Senior Life Sciences Data Engineer – Cambridge, MA

Motion Recruitment; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance (employer paid)

Dental Benefits

Vision Benefits

Paid Time Off (Unlimited PTO)

401(k)

Company-paid Life Insurance

Short-Term and Long-Term Disability

Job summary

Motion Recruitment is seeking a Senior Life Sciences Data Engineer in the Cambridge, MA area to build scalable data infrastructure powering pharmaceutical innovation. You will collaborate with scientists, data architects, product teams, and stakeholders to transform research data into AI-ready assets, delivering robust data products and pipelines.

You will work on ETL/ELT design, data modeling, and production-grade pipelines, mentoring junior engineers while aligning with cross-functional teams

Qualifications

• 8+ years building data platforms, pipelines, or data products.
• 8+ years of hands-on Python and SQL development.
• Designing scalable ETL/ELT processes and data models.
• Experience leading technical projects and coordinating cross-functional teams.
• Experience gathering requirements from business stakeholders to deliver solutions.
• Production-grade data pipelines with testing and quality controls.
• Experience handling complex, unstructured, or semi-structured datasets.
• Excellent communication and project leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Partner with scientists, stakeholders, architects, and product teams to design scalable scientific data solutions.
• Build and maintain data pipelines for research, laboratory, manufacturing, and clinical data sources.
• Design data models, schemas, and ingestion frameworks for complex datasets.
• Develop reusable parsing, transformation, and integration components in Python.
• Create AI-ready datasets and high-quality data products for analytics and ML use cases.
• Develop dashboards, visualizations, and applications to derive value from data.
• Lead technical design discussions and architecture reviews.
• Ensure quality through automated testing and validation frameworks.

Skills

Python

SQL

ETL/ELT design

Data modeling

Leadership

Stakeholder alignment

Test & QA

Unstructured data

Communication

Cross-functional teamwork

Tools

React

Streamlit

Job description

Job Description A rapidly growing Scientific AI and Data Platform company is hiring a Senior Life Sciences Data Engineer to help build the next generation of data infrastructure powering pharmaceutical and biotechnology innovation.
This role sits at the intersection of modern data engineering, scientific computing, and life sciences research. You’ll work directly with scientists, data architects, product teams, and business stakeholders to transform complex laboratory and research data into scalable, AI-ready assets that accelerate discovery, development, and manufacturing initiatives.
We’re looking for an engineer who combines strong technical depth with real-world experience working around scientific, laboratory, clinical, research, or manufacturing data. The ideal candidate understands the challenges of integrating disparate scientific datasets and is passionate about building robust data products that create measurable business and research outcomes.
This is a highly visible role with opportunities to lead technical initiatives, mentor engineers, influence architecture decisions, and work on cutting-edge AI and scientific data solutions.

Required Skills & Experience

• 8+ years of experience building data platforms, pipelines, or data products
• 8+ years of hands‑on Python and SQL development
• Strong experience designing scalable ETL/ELT processes and data models
• Experience leading technical projects and coordinating work across cross‑functional teams
• Experience working directly with business stakeholders to gather requirements and deliver solutions
• Expertise building production‑grade data pipelines with strong testing and quality standards
• Experience handling complex, unstructured, or semi‑structured datasets
• Excellent communication and project leadership skills

Strongly Preferred

• Experience working with life sciences, biotech, pharmaceutical, clinical, laboratory, manufacturing, or scientific research data
• Experience with ELN, LIMS, CRO, CDMO, or laboratory instrument data
• Experience supporting scientists, researchers, or R&D organizations
• Experience building dashboards, applications, or analytical tools using React, Streamlit, or similar technologies
• Familiarity with AI, machine learning, or scientific data platforms

Desired Skills & Experience

• Experience with scientific file formats and laboratory data standards
• Knowledge of pre‑clinical, translational, or research data workflows
• Experience developing reusable Python libraries and frameworks
• Experience mentoring junior engineers
• Agile delivery experience
• Cloud data platform experience

What You Will Be Doing Daily Responsibilities

• Partner with scientists, business stakeholders, architects, and product teams to design scalable scientific data solutions
• Build and maintain data pipelines for research, laboratory, manufacturing, and clinical data sources
• Design data models, schemas, and ingestion frameworks for complex scientific datasets
• Develop reusable parsing, transformation, and integration components in Python
• Build AI-ready datasets and high-quality data products for downstream analytics and machine learning use cases
• Create dashboards, visualizations, and applications that help customers derive value from their scientific data
• Lead technical design discussions and architecture reviews
• Ensure quality through automated testing, validation frameworks, and best engineering practices
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to team growth and development
• Drive successful delivery of customer-facing data initiatives

The Offer

• Competitive base salary: $140,000 – $200,000
• Opportunity to work with cutting‑edge AI and scientific data technologies
• High-impact role supporting leading life sciences and biotechnology organizations

You will receive the following benefits

• Medical Insurance (100% employer paid)
• Dental Benefits
• Vision Benefits
• Paid Time Off (Unlimited PTO)
• 401(k)
• Company-paid Life Insurance
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Coverage
  Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the US on a full-time basis now and in the future.