Senior Software Engineer II, AI Research

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.

As a Senior Software Engineer in our Applied AI Research squad, you will be at the forefront of integrating cutting-edge AI technologies into our drug development pipeline. This role emphasizes applied research, focusing on developing practical AI solutions, including Machine Learning Models and Large Language Models (LLMs), to accelerate drug development. You will lead the design and implementation of these AI-driven systems, working closely with a multidisciplinary team of engineers, product managers, and domain experts. Your work will involve translating advanced AI research into real-world applications that directly impact our drug development processes. This role is ideal for an engineer passionate about applying technology to create meaningful and impactful solutions in the pharmaceutical industry.

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of software solutions that build innovative AI tools and models in the strategic drug development process.
• 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 software systems.
• 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 AI, LLMs, and software development to continually enhance our product offerings.
• Act as an internal evangelist for use of AI and LLMs, providing expert guidance and insights to other teams within the organization.

• Master’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, AI, or Machine Learning or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in software development, 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.
• Experience with AI and machine learning frameworks and libraries (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn,Langchain, llamaindex, RAGAs).
• 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.
• Hands on experience with AI technologies, particularly in LLMs and machine learning.
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) 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