Translational Post Doctoral Researcher - Agentic AI for Neurodegeneration

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 79,000 - 127,650; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision benefits

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

Job summary

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine seeks a Translational Postdoctoral Researcher — Agentic AI for Neurodegeneration for a 2-year fixed-term position in Cambridge, MA. You will join the Machine Intelligence team to integrate multimodal data and develop evaluation frameworks for agentic AI systems across imaging, omics, and clinical evidence, collaborating with C-BRAIN’s network of academic partners.

The role advances toward publishing methodologies and translating AI insights into actionable

Qualifications

• PhD (or MD/PhD) in neuroscience or related field completed recently.
• Deep knowledge of neurodegenerative disease biology.
• Hands-on experience with at least two data modalities (neuroimaging, digital pathology, omics, longitudinal clinical data).
• Familiarity with large language models and agentic AI frameworks (LangGraph, DSPy or equivalent).
• Proficiency in Python and common ML/data engineering frameworks.
• Excellent scientific communication and ability to work across computational, translational, and experimental teams.
• Self-directed, with ability to work independently and in multi-disciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Characterize and integrate biomedical data modalities to develop domain-specific models for neurodegeneration.
• Build data engineering pipelines to harmonize modalities into unified analytical frameworks.
• Identify where cross-modal integration adds value and establish ground truth for AI evaluation.
• Critically assess AI-driven literature synthesis and evaluation capabilities across modalities.
• Develop evaluation benchmarks for agentic AI systems spanning imaging, omics, and clinical data.
• Translate evaluation findings into actionable guidance for AI system development.
• Co-author manuscripts and translational strategy documents.

Skills

Neurodegenerative biology

Python

ML frameworks

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Scientific communication

Self-directed work

Education

PhD or MD/PhD in neuroscience or related field

Tools

LangGraph

DSPy

Neo4j

Neptune

AWS

Azure

Python ML stack

Job description

Position

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine is seeking a Translational Postdoctoral Researcher — Agentic AI for Neurodegeneration for a 2-year fixed-term position.

Locations: Raritan, New Jersey; Titusville, New Jersey; Spring House, Pennsylvania; San Diego, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts. (No remote option.)

Job Overview

The next frontier in neurodegeneration research is integrating insights across the data we already have at scale with agentic AI. Whole slide pathology, PET and MRI imaging, multi‑omics, and longitudinal clinical records each offer a different lens on neurodegenerative diseases. This integration challenge is reshaping how we build agentic AI systems for drug discovery and how we evaluate them.

As a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Machine Intelligence team at J&J Innovative Medicine, you will work with AI scientists and translational teams across C‑BRAIN’s academic network to develop evaluation frameworks that test agentic AI systems across multiple modalities.

Key Responsibilities

Multi‑Modal Data Integration

• Characterize and integrate biomedical data modalities—digital pathology (whole slide images), neuroimaging (PET, structural and functional MRI), omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics), and longitudinal clinical data—to develop specialized, domain‑specific models for neurodegeneration
• Build and refine data engineering pipelines that harmonize heterogeneous modalities—reconciling differences in spatial resolution, temporal scale, and dimensionality—into unified analytical frameworks
• Identify where cross‑modal integration produces genuine insight versus where it introduces noise or artifact, establishing ground truth for downstream AI evaluation

Agentic AI Evaluation

• Critically assess AI‑driven literature synthesis and automated “third reviewer” capabilities for detecting methodological weaknesses, logical gaps, and unsupported claims across data modalities
• Establish standards for how agentic systems incorporate overlooked or contradictory evidence such as negative findings or failed clinical trials, and evaluate whether these integrations generate genuinely novel hypotheses
• Design evaluation frameworks for agentic AI systems operating across neuroscience data modalities—assessing whether models can reason credibly across imaging, omics, and clinical evidence
• Develop benchmarks using synthetic and real‑world multimodal datasets that probe AI co‑scientist capabilities under realistic research conditions, testing for robustness, reproducibility, and alignment with expert‑level biomedical reasoning

Research & Communication

• Serve as a neurodegeneration domain expert within the AI/ML team, ensuring that model outputs remain anchored to clinically relevant disease questions
• Translate evaluation findings into actionable guidance for AI system development, bridging computational and experimental perspectives
• Publish evaluation methodologies and findings in leading journals and conferences (e.g., AD/PD, AAIC, NeurIPS)
• Articulate emerging AI/ML approaches—causal reasoning, intent classification, agentic planning—to diverse audiences with clear framing of practical applications in drug discovery
• Co‑author manuscripts, concept papers, and translational strategy documents

Required Qualifications

• PhD (or MD/PhD) in neuroscience, neurobiology, computational neuroscience, biomedical informatics, or a closely related field. (*Degree must have been completed within the last 3 years, or will be completed in the next 6 months.)
• Deep knowledge of neurodegenerative disease biology (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc.) including disease mechanisms, experimental models, and translational challenges
• Hands‑on experience working with at least two of the following data modalities in a research context: neuroimaging (PET, MRI), digital pathology, omics, longitudinal clinical data
• Familiarity with large language model architectures and agentic AI frameworks (e.g., LangGraph, DSPy, or equivalent orchestration tools)
• Proficiency in Python and common ML/data engineering frameworks
• Excellent scientific communication skills and comfort working across computational, translational, and experimental teams
• Self‑directed, with the ability to work both independently and within a diverse, multi‑disciplinary team

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building data pipelines that integrate heterogeneous biomedical data types
• Familiarity with evaluation or benchmarking methodologies for AI/ML systems
• Experience with NLP techniques: named entity recognition, natural language inference, knowledge graph construction
• Knowledge of graph data structures, graph analytics, and graph platforms (Neo4j, Neptune)
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure (AWS and/or Azure) for scalable pipelines

Compensation & Benefits

The anticipated base pay range for this position is $79,000 – $127,650. The Company maintains highly competitive, performance‑based compensation programs. Under current guidelines, this position is eligible for an annual performance bonus in accordance with the terms of the applicable plan.

Employees may be eligible to participate in the following company‑sponsored employee benefit programs: medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short‑term and long‑term disability, business accident insurance, and group legal insurance. Employees may also participate in the Company’s consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)).

Employees are eligible for the following time‑off benefits:

• Vacation – up to 120 hours per calendar year
• Sick time – up to 40 hours per calendar year
• Holiday pay, including floating holidays – up to 13 days per calendar year of work, personal and family time – up to 40 hours per calendar year

Equal Opportunity Employer

Johnson & Johnson is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by federal, state or local law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Johnson & Johnson is committed to providing an interview process that is inclusive of our applicants’ needs. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request an accommodation, external applicants may contact us via https://www.jnj.com/contact-us/careers. Internal employees may contact AskGS to be directed to your accommodation resource.