Staff ML Research Scientist (AI)

TL;DR

Staff ML Research Scientist (AI): Developing next-generation deep learning models for protein-ligand co-folding and affinity prediction with an accent on translating research breakthroughs into core biopharma software capabilities. Focus on architecting novel machine learning pipelines, bridging the gap between scientific research and commercial drug discovery applications, and providing technical leadership to a multidisciplinary team.

Location: Must be based in the United States

Salary: $177,838 – $306,000

Company

SandboxAQ is a growth-stage company delivering AI solutions for life sciences, financial services, cybersecurity, and navigation that emerged from Alphabet Inc.

What you will do

• Pioneer novel deep learning architectures for protein-ligand co-folding and affinity prediction.
• Translate research findings into production-ready predictive capabilities for commercial software.
• Orchestrate technical strategy for model training, benchmarking, and real-world drug discovery applications.
• Act as a scientific authority and technical beacon within the research and engineering organization.
• Mentor junior researchers and foster a culture of technical rigor and rapid iterative development.

Requirements

• Must be based in the United States
• PhD in Computer Science, Computational Chemistry, or a related field.
• Minimum 4 years of post-PhD professional industry experience.
• Direct hands-on experience developing co-folding or affinity prediction models.
• Proven ability to bridge scientific research with commercial product impact.
• Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks such as PyTorch or JAX.

Nice to have

• Postdoctoral experience in deep learned structure-based affinity modeling.
• First-author publications in top-tier venues like NeurIPS, ICML, or CVPR.
• Experience setting technical roadmaps for specialized research groups.
• Deep familiarity with agentic coding tools.
• Proven commercial success shipping biopharma or tech software products.

Culture & Benefits

• Competitive base salary, performance incentives, and equity participation.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents.
• Retirement savings plan with company matching and paid parental leave.
• Flexible paid time off and support for sustainable work-life balance.
• Access to continuous learning programs and cross-functional development opportunities.