Principal Scientist / Associate Director, Agentic AI Research for Materials Science
Hybrid (Cambridge, MA; San Francisco, CA)$288k - $420kfull-timePosted 3mo ago
About the role
Leadership role guiding agentic AI systems for autonomous materials science experiments, combining foundational research with applied delivery, and building a scalable agentic AI program at Lila Sciences.
Responsibilities
- Define and execute the agentic AI roadmap for materials science, including agentic frameworks and retrieval-augmented generation for multi-modal research data
- Lead the design of agentic frameworks grounded in scientific understanding and state-of-the-art research, delivering end-to-end systems on real-world projects
- Hire, mentor, and grow a small cross-functional team of scientists and engineers; set the bar for scientific rigor, code quality, and reproducibility
- Partner with diverse teams at Lila to push the state of the art and integrate with experimental infrastructure
- Track state-of-the-art in agentic AI, translate external advances into internal direction, and publish or present where merited
- Publish in areas where science merits it; build systems that materials teams depend on; scale agentic capabilities across the materials portfolio
Qualifications
- PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Materials Science, Chemistry, Physics, or related field
- 5+ years of post-PhD research and applied ML experience
- Track record of building and shipping agentic systems, ML pipelines, or autonomous research workflows with measurable impact
- Deep expertise across modern ML, NLP, and reasoning (LLMs, agentic frameworks, tool use, planning, data extraction, multi-modal data)
- Working knowledge of materials science, computational chemistry, or condensed-matter physics
- Proficiency in Python and ML software stack; strong reproducibility, testing, and production deployment
- Experience leading scientists and engineers; setting technical direction, hiring, mentoring
- Strong written and verbal communication; ability to translate between research, engineering, and program stakeholders
Skills
Required:Agentic AI systemsMulti-modal data understandingPython and ML stack
Benefits
- Comprehensive U.S. benefits: medical, dental, vision; life and disability insurance; flexible time off; company holidays; parental leave; educational assistance; commuter benefits; subsidized lunch program
Last updated Jul 15, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About Lila Sciences
Pioneering Scientific Superintelligence
Pioneering Scientific Superintelligence to solve humankind’s greatest challenges.
Scientific SuperintelligenceAIAutonomous LabsLife SciencesChemical SciencesMaterials Sciences
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