Full-time, in-office in Emeryville, California. Substantial time in the laboratory.
Lead our research and development organization. Own the technical path from predictive modeling through experimental validation, formulation and product development to commercialization: set the direction, build the team, and stay close enough to the work to evaluate a model, challenge an experimental design and review code.
Key Responsibilities- Lead R&D strategy and execution across machine learning, computer vision, computational chemistry, behavioral assays, formulation, data and software. Decide priorities, resourcing and milestones, and which programs advance or stop.
- Build the cycle between prediction and experiment: select compounds and experiments on the best available evidence, quantify uncertainty, and make sure each result improves the next round of models and decisions.
- Set the technical bar for models: strong baselines, reproducible results, meaningful holdouts by chemical scaffold, laboratory, colony and time, checks for data leakage, and prospective tests of whether predictions generalize to new compounds and conditions.
- Partner with experimental scientists on biological endpoints, controls, replication and measurement quality, and keep assay signal distinct from evidence of performance in intended use.
- Own the data and software systems that keep compounds, experimental conditions, raw observations, model versions and conclusions connected, inspectable and reproducible.
- Guide promising chemistry toward practical products with formulation, lab-network, regulatory and manufacturing partners: stability, release profile, cost, safety and performance under field conditions.
- Recruit and develop exceptional researchers, engineers and scientific leaders. Manage the portfolio, budget and external partnerships so resources concentrate on the work most likely to resolve important uncertainties.
Qualifications- Deep machine-learning expertise with a record of substantial personal technical contribution. You can explain what you built, why it worked, how it was evaluated and where it failed.
- Current hands-on ability with models, code, data and evaluation. You lead technical reviews and contribute when a problem needs your own work.
- Experience leading research or engineering teams through ambiguous problems to systems, scientific capabilities or products used beyond a first demonstration.
- Strong experimental and statistical judgment: controls, replication, bias, confounding and the limits of what a result supports.
- Clear communication of progress and setbacks: what is measured, what remains uncertain, what decision follows and what evidence would change it.
Desired Attributes- Background in insect biology, entomology, chemical ecology, agriculture or vector control, or a demonstrated ability to learn the domain and work well with specialists.
- Experience taking a research capability through formulation, validation and regulatory or manufacturing partners toward a product.
- Comfort building a team and a process from a small base, and the judgment to stop a program on evidence.
