Machine Learning Scientist / Senior Machine Learning Scientist, Virtual Cell

Altos Labs • San Diego, CA

11h • $211,200 - $330,000

About The Position

This is an opportunity to join the state-of-the-art Virtual Cell team that recently won the Generalist prize in the ARC Virtual Cell Challenge. Here you will help to accelerate and optimize our progress in developing multi-modal generative foundation models for multiscale biology.
In this role, you will be an integral part of our multidisciplinary teams enabling Altos to achieve its mission. You will partner and collaborate with other Machine Learning Scientists and Engineers, as well as other computational scientists and biologists, across the Institute of Computation to contribute to the Altos research and translation ecosystem. This role is focused on improving our state-of-the-art “virtual cell” models, encompassing gene and protein modeling, imaging, and other modalities to aid in the discovery of novel interventions for aging and disease.
The successful candidate will thrive in a fast-paced environment that emphasises/emphasizes please spell differently for UK/US teamwork, transparency, scientific excellence, originality, and integrity.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Statistics, or a related quantitative field, demonstrating a deep theoretical foundation in ML/AI.
• Relevant work experience in either an academic or industry setting.
• Prior experience in developing and implementing novel generative AI models in a subset of the following: transformers, multi-modality, diffusion/flow matching models.
• Can demonstrate a deep understanding and expertise of Machine Learning Principles and how they apply to different models
• Proven experience developing and applying complex machine learning models, preferably with a significant portion of that time spent in a fast-paced industry or translational research environment.
• Very strong programming skills, including experience with Python and deep learning libraries (PyTorch, Hugging Face Transformers, H-F Datasets, H-F Accelerate)
• Experience writing production-quality code with modern machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, or similar;
• Experience with multi-GPU and distributed training at scale;

Nice To Haves

• Strong track record of published peer reviewed innovative AI/ML research
• Experience in cell health and rejuvenation related research area
• Experience in the application of machine learning methods to biological data
• Experience in computational approaches to drug discovery
• Experience with software development methodologies and open-source softwar

Responsibilities

• Use your experience to focus on designing, developing and evaluating state of the art foundation and focused models, at scale, to advance the Altos mission
• Pre-train and fine-tune large-scale machine learning systems using multimodal biological data and prior knowledge inputs.
• Pioneer novel machine learning methodologies and statistical frameworks (e.g., generative models, diffusion/flow matching models, and advanced transformer architectures) to address fundamental challenges in cell health and rejuvenation
• Design, implement, and optimize large-scale machine learning systems using modern frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, JAX), AI-assisted coding, and agile practices
• Develop and manage efficient distributed training strategies across multiple GPUs and compute clusters to handle terabytes of multi-modal biological data
• Develop robust approaches for multi-modal data integration and cross-domain mapping to extract actionable biological insights
• Participate in the full ML development lifecycle from theoretical conception and data strategy through model development, training, and evaluation

What This Job Offers

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