Senior Computational Biologist – Early Discovery Immunology

Recursion; Salt Lake City (UT); Hybrid; USD 151,800 - 200,600; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Equity compensation

Benefits package

Job summary

Recursion is seeking a computational biologist to lead target discovery and validation within the early discovery team. You will integrate large datasets to nominate novel targets and define precision strategies for advancing therapies into drug discovery programs.

The role requires strong computational skills, domain expertise in immunology, and experience in biotech or pharma with advanced degrees. Collaboration across biology, chemistry, data science, and engineering is essential.

Qualifications

• PhD in computational biology or related field with strong computational focus and 3+ years in biotech/pharma OR MS with 5+ years in biotech/pharma solving problems in early drug discovery.
• Domain expertise in immunological diseases and target id.
• Strong understanding of patient genetics and druggability of disease pathways.
• Experience applying computational methods to analyze complex biological data in Python or R.
• Exceptional data visualization skills.
• Excellent cross‑functional communication, ability to explain complex concepts.

Responsibilities

• Drive Target Discovery: evaluate molecular evidence for nomination using Recursion's platform.
• Pilot novel methods for discovery and early population hypotheses.
• Define criteria for target data packages and patient population strategy.
• Collaborate with platform and engineering teams to solve projects.
• Partner with biologists, chemists, translational, and portfolio leads to build data packages.
• Present data analyses to decision makers to drive program milestones.

Skills

PhD in computational biology

3+ years biotech/pharma experience

Domain expertise immunology

Python or R

Data visualization

Cross-functional communication

Education

PhD in computational biology

MS in relevant field

Tools

Python

R

Job description

Your work will change lives. Including your own.

The Impact You’ll Make

As a computational biologist within Recursion’s early discovery team, you will be at the forefront of reimagining drug discovery from first principles. Your mission is to integrate Recursion’s massive datasets—phenomics, transcriptomics, genomics, proteomics—to nominate novel targets, validate disease biology, and define the precision I&I strategies to advance our most promising therapeutic targets into full‑fledged drug discovery programs.

This is a highly collaborative role: you will partner with biologists, chemists, data scientists, platform and data engineers, and translational experts to develop and scale methods for target discovery and validation. You will also partner with computational scientists from across the organization to develop novel approaches to agentic target packages, early translational de‑risking, and mechanism of action identification. The ideal candidate has strong stakeholder management, technical communication skills, and 3+ years biotech or pharma experience in early drug discovery.

We are hiring for two roles on a new target ID team, one domain expert in immunology and inflammatory diseases (this role) and one in precision oncology.

In This Role, You Will

• Drive Target Discovery: Evaluate the molecular evidence for target nomination and validation, leveraging Recursion’s platform to identify novel vulnerabilities in I&I disease biology
• Pilot novel methods for target discovery, disease biology validation, and early patient population hypotheses to send programs into nomination cascades
• Define internal criteria for target data packages and early patient population strategy
• Connect your innovative analysis methods to platform and engineering teams so that we solve the current project and accelerate future ones
• Collaborate cross‑functionally: Partner with biologists, medicinal chemists, translational, and portfolio leads to build compelling data packages that drive program milestones and internal investment decisions.
• Present data analysis to decision makers and stakeholders in a clear and compelling way that drives toward getting medicines to patients.

The Team You’ll Join

Our group is a bold, agile, diverse collective of computational drug discovery scientists deeply focused on the singular goal of bringing new therapeutics into the clinic at an accelerated pace. Our expertise spans precision oncology, I&I (immunology and inflammation), and neuroscience and we focus on advancing novel, targeted therapies in these disease areas. We partner closely with other functions to design and execute impactful and decisional data analyses for new targets and drug programs and are responsible for data strategy across the portfolio. We prioritize career development, fluency at the intersection of biology and technology, and a strong network of technical feedback and support.

The Experience You’ll Need

• PhD in a relevant field (computational biology, bioinformatics, systems biology, immunology, etc.) with a very strong computational focus and 3+ years of experience in biotech or pharma industry OR MS in a relevant field and 5+ years of experience in biotech or pharma industry solving fundamental problems in early drug discovery
• Domain expertise in immunological diseases and target id
• Strong understanding of patient genetics and druggability of disease relevant pathways
• Experience applying computational methods (including probabilistic, statistical, and/or machine learning techniques) to analyze and integrate complex biological and/or human clinical data in a high level programming language such as Python or R
• Exceptional data visualization skills
• Excellent cross‑functional communication skills, including an ability to explain complex scientific concepts to a variety of audiences using a combination of plots, documents, and presentations

Nice To Have

• Experience building a target discovery engine using public and proprietary datasets
• Experience designing high‑throughput screens with CRISPR or small molecule perturbations to validate therapeutic hypotheses
• Previous exposure to efficient drug program advancement from proof of concept to IND

Working Location & Compensation

This is an office‑based, hybrid role in our Salt Lake City, UT or New York, NY offices. Employees are expected to work in the office at least 50% of the time.

Qualifications

At Recursion, we believe that every employee should be compensated fairly. Based on the skills, experience, and qualifications needed for this role, the estimated annual base salary range is:

• New York City: $166,980 to $220,660
• Salt Lake City: $151,800 to $200,600

In addition to base salary, this role is eligible for an annual bonus, equity compensation, and a comprehensive benefits package.

The Values We Hope You Share

• We act boldly with integrity. We are unconstrained in our thinking, take calculated risks, and push boundaries, but never at the expense of ethics, science, or trust.
• We care deeply and engage directly. Caring means holding a deep sense of responsibility and respect - showing up, speaking honestly, and taking action.
• We learn actively and adapt rapidly. Progress comes from doing. We experiment, test, and refine, embracing iteration over perfection.
• We move with urgency because patients are waiting. Speed isn’t about rushing but about moving the needle every day.
• We take ownership and accountability. Through ownership and accountability, we enable trust and autonomy—leaders take accountability for decisive action, and teams own outcomes together.
• We are One Recursion. True cross‑functional collaboration is about trust, clarity, humility, and impact. Through sharing, we can be greater than the sum of our individual capabilities.

More About Recursion

Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX) is a clinical‑stage TechBio company decoding biology to radically improve lives. Recursion is advancing a portfolio of differentiated investigational medicines across its wholly owned and partnered pipeline in oncology, rare disease, neuroscience, immunology, and other therapeutic areas with significant unmet need. Enabling its mission is the Recursion OS, an AI‑native, end‑to‑end drug discovery and development platform integrating biology, chemistry, and clinical development into a unified intelligence system. Powered by proprietary multimodal data, purpose‑built AI models, and bilingual teams fluent in both science and AI, the Recursion OS is designed to translate complex science into medicines that matter — faster, better, and at scale — for patients who are waiting.

Recursion’s platform infrastructure is anchored in Salt Lake City, Utah and Milton Park, Oxfordshire, where its automated biology and chemistry laboratories generate proprietary data at industrial scale. Recursion also maintains offices in New York, Montréal, and London, three global hubs for talent and leadership at the intersection of AI and scientific innovation. Learn more at www.recursion.com, or connect on X and LinkedIn.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Recursion is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, local, or provincial human rights legislation.

Accommodations

Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies

Recursion Pharmaceuticals and its affiliate companies do not accept resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Recursion or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Recursion’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Recursion, and Recursion will not owe any referral or other fees. Our team will communicate directly with candidates who are not represented by an agent or intermediary unless otherwise agreed to prior to interviewing for the job.