Associate Director Machine Learning, Quantitative Biology

pPosition: Associate Director Machine Learning, Quantitative Biology.

Location: Cambridge, UK or Gothenburg, Sweden.

Salary: Competitive with excellent benefits

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Are you passionate about machine learning and how we can apply this to transform how we do drug discovery? Would you like an exciting new challenge in a company that follows the science and turn ideas into life changing medicines? Then why not join our Quantitative Biology department in Gothenburg, Sweden or Cambridge, UK as a leader in machine learning!

We are now recruiting an Associate Director Machine Learning, Quantitative Biology to join the Discovery Science organization in either Gothenburg, Sweden or Cambridge, UK.

Discovery Science is part of Innovative Medicines and Early Development (IMED), AstraZeneca's small molecule biotech units that deliver candidate drugs into late-stage clinical development. Discovery Science functions across the therapeutic areas to support projects in the drug discovery pipeline from target discovery all the way to clinical candidates. The Quantitative Biology team is a multi-disciplinary team of data scientists with the purpose of providing quantitative insights to biology. We do so by improving the biological understanding of the target and its engagement, including supporting the identification of molecular mechanisms of action, providing image and data analysis solutions to high dimensional datasets, and by enhancing AstraZeneca's ability to prioritize target selection and portfolio projects based on probability of technical success.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

As an Associate Director Machine Learning your main responsibilities will involve:

* Lead the machine learning discipline and refine and drive the departmental strategy for using machine learning to transform drug discovery
* Using machine learning and statistical modelling you will collaborate with drug discovery projects, therapeutic areas and platform teams to identify and deliver solutions for addressing key questions across drug discovery
* Developing or internalizing appropriate algorithms, techniques and datasets to answer defined biological questions
* Establish and nurture academic collaborations to access and drive the forefronts of AI and machine learning science

Essential Requirements

* PhD, or equivalent, in mathematics, computer science, statistics, engineering or the life sciences
* Expertise in one or more of the core machine learning areas such as: ANNs, SVMs, Bayesian approaches, Markov models, Gaussian processes, reinforcement learning, game theory, decision theory, probabilistic rule-based learning.
* Experience with relevant software tools such as R and Python as well as relevant machine learning frameworks such as scikit-learn and Tensorflow.
* Basic understanding of molecular biology, cell biology, and human physiology
* Excellent communication skills in English, spoken and in writing

If you are interested, apply now!

For more information about the position please contact: Lars Carlsson at +46 31 7762946 or Claus Bendtsen +44 7585 795824.

Welcome with your application no later than April 25, 2018

AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialization of prescription medicines for some of the world's most serious diseases. In addition to being one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca is proud to provide a unique workplace culture that inspires innovation and cross-boundary collaboration. Within this environment employees are empowered to express diverse perspectives, and are made to feel valued, energized and rewarded for their ideas and creativity.

AstraZeneca is an equal opportunity employer. AstraZeneca will consider all qualified applicants for employment without discrimination on grounds of disability, sex or sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity leave status, race or national or ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, gender identity or re-assignment, marital or civil partnership status, protected veteran status (if applicable) or any other characteristic protected by law. AstraZeneca only employs individuals with the right to work in the country/ies where the role is advertised.