Staff Research Scientist, AI/ML

The Team

The mission of the CZI Science Initiative is to support the science and technology that will help make it possible to cure, prevent, or manage all diseases by the end of the century. We support interdisciplinary teams of physicians, biologists, computational scientists, and engineers to expand our understanding of the human body and illness — the very science behind medicine. CZI fosters collaboration between scientists and engineers, develops tools and technologies, and builds support for basic scientific research. Our current focus is on understanding the mysteries of the cell, the fundamental building block of life. To that end, our approach in the Science Technology group is to digitally model cell function through research, advanced development, collaboration, and funding

Some Science Initiative efforts include:

• Building software such as 
• CZ cellxgene - an easy to use corpus of single-cell transcriptomics data.
• CZ ID - a metagenomics platform that delivers insights in infectious disease.
• Funding of
• Single cell biology and the application of technologies that enable multi-omics investigation at the level of cells.
• Imaging and developing tools capable of observing biological processes across spatial scales at the level of tissues, cells, and proteins.
• Doing science through
• The CZ Biohub empowering scientists to work on their riskiest, most exciting ideas.
• The CZ Imaging Institute and developing technologies to image the molecular architecture of the cell with atomic resolution.

What You'll Do

As a Staff Research Scientist on the AI/ML team you will develop and apply state-of-the-art methods in artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve important problems in the biomedical sciences aligned with CZI’s mission. You will work as part of a team to leverage CZI’s large open-source biological datasets to create models that transform our understanding of cells. 

You will have the opportunity to work closely with teams of scientists, computational biologists, engineers within CZI and to collaborate with CZI grantees, with CZ institutes, and other external labs and organizations. Your work will inspire and enhance the production and analysis of datasets by CZ teams and collaborators. Scientific focus areas could include single cell biology, imaging, genomics, and proteomics.

• Develop, deploy, and maintain innovative machine learning models,  systems, and software tools that enable the analysis and interpretation of complex biology data sets.
• Solve important problems in biomedical sciences through the application of state-of-the-art methods in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
• Implement solutions with respect to complex problems/scientific questions on large scale data sets, especially using machine learning approaches, predictive models, and statistical analysis, to advance understanding of cell structures, systems, and interactions.

What You'll Bring

• Enjoy working in a highly interactive and cross-functional collaborative environment with a diverse team of colleagues and partners in leading-edge cell biology data-driven research.
• Have a PhD or Masters in computer science (focus on machine learning & data analytics), computational biology or a related field or equivalent industry experience and at least 6-8 years of experience developing and applying machine learning methods.
• Have demonstrated experience building and training AI/ML models, ideally but not exclusively to address problems in biology, and developing deep learning methods
• Experience and technical fluency in AI, machine learning, operations research, data integration, or computer science on varied large scale data sets
• Have the ability to work independently and as part of a team, and have excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Have a proven track record of relevant research publications, preprints, or software packages

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for this role is $214,000 - $321,000. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. Pay ranges outside Redwood City are adjusted based on cost of labor in each respective geographical market. Your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range for your location during the hiring process.

#LI-Hybrid #LI-Onsite

Onsite work mode is site-based in our office at our HQ in Redwood City, CA.
Flex work mode is open to a hybrid approach, but not open to be fully remote.
Remote work mode is eligible for all three modes (Remote, Flex, or Onsite) available to you at CZI.

About Us

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges — from eradicating disease and improving education, to addressing the needs of our local communities. Our mission is to build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone.

CZI is committed to creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace. We welcome interest from individuals of all backgrounds and levels of experience who share our mission. If you’re interested in this role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role!