Senior Scientist II, Computational Biology, Pharma R&D

Tempus AI, Inc.; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Incentive compensation

RSUs (restricted stock units)

Medical benefits

Job summary

Tempus AI, Inc. in Boston, MA seeks a Senior Scientist to lead computational biology efforts within Pharma R&D. You will integrate multi-omics and clinical data to deliver actionable insights for drug discovery, while advancing AI tools and agentic workflows to accelerate research.

The role emphasizes leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and scientific communication to stakeholders and partners, with a focus on high-impact trials and platform development.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computational Biology, Biostatistics, Bioinformatics or related field; or Masters with 4+ years of research/industry experience.
• Strong proficiency in R and/or Python with scientific libraries.
• Experience applying ML/AI tools and agentic frameworks to biological/clinical research.
• Familiarity with code quality, version control, and QA/QC practices.
• Experience analyzing large-scale biological datasets (NGS, RNA-seq) and interpreting results.

Responsibilities

• Partner with pharma collaborators to translate scientific objectives into analytical plans.
• Perform computational analyses integrating genomic, clinical, and imaging data.
• Incorporate AI tools and LLMs to accelerate code development and discoveries.
• Develop and implement new methods for real-world and omics data integration.
• Communicate complex methods and findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Skills

R

Python

ML

SQL

Statistics

Education

PhD in Computational Biology

Masters with 4+ years experience

Tools

Copilot

Cursor

Git

Job description

Passionate about precision medicine and advancing the healthcare industry? Recent advancements in underlying technology have finally made it possible for AI to impact clinical care in a meaningful way. Tempus' proprietary platform connects an entire ecosystem of real-world evidence to deliver real-time, actionable insights to physicians, providing critical information about the right treatments for the right patients, at the right time. We are seeking an experienced Senior Scientist to join the Computational Biology, Pharma R&D team. This group operates at the intersection of biological data science and AI, supporting high-impact collaborations with major pharmaceutical partners. The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong scientific leadership, deep expertise in computational biology including AI tools, and a proven track of success. The role focuses on integrating large-scale molecular and clinical datasets, generating actionable insights for drug discovery and development, and building next-generation research tools that enhance the impact and efficiency of our work.

Key Responsibilities

• Pharma Collaboration & Strategy: Partner with pharmaceutical collaborators in target discovery, biomarker development, and clinical development teams. Understand their scientific and clinical objectives, pipelines, and drug modalities. Independently translate partner needs into key questions and technical requirements to design well-scoped analytical plans that leverage the Tempus multimodal platform.
• Computational Analysis & Insight Generation: Execute robust, reproducible analyses integrating genomic, transcriptomic, imaging, and clinical data. Apply appropriate statistical and computational best practices to derive insights related to clinical trial design, patient selection, treatment response, resistance mechanisms, and disease biology.
• AI & LLM Innovation: Incorporate LLMs and other AI tools into day-to-day workflows to automate, streamline and accelerate code development, discovery, documentation, and review. Design and prototype agentic workflows integrating foundation models and LLMs to power new insights and predictive models.
• Method Development and Platform Contribution: Evaluate, adapt, and implement new methods for the analysis of real-world, clinical, and ’omic datasets (e.g., survival analysis, causal inference, multi-modal integration). Contribute to reusable code, internal packages, and best practices that can be applied across multiple collaborations and programs.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with colleagues in Research, Clinical, Data Science, and Engineering to refine analyses, build scalable solutions, and align scientific efforts with platform and product roadmaps.
• Scientific Communication: Communicate complex methods and results clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Prepare and present internal reports, external-facing deliverables, and, where appropriate, manuscripts or conference materials that demonstrate the impact of Tempus data and technologies on partner programs.
• Leadership: Demonstrate strong project-level leadership, to ensure the delivery of high-quality results in an efficient and effective manner. This includes setting clear priorities, coordinating resources, and proactively identifying and addressing potential obstacles to ensure that project milestones and deadlines are consistently met. The ideal candidate will foster a collaborative environment, provide mentorship to junior scientists on project teams, and uphold a standard of excellence in project execution and delivery.

Qualifications

• Education: PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Machine Learning, or a related field (or Masters degree with 4+ years of relevant experience). Plus an additional 2+ years of relevant industry or post-doctoral experience. Track record of success: proven in peer reviewed publications.
• Technical Proficiency: Proficiency in R and/or Python, including experience with common computational biology and scientific computing libraries. Proficiency applying machine learning, LLM-based coding assistants (e.g., Copilot, Cursor) and agentic frameworks for biological/clinical research. Adherence to good software engineering practices (version control, modular code, documentation). Strong grounding in statistics and data analysis, including study design considerations and interpretation of real-world clinical data. Proficiency in providing quality code review and QA/QC for the work of others.
• Scientific Knowledge: Strong understanding of cancer biology, immunology, or human disease mechanisms, with the ability to interpret and effectively summarize scientific findings.
• Data Expertise: Demonstrated experience analyzing large-scale biological datasets (e.g., NGS, RNA‑seq, other genomics or transcriptomics data), ideally in oncology, immunology, or human disease.
• Scientific Leadership: Demonstrated project leadership and people mentorship.
• Soft Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills with comfort in client-facing roles. Strong collaborator. Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic setting.
• Preferred Skillsets: Generative AI: Practical experience configuring or adapting LLMs, or using related tools/frameworks, to support scientific work. Specialized Modeling: Expertise in one or more of the following: Real-world evidence (RWE), survival analysis, causal inference, network/systems biology, or multi-modal integration.
• Publication Record: A strong history of peer-reviewed publications or conference presentations.
• Drug Discovery Context: Understanding of the drug development lifecycle, from target discovery to clinical development.
• Experience: Working with SQL and large relational databases.

CHI: $100,000-$160,000 NYC: $115,000-$175,000 The expected salary range may vary for other locations. Actual salary may vary based on qualifications and experience.

Tempus offers a full range of benefits, which may include incentive compensation, restricted stock units, medical and other benefits depending on the position.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Tempus was founded in August of 2015 by Eric Lefkofsky, after his wife was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Shortly after he founded the company in an effort to bring the power of technology and artificial intelligence to cancer care, he convinced Ryan Fukushima to join as the company’s first employee. Ryan and Eric began assembling a world class team, focused on building the first version of a platform capable of ingesting real time healthcare data in an effort to personalize diagnostics. We built the platform for oncology and have expanded it to neuropsychiatry, cardiology, infectious disease (through COVID), and radiology. Despite our rapid growth, our mission remains the same—to help make sure patients are on the right drug at the right time, so they can live longer and healthier lives.

We’re looking for people who can change the world. Who question the status quo and don’t shy away from tough problems. For the builders who are never done building and the learners who are never done learning. We’re looking for passionate people with undying curiosity. Those who want to attack one of the most challenging problems mankind has ever faced. Head on.