Director / Principal Investigator, AI and Genomics

23andMe Research Institute • Palo Alto, CA

1d • $250,000 - $290,000 • Remote

About The Position

The Director-level Principal Investigator will establish and lead AI innovation efforts at the 23andMe Research Institute, setting the scientific vision and translating it into research output and external funding. The role will build and lead a research group, beginning with two founding scientists recruited under the Director’s direction, and expand the group in line with funding secured.

The research agenda will include health-risk prediction, developing foundation models to forecast individual health outcomes from genetic and longitudinal data and building on existing PRSformer and Next Health Event work; and variant-effect prediction, interpreting the functional and clinical consequences of genetic variants, including variants of uncertain significance, in preparation for a whole-genome sequencing product line. The Director will represent the Institute’s AI work externally, raise grant, philanthropic, and industry funding, and support publication at top-tier venues and open release of methods and models where appropriate.

The position is location-agnostic, with candidates considered across the United States. Remote and non-Bay-Area arrangements are expected and welcome.

Requirements

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Computational Biology, Statistical Genetics, or a related field.
• At least 10 years of experience post-PhD.
• Deep expertise in machine learning applied to genomics, biomedicine, or a comparably high-dimensional scientific domain.
• Significant scientific achievement, including multiple years leading development of novel methods and executing independently developed ideas.
• Strong record of accomplishment through academic publications at leading venues or equivalent industry achievement.
• Deep expertise in modern deep learning architectures, including transformers and large language models, and in training at scale.
• Experience with distributed training, GPU cluster scaling, and computational efficiency at the frontier of model size.
• Strong programming skills in Python and a modern deep learning framework.
• Proven ability to build, mentor, train, and develop teams of scientists.
• Demonstrated success securing external research funding through grants, philanthropy, or industry partnerships.
• Ability to work with senior scientific leadership and lead directly and by influence.
• Strong problem-solving, conflict-resolution, and analytical skills.
• Exceptional interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and concisely with scientific and non-scientific stakeholders.
• Track record of collaboration with scientific thought leaders and willingness to actively engage with external academic and industry scientists.
• Ability to balance scientific rigor with a pragmatic commitment to execution amid competing priorities.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with genomic or biomedical data is strongly preferred.
• Candidates from adjacent domains with a clear commitment to biomedicine will be considered.

Responsibilities

• Set and own the scientific vision for AI at the 23andMe Research Institute and translate it into research output and external funding.
• Build, lead, mentor, and develop a research group, initially recruiting two founding scientists and expanding the group in line with funding secured.
• Lead research on health-risk prediction, developing foundation models that forecast individual health outcomes from genetic and longitudinal data and building on PRSformer and Next Health Event work.
• Lead research on variant-effect prediction, interpreting the functional and clinical consequences of genetic variants, including variants of uncertain significance, in preparation for a whole-genome sequencing product line.
• Represent the Institute’s AI work externally and engage with academic and industry scientists.
• Raise grant, philanthropic, and industry funding to support the research group’s expansion.
• Publish at top-tier venues and openly release methods and models where appropriate.
• Represent the Institute at scientific, business, and other professional meetings.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree