Senior Data Scientist - AI Engineering - Clinical Applications

Novo Nordisk A/S; Lexington (MA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Novo Nordisk is seeking a Senior Data Scientist I in Lexington, MA, to contribute to AI/ML research for clinical applications. You will develop and validate LLM-based solutions, build data pipelines, and collaborate with engineers and medical professionals to ensure solutions align with drug development workflows.

You will mentor junior data scientists, work across squads, and stay current with GenAI/LLM research while supporting the company’s mission to improve patient outcomes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s or PhD preferred
• 5+ years of relevant experience with a Bachelor’s degree, or 3+ years with a Master’s
• Hands-on experience with Azure Databricks
• Experience with LLM and generative AI domain: model selection, system design, fine-tuning (supervised, LoRA, PEFT)
• Foundational understanding of deep/reinforcement learning models and architectures such as transformers, GANs, VAEs

Responsibilities

• Develop and validate LLM-based solutions for content retrieval, generation, summarization, and inference in healthcare and drug development
• Enable and assist in software engineering for AI products: architect services, design APIs, build backend systems, integrate with frontend apps
• Build data pipelines and retrieval systems (vector databases, embedding pipelines, knowledge bases) for retrieval-augmented generation and document understanding
• Collaborate with data scientists to design, code, train, test, deploy, and iterate ML systems
• Explore model-driven reasoning via prompt engineering, model fine-tuning (supervised, LoRA, PEFT), and optimization methods
• Create technical documentation, runbooks, and training materials for model usage and maintenance
• Mentor junior data scientists and contribute to cross-functional teams to deliver AI/ML solutions
• Stay current on GenAI/LLM research, best practices, and technology roadmap

Skills

Python

Jupyter Notebook

HuggingFace

PyTorch

Azure Databricks

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree or PhD preferred

Tools

Azure Databricks

Job description

Senior Data Scientist - AI Engineering - Clinical Applications

Facility: Data & AI

Location: Lexington, MA, US

About the Department

Our Research & Development organization brings together the best minds in life science innovation. The teams located in facilities in Lexington, Watertown, Cambridge and Plainsboro reflect the full R&D continuum, from early research through late-stage clinical development. Here, we are building for the future, creating a distinct R&D community based on collaboration, partnerships, and cutting-edge research across multiple modalities and therapeutic areas. We recognize that improving human health starts here and that patients rely on us. Our R&D hub merges biotech speed and agility with large pharmaceutical company quality, resources, and stability, uniting the best of both worlds to develop new medicines for patients.

The Position

The Senior Data Scientist I will contribute to the research team's effort towards exploring and creating new technology and being a world leader in data science within our fields. The Senior Data Scientist I will bring elements of data collection, preparation and engineering as well as software engineering in a data science context. The Senior Data Scientist I will develop and validate algorithms and models in support of data science efforts with a high degree of initiative and self-sufficiency. Moreover, the Senior Data Scientist will guide more junior Data Scientists in the execution of their tasks.

Relationships

The Senior Data Scientist I reports to the Associate Director of the Clinical AI development area. Internal partners include fellow Data Scientists, AI Engineers, and System Architects who serve as primary day-to-day collaborators in the design and delivery of AI/ML solutions. The role also works closely with medical professionals, clinical trial squad members, and biostatisticians to ensure that solutions are grounded in clinical context and meets the needs of drug development workflows.

Essential Functions

• Develop and validate LLM-based solutionsforcontent retrieval,generation,summarizationand inferenceapplied tohealthcare and drug developmentchallenges
• Enable& assist in software engineering for AI products: architect services, design APIs, build backend systems, and integrate with frontend applications while meeting performance, safety, privacy& ethicsrequirements.
• Build and maintain requisite data solutions , including vector databases, embedding pipelines, and knowledge bases to support retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and document understanding
• Collaborate with other data scientists to design, code, train, test, deploy, and iterate on machine learning systems
• Explore model-driven reasoning through the application of prompt engineering, model fine-tuning techniques (supervised, LoRA,PEFT, etc.), and optimization methods (quantization, distillation, caching) as part of day-to-day development work.
• Create technical documentation, runbooks, and training materials for model usage and maintenance.
• Accomplishes objectives with a high degree of self sufficiency
• Collaborate with other Data Scientists, as well as engineers from other disciplines to complete daily tasks
• Actively participates in cross-functional teams to develop AI and ML solutions
• Stay current on GenAI/LLM research,bestpracticesand technology roadmap
• Achieves business goals, shares learnings, knowledge and skills and promotes cross-functional teamwork.
• Raise the level of competency in the team by seeking and sharing domain knowledge in the area of Data Science, as well as Novo Nordisk’s therapy areas

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required. Master’s degree, or PhD is preferred. Degree within subject matter expertise preferred
• A Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years’ relevant experience, OR Master’s Degree with 3+ years’ relevant experience, OR PhD with no experience can be considered
• Hands on experience with Azure Databricks
• Experience working in LLM and generative AI domain: model selection, system design, fine-tuning (supervised,LoRA, PEFT, etc.), prompt engineering, evaluation, observation, etc.
• A foundational understanding of deep/reinforcementlearning modelsand architecturessuch as transformers, GANs, VAEs, etc.
• Experience in designing agentic solutions to tackle problems in healthcare, with considerations on evaluation and harnessing.
• Proven programming skills in Python and familiarity with data science and ML tooling (e.g., Jupyter Notebook, HuggingFace, PyTorch)
• Experience building data pipelines and retrieval systems (vector databases, embedding pipelines, knowledge bases) to support RAG, Graphs, and document understanding workflows
• Ability to execute own Data Science tasks while mentoring more junior Data Scientists in the development of their skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Detail oriented with strong documentation skills.
• Ability to develop and implement sound technical solutions to complex problems.
• Ability to work independently and in teams, and to collaborate with external parties.
• Preferred experience includes:
• Experience in pharmaceutical industry, healthcare industry, regulated medical device development or in another regulated field.
• Experience in deploying agentic solutions to tackle problems in healthcare.
• Familiarity with CI/CD best practices, cloud-based distributed systems, containerization, and test automation, particularly in stateful LLM system designs

We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants.

At Novo Nordisk, we're not chasing quick fixes – we're creating lasting change for long-term health. For over 100 years, we've been driven by a single purpose: to defeat serious chronic diseases and help millions of people live healthier lives. This dedication fuels our constant curiosity and inspires us to push the boundaries of what's possible in healthcare. We embrace diverse perspectives, seek out bold ideas, and build partnerships rooted in shared purpose. Together, we're making healthcare more accessible, treating and defeating diseases, and pioneering solutions that create change spanning generations. When you join us, you become part of something bigger – a legacy of impact that reaches far beyond today.

Novo Nordisk is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal laws, rules or regulations.

If you are interested in applying to Novo Nordisk and need special assistance or an accommodation to apply, please call us at 1-855-411-5290. This contact is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.