and the disabilities that can occur throughout life.

For more information, see our website at altoslabs.com.

Our Value

Our Single Altos Value: Everyone Owns Achieving Our Inspiring Mission.

Diversity at Altos

Altos Labs has been named one of the Top 3 Biotech Companies and ranked for the second year on the Forbes 2026 Best Startups in America list. At Altos, exceptional scientists and industry leaders from around the world work together to advance a shared mission. Our intentional focus is on Belonging, so that all employees know that they are valued for their unique perspectives. We are all accountable for sustaining a diverse and inclusive environment.

What You Will Contribute To Altos

Altos is asking questions biology has no method for yet; the Institute of Computing (IoC) builds the machine learning to answer them, and it is looking for a Director or Senior Director-level Scientist to lead that capability with a proven record of taking large-scale ML methods to real biological problems. Someone who is still deep enough in the work to be hands‑on in the technical trenches and shape method choices, and senior enough to set strategic direction, at critical decision points, across the institute's most ambitious programs.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the rest of the IoC Leadership Team to co-define and steer Altos' core technical agenda, strategically identifying and prioritizing the most critical biological questions where machine learning can drive breakthroughs in cell rejuvenation and resilience, ensuring ML investments are deployed against highest-impact scientific frontiers rather than pure technical advancement.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with key stakeholders and leaders across different functions / Altos.
• Lead a team of ML Scientists and Engineers, while staying hands‑on enough to provide direct technical guidance across IoC's highest-impact ML programs.
• Provide technical and strategic guidance and advice on ML project design and de-risking across multiple teams, drawing on deep intuition for what drives success or failure in ML-for-biology projects, backed by established experience.
• Provide sustained technical mentorship and strategic guidance, supporting the professional development and growth of the team while proactively growing IoC's ML bench through training, coaching, and active recruitment of outstanding talent.
• Lead effectively in a matrixed environment, influencing technical direction on projects and teams outside your direct reporting line, and aligning priorities across IoC's ML programs even where you don't hold reporting authority.

Who You Are

• Deep knowledge and understanding with common and state of the art AI/ML methods and innovations and large-scale training procedures, applied to biological data modalities (e.g., single-cell, perturbation-response, spatial, or sequence data).
• We are looking for a broad expertise and mastery across various AI/ML domains, specifically: reasoning and open-ended learning framework design for scientific hypothesis generation and evaluation; large-scale pretraining, fine-tuning, and post-training of foundation models, including RL, distillations, finetuning, and strategies to reduce hallucination and align model objectives with scientific discovery; model architectures that span multimodal generative and predictive modeling (normalizing flows, diffusion models, LLMs) for out-of-distribution generalization in biological systems; and hybrid modeling approaches - model identifiability, robustness, and regularized/interpretable methods such as anchor or energy-based models - for biological tasks, including target identification; semantic-based dynamic inference, virtual cell and world model paradigms.
• A strong track record of leading innovative biological ML projects to success, while foreseeing and mitigating ML project failure modes at scale.
• Ability to think strategically, and can optimize for the long term while acting and delivering with pace.
• Ability to contribute to a culture of continuous learning and technical innovation, ensuring a rigorous balance between creative exploration and strategic resource allocation and priorities.
• Stay current with scientific and data science advancements, integrating relevant knowledge into computational biology.
• Intellectually curious with a strong pulse on the computational Landscape, and ability to decipher and prioritize AI trends from hype to maintain a competitive edge.

Minimum Qualifications

Education: PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, or a related quantitative field.

The level will be based on relevant experience and track record of technical and people leadership gained within a biotech or AI driven life sciences environment. Typically:

• Director: PhD + 10+ years experience with a proven track record, with a minimum of 4-5 years of experience, in people management.
• Senior Director: PhD +14+ years experience, with 7-8+ years of people/team leadership, and a demonstrable broad background driving multiple programs through multi-disciplinary teams.

The hiring range for Redwood City, CA:

• Director: $297,400 - $381,300
• Senior Director $366,800- $470,200

The hiring range for San Diego, CA:

• Director: $273,900- $351,100
• Senior Director $337,700- $432,900

Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, and location.

For UK applicants, before submitting your application:

• Please click here to read the Altos Labs EU and UK Applicant Privacy Notice (bit.ly/eu_uk_privacy_notice)
• This Privacy Notice is not a contract, express or implied and it does not set terms or conditions of employment.

Equal Opportunity Employment

We value collaboration and scientific excellence.

We believe that a culture of belonging are foundational to scientific innovation and inquiry. At Altos Labs, exceptional scientists and industry leaders from around the world work together to advance a shared mission. Our intentional focus is on Belonging, so that all employees know that they are valued for their unique perspectives. We are all accountable for sustaining an inclusive environment.

Altos Labs provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment, without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Altos prohibits unlawful discrimination and harassment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Thank you for your interest in Altos Labs where we strive for a culture of scientific excellence, learning, and belonging.