Associate, Data Science & Applied AI

West Pharmaceutical Services • Exton, PA

22h • Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate, Data Science & Applied AI helps design, build, and scale AI-enabled solutions across West. This early-career role combines applied AI, software engineering, and business problem-solving. Working with senior engineers, business teams, and subject-matter experts, the team member develops AI assistants, agentic workflows, intelligent search, machine-learning solutions, and decision-support applications. The role supports the full solution lifecycle, from problem definition and prototyping through testing, deployment, and continuous improvement.

This is a hybrid position requiring onsite work three days per week. Travel is up to 5%, or up to 13 business days per year. The position is sedentary, involving sitting most of the time and occasionally exerting up to 10 pounds of force, or negligible force frequently or constantly, to move objects.

West describes its purpose as improving patient lives through its work delivering injectable medicines. The company highlights community involvement, continuous learning and development, global career opportunities, an inclusive and collaborative culture, and recognition and rewards. No relocation assistance is provided.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent demonstrated technical experience may be considered.
• 0–2 years of experience in software engineering, machine learning, data science, or applied AI. Internships, academic research, open-source contributions, and substantial independent projects may be considered relevant experience.
• Proficiency in Python and working knowledge of SQL.
• Understanding of APIs, testing, debugging, data structures, and version control.
• Ability to analyze ambiguous problems and develop practical, testable solutions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively with business experts, engineers, and global cross-functional teams.
• Ability to comply with West’s quality, safety, information-security, and data-privacy policies.
• Demonstrated experience building at least one functioning software, machine-learning, or generative-AI application.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with JavaScript or TypeScript and frameworks such as React.
• Familiarity with large language models, prompt and context engineering, retrieval-augmented generation, embeddings, and tool calling.
• Exposure to Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Machine Learning, or comparable cloud platforms.
• Familiarity with Git, Docker, automated testing, and CI/CD concepts.
• Multidisciplinary experience applying AI to scientific problems, such as biology and AI, mathematics and AI, or materials science and AI.
• Experience in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, life sciences, or regulated manufacturing; preferred but not required.
• Interdisciplinary education combining AI or computational methods with biology, mathematics, materials science, chemistry, pharmaceutical science, or engineering.
• A portfolio, GitHub repository, academic project, or other work sample demonstrating hands-on technical ability is encouraged.

Responsibilities

• Partner with business and technical teams to translate business problems into defined AI use cases and technical requirements.
• Build AI assistants, retrieval-augmented generation applications, agentic workflows, and machine-learning solutions.
• Develop application components using Python, SQL, APIs, and modern web technologies.
• Prepare and integrate structured and unstructured data from approved enterprise sources.
• Develop prompts, retrieval pipelines, tool integrations, and evaluation datasets.
• Test solutions for accuracy, groundedness, robustness, latency, safety, and cost.
• Support source control, automated testing, CI/CD, monitoring, and application telemetry.
• Assist with deployment, production support, and continuous improvement of AI applications.
• Follow West requirements for information security, data privacy, responsible AI, software quality, and system lifecycle management.
• Document solutions and communicate technical findings, limitations, and recommendations to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Perform other duties as assigned based on business needs.

Benefits

• Volunteer opportunities through West without Borders and other charitable programs.
• Professional growth opportunities through training programs, tuition assistance, leadership development, and skill-certification initiatives.
• Opportunities for international exposure and cross-functional collaboration.
• Inclusive and collaborative culture that values diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Performance-based bonuses, service recognition, and employee appreciation initiatives.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level