Director, Data Science, Foundation Model Ai

Merck & Co., Inc.

Base: $194,100.00 - $305,600.00; bonus/equity: eli...
Hybrid
Phd in computer science or related stem field
7+ years full-time experience in ml/ai
Deep expertise in probabilistic models and causal analysis
This role leads a team responsible for developing large foundation models to accelerate the discovery of new medicines and improve lives through advanced AI/ML capabilities

Job Summary

  • This role leads a team responsible for developing large foundation models to accelerate the discovery of new medicines and improve lives through advanced AI/ML capabilities.
  • The successful candidate will oversee the training of multi-modal foundation models on high-performance GPU clusters while interpreting complex biological data from omics, imaging, and text sources.
  • Employees benefit from a comprehensive package including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) retirement benefits, paid holidays, and a hybrid work model requiring three days on-site per week.

Matching Summary

This role leads a team responsible for developing large foundation models to accelerate the discovery of new medicines and improve lives through advanced AI/ML capabilities.

Salary

Base: $194,100.00 - $305,600.00; Bonus/Equity: Eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive; Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k), paid holidays, vacation

Skills & Requirements

Must-have

  • PhD in Computer Science or related STEM field
  • 7+ years full-time experience in ML/AI
  • Deep expertise in probabilistic models and causal analysis
  • Experience training large multi-GPU foundation models
  • Proficiency in Python and PyTorch ecosystem
  • Proven track record of publications at NeurIPS/ICML
  • Experience leading teams of researchers and engineers

Nice-to-have

  • Interest in life sciences and disease biology
  • Experience with transformer-based generative models
  • Familiarity with diffusion modeling and flow matching
  • Prior experience with reinforcement learning for reasoning
  • Strong collaboration skills with external academia
  • Willingness to publish in scientific journals

Key Requirements

  • PhD in CS, Statistics, Physics, Engineering, Math, Data Science, AI/ML, Computational Biology, or Bioinformatics
  • 7+ years full-time experience (or MS with 10+ years)
  • World-class expertise demonstrated by top-tier conference publications
  • Experience designing novel architectures for multi-modal foundation models
  • Knowledge of parameter-efficient fine-tuning and post-hoc interpretability
  • US work authorization required (Visa sponsorship available)

Work Rights

Not specified

Sponsorship: available

Tailored Resume

Cover Letter