AI Research Engineer – Exscientia Miami, United States

Exscientia is a company that is committed to getting medicines to patients in the fastest and most effective manner. We do this by applying the latest research in Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and modern high-performance computational methods to transform drug design. Exscientia is at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven drug discovery and the only company to have used AI to design drug molecules that are currently in clinical studies.

Following multiple partnerships with many leading Pharmaceutical companies and research institutes, we are now seeking a highly motivated AI Research Engineer to join our new Miami office.

Role

In this role, you will be using your scientific expertise to directly contribute to our mission: making better drugs, faster – by further improving the predictive and generative modeling capabilities of our AI technology platform. We are applying state-of-the-art AI methods to address a diverse range of important problems in drug discovery and are constantly innovating if required tools are not sufficient or do not exist. Our ambition is to draw knowledge and inspiration from additional scientific disciplines such as mathematics, physics or computer science.

Some key challenges we are working on with our method development: how do we automatically design the most efficient molecules satisfying many constraints? How do we find the best one that can be advanced to clinical development by making and testing as few compounds as possible? To address these and other problems we use methods such as Reinforcement Learning to generate drug-like molecules, deep architectures to predict molecular properties and Bayesian optimization to decide what to make next.

You will therefore have the opportunity to work in exciting areas of AI-driven drug design like these as part of a talented and friendly team of research engineers with diverse scientific backgrounds. Collaboration is a cornerstone of our success and you will have the opportunity every day to work closely with experts from other domains such as experienced drug designers and medicinal chemists.

This role is a great fit for researchers that are passionate about AI and equally keen on implementing methods that can and will be used to improve the drug discovery process.

What you will do

• • Increase the accuracy and applicability of our predictive models through algorithmic or architectural improvements.
  • Extend and improve our generative molecule design capabilities through better models and algorithms.
  • Enhance the explainability of our machine learning predictions through methods such as feature attribution and robust estimation of uncertainty.
  • Develop cutting edge AI methods that can assist expert decision making – or even better, automate it!
  • Collaborate with research scientists, medicinal chemists and computational drug designers and use their feedback to improve our methods or create entirely new ones.
  • Stay informed on the latest research in relevant scientific fields and analyze its potential impact on our capabilities.
  • Interact with the larger AI communities by attending conferences or workshops and writing high-impact publications.

What you will need

• • Master’s or PhD degree or in artificial intelligence, machine learning, mathematics, physics, computer science or a related field with a comparable focus on analytical skills. Or an undergraduate degree in any one of these fields combined with comparable research experience from a professional career.
  • Good understanding of statistics and how statistical concepts such as Bayesian inference are applied in machine learning.
  • Ability to conduct novel research in a field of artificial intelligence such as machine learning or automated reasoning.
  • Advanced proficiency in at least one programming language that is commonly used in scientific computing and machine learning.
  • Desire to bring novel AI research as quickly as possible into a production environment to ultimately deliver therapeutics to patients faster!

Beneficial skills and experience

• • Knowledge of drug discovery and how AI methods can be applied to improve the process.
  • Experience with cloud compute platforms such as AWS, GCP or Azure.
  • Familiarity with major machine learning frameworks such as scikit-learn or PyTorch for building machine learning models and deep neural network architectures.
  • Hands-on experience with best software development practices and particularly in a collaborative environment.
  • Experience with ML Ops, continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) frameworks.
  • Open source contributions or publications in academic journals demonstrating experience in developing machine learning techniques to solve scientific problems.

Reasons for joining us

• • Making a positive contribution to patients by revolutionizing the pharmaceutical industry through AI-driven discovery.
  • Kick-start or further grow your career – at Exscientia, you will have the opportunity to acquire valuable skills, work on problems that matter, and learn from world-class technical and scientific leaders.
  • Highly competitive compensation as we continue to grow and thrive.
  • Funding for professional development and conference attendance.
  • Comprehensive health insurance (Medical, Dental & Vision) and 401(k) plan.
  • Opportunity to join an inclusive, collaborative and intellectually stimulating culture.
  • Work from a brand new office in the heart of Miami – one of the most exciting places in the United States. We are just a block away from the waterfront, within walking distance of the Wynwood Art District and across the bridge from South Beach.