Senior Principal Scientist, Foundation Models

Your Impact at Lila

Lila is embarking on a transformative mission to redefine the future of medicine by combining automated large-scale data generation with scientific superintelligence. At Lila, we don't just use AI to analyze biology; we are building the loop where AI and automation co-evolve to solve the hardest problems in medicine. We are seeking world-class ML Research Scientists to join the founding AI team. You will be the driver and engine of our scientific superintelligence, moving between deep theoretical research and the practical deployment of models. Whether you are a hands-on IC pushing the boundaries of SOTA ML or a technical lead guiding a high-velocity research pod, we have a place for your expertise.

What You'll Be Building

• Model Architecture & Research: Lead the design, training, and evaluation of large-scale generative models and reasoning frameworks for biological data.
• The "Lila Loop" Execution: Collaborate directly with experimentalists to design and optimize the Lila "Lab-in-the-Loop" lifecycle. You will own the end-to-end ML process, from steering data generation to designing pipeline models integrated into our automated closed-loop discovery engine.
• Bilingual Translation: Translate complex biological questions into well-defined ML problems. You will work side-by-side with wet-lab scientists to interpret model outputs and refine design strategies.
• Technical Mentorship: Provide deep technical guidance to a small team of researchers, ensuring code quality, rigorous benchmarking, and scientific integrity.

Areas of Impact

Successful candidates will focus on nucleic acid design. In particular, optimizing mRNA sequences, regulatory elements (UTRs/Promoters), and viral vectors for high-expression and tissue-specificity.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• Education: PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computational Biology, or a related quantitative field.
• Research Excellence (Level I): We require at least one first-author paper in a premier venue:
  • ML Focus: ICLR, ICML, or NeurIPS (Full track).
  • Biology/Nature Focus: Nature, Science, Cell, or specialized titles (Nature Methods, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine).
• qAdvanced Experience: Beyond the initial track record, we look for multiple high-impact contributions, industry pipeline accomplishments, and/or proven expertise in technical project leadership.
• Scientific Vision: We seek individuals whose work demonstrates the potential to be (or is already recognized as) a seminal contribution to the field, fundamentally aligned with Lila's vision of automated reasoning.

About Lila

Lila Sciences is the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous lab for life, chemistry, and materials science.  We are pioneering a new age of boundless discovery by building the capabilities to apply AI to every aspect of the scientific method.  We are introducing scientific superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges, enabling scientists to bring forth solutions in human health, climate, and sustainability at a pace and scale never experienced before. Learn more about this mission at  www.lila.ai

If this sounds like an environment you’d love to work in, even if you only have some of the experience listed below, we encourage you to apply.

We’re All In

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

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A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.