Director, Machine Learning, Virtual Cell Initiative
Palo Alto, CA$380k - $420k + bonusfull-timePosted 5mo ago
About the role
Leadership role overseeing development and application of advanced machine learning models for perturbative gene expression in Arc Institute’s Virtual Cell Initiative, with a focus on building a state-of-the-art foundation model and agentic framework for single-cell perturbation responses.
Responsibilities
- Lead/build a team of 6 ML research scientists and engineers augmented with students to contribute to the development of a state-of-the-art foundation model and agentic framework for understanding how cells respond to perturbations
- Work in an active learning loop with wet lab scientists to shape the world’s largest and most diverse set of single cell training data across many cell contexts
- Collaborate closely with other research groups to integrate genomics, functional track, and omics data beyond scRNA-seq data and Perturb-seq
- Stay up to date on frontier ML research and pioneer new architectures and approaches
- Build a high utility virtual cell model for use by biologists worldwide and publish breakthroughs to accelerate scientific progress
- Commit to a collaborative and inclusive team environment, mentoring others and attracting top talent
Qualifications
- PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Machine Learning, or related field
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in/with machine learning; proficient with PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, etc.
- Proven experience leading research teams in fast-paced, multi-disciplinary environments
- Experience with or strong interest in biology; ability to communicate with biologists and ML engineers
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a track record of presentations and publications
Skills
Required:Machine Learning / Deep LearningSingle-cell genomics
Last updated Sep 30, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About Arc Institute
A full-stack institute for AI and biology research.
Arc Institute is a nonprofit research organization headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
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