Senior Data Engineer

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

, 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. 

As a Senior Data Engineer you will be a major contributor to the tech future for Formation Bio as we expand into an AI enabled world.  You would be responsible for contributing to our fundamental Data Infrastructure by building data pipelines, integrations, and tools that are used by in-house experts, leveraging traditional automation, cutting edge LLM integrations, and everything in between. 

In this role, you will collaborate closely with engineers, product managers, and domain experts in the drug development field to design, build, and implement systems that will significantly enhance the capacity of teams to make strategic and operational drug development decisions swiftly and effectively. 

This position is ideal for the delivery-focused engineer who is passionate about leveraging technology for meaningful and impactful applications. Your expertise in software development will be instrumental in driving Formation Bio’s mission to bring new treatments to patients faster and more efficiently.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product managers and domain experts, to discover, build, and iterate on innovative features and products.
• Ensure the scalability, security, and performance of our data platform and pipelines.
• Rapidly develop and iterate on proofs-of-concept to test new ideas and hypotheses to efficiently validate and evolve our software solutions in alignment with strategic objectives in drug development.
• Stay abreast of emerging trends and advancements in data engineering, and software development to continually enhance our product offerings.
• Act as an internal evangelist for use of data and best practices with the organization, providing expert guidance and insights to other teams within the organization.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in data engineering in Python, with a demonstrated ability to thrive in ambiguous and rapidly-changing environments, with a proven track record of contributing significantly to the successful launch and scaling of new and innovative products, especially in a 0-1 setting.
• Deep understanding of complex data, data curation and data quality, such as traceability, security, performance latency and correctness across supply and demand processes.
• Exceptional collaboration and communication skills to effectively engage and work along stakeholders from diverse disciplines and varying levels of technical expertise. Ideally, adept at translating complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for all audiences.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using modern tools such as Terraform or Cloud Formation and the full end-to-end process of modern software deployment (e.g., containerization, CI/CD).
• Experience in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry is a plus, but not required.
• Experience with AI technologies, particularly in LLMs and machine learning is a plus, but not required.
• Experience with vector storage is a plus but not required.

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