Roche

Machine Learning Scientist - Agents for Applied Small Molecule Drug Design

Roche$147K — $310K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • PhD or equivalent experience in machine learning, computer science, chemical engineering, or related quantitative fields.
  • Deep understanding of LLM-driven agents and their orchestration for scientific workflows.
  • Strong foundation in machine learning concepts including linear algebra, probability, and optimization.
  • Proficient in Python and modern development environments like LangChain, with experience in PyTorch or JAX.
  • Proven track record of scientific excellence evidenced by publications or a public portfolio of projects.

Responsibilities

  • Design and develop agentic workflows for small-molecule drug design.
  • Fine-tune foundation models using a variety of datasets for drug discovery tasks.
  • Collaborate to optimize agent-derived hypotheses with chemists and structural biologists.
  • Drive scientific impact through publications and participation in conferences.
  • Engage in collaboration with both computational and experimental researchers at Roche and academic institutions.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research in drug discovery.
  • Work alongside world-class chemists and structural biologists.
  • Access to a collaborative and innovative work environment.
  • Potential for publishing research and contributing to open-source projects.
  • Engagement with academic partners for broader research impact.
Full Job Description
The Position

Join the small-molecule team within AI for Drug Discovery (AI4DD), formerly Prescient Design, at Roche and Genentech’s Computational Sciences Center of Excellence as a Machine Learning Scientist / Senior Machine Learning Scientist building agents for applied small-molecule drug design. You will develop autonomous, LLM-driven agentic workflows that orchestrate ML models, physics-based methods, and cheminformatics tools to accelerate discovery, working with world-class chemists and structural biologists.

The Opportunity:

  • Design, build, and apply agentic workflows and ML models for key challenges in small-molecule drug design.
  • Fine-tune foundation models for drug discovery relevant topics using internal and external datasets and tools.
  • Optimize agent-derived hypotheses in close collaboration with world-class computational and medicinal chemists and structural biologists.
  • Drive scientific impact through publications, open-source releases, and conference talks.
  • Collaborate widely with computational and experimental researchers at Roche and with academic partners.

Who you are:

  • You are experienced developing LLM-driven agents for scientific workflows and you understand how to orchestrate tools and models reliably.
  • You bring strong machine-learning foundations in linear algebra, probability and optimization, with hands-on experience with GNNs, sequence/language models and reinforcement learning.
  • You are fluent in Python and modern agentic coding environments such as LangChain, ML frameworks such as PyTorch or JAX, as well as cheminformatics toolkits like RDKit or OpenEye.
  • You hold a PhD or equivalent research depth in machine learning, computer science, chemical engineering or a related quantitative field such as physics or statistics.
  • You have a record of scientific excellence evidenced by journal and conference publications or a public portfolio of relevant projects (e.g. hosted on GitHub/GitLab)..

Preferred:

  • Hands-on experience orchestrating multi-tool or multi-agent scientific pipelines.
  • Hand-on experience working along the small molecule drug discovery value chain and an excitement to engage with chemists
  • Familiarity with structural biology datasets

If you want to put autonomous AI to work discovering the medicines patients need next, apply now and help build the future of drug design at Roche.

The expected salary range for this position based on the primary location of California for the Machine Learning Engineer is $147,600, - $274,000, and the Senior Machine Learning Engineer for California is $167,400 - $310,800. Actual pay will be determined based on experience, qualifications, geographic location, and other job-related factors permitted by law. A discretionary annual bonus may be available based on individual and Company performance. This position also qualifies for the benefits detailed at the link provided below.

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Where pay transparency applies, details are provided based on the primary posting location. For this role, the primary location is San Francisco. If you are interested in additional locations where the role may be available, we will provide the relevant compensation details later in the hiring process.

About Roche

Roche Holding AG is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has bearer shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The company headquarters are located in Basel. Roche is the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, and the leading provider of cancer treatments globally. The company also produces a range of diagnostic tests for medical professionals and patients. Roche was one of the first companies to bring targeted treatments to patients. In 2019, Roche had over 100,000 employees worldwide, and generated revenue of CHF 61.5 billion.
Learn more about Roche
Size
100,920 employees
Industry
NASDAQ

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