Senior Machine Learning Engineer I, AI Foundations

About Formation Bio

Formation Bio is a tech and AI driven pharma company differentiated by radically more efficient drug development. 

Advancements in AI and drug discovery are creating more candidate drugs than the industry can progress because of the high cost and time of clinical trials. Recognizing that this development bottleneck may ultimately limit the number of new medicines that can reach patients, Formation Bio, founded in 2016 as TrialSpark Inc., has built technology platforms, processes, and capabilities to accelerate all aspects of drug development and clinical trials. Formation Bio partners, acquires, or in-licenses drugs from pharma companies, research organizations, and biotechs to develop programs past clinical proof of concept and beyond, ultimately helping to bring new medicines to patients. The company is backed by investors across pharma and tech, including a16z, Sequoia, Sanofi, Thrive Capital, Sam Altman, John Doerr, Spark Capital, SV Angel Growth, and others. 

You can read more at the following links:

• Our Vision for AI in Pharma
• Our Current Drug Portfolio
• Our Technology & Platform

At Formation Bio, our values are the driving force behind our mission to revolutionize the pharma industry. Every team and individual at the company shares these same values, and every team and individual plays a key part in our mission to bring new treatments to patients faster and more efficiently.

About the Position 

Join our AI Foundations Team as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer I, where you will be a core contributor to building our core AI/ML infrastructure. This role is focused on hands-on development and deployment of proprietary and open source models as part of our AI Platform, Services, and Governance layers—enabling scalable access to AI and tooling for the entire organization. 

You will work collaboratively with Product, Engineering, and Data Science teams to create, iterate, and refine solutions that establish the foundational bets for our AI strategy. This role is ideal for an engineer passionate about applying technology to create meaningful and impactful solutions in the pharmaceutical industry.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate cross functionally with product managers and domain experts to design, build, and refine ML-driven solutions for drug development.
• Ensure the scalability, security, and performance of AI/ML systems.
• Stay ahead of AI and LLM advancements, advocating for their adoption and providing expert guidance across teams.

About You

• 5+ years of experience in Biotech/Pharma software development, excelling in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
• Proven track record of launching and scaling innovative 0-1 products.
• Master’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, AI, Machine Learning, or equivalent experience.
• Expertise in AI/ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn, LangChain, RAGAs), including hands-on model building and fine-tuning.
• Strong collaboration & communication skills, able to engage diverse stakeholders and translate complex technical concepts into clear insights and solutions
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP) and modern software deployment (containerization, CI/CD).

Formation Bio is prioritizing hiring in key hubs, primarily the New York City and Boston metro areas, with additional growth in the Research Triangle (NC) and San Francisco Bay Area. Please only apply if you reside in these locations or are willing to relocate.

Compensation:

The target salary range for this role is: $180,000 - $230,000.

Salary ranges are informed by a number of factors including geographic location. The range provided includes base salary only. In addition to base salary, we offer equity, comprehensive benefits, generous perks, hybrid flexibility, and more. If this range doesn't match your expectations, please still apply because we may have something else for you.

You will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

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