Head of AI

About the Team

Genesis Research offers ML Researchers & Engineers the opportunity to rapidly accelerate the creation of previously impossible medicines. Our work benefits from diverse backgrounds and strong ML expertise because going after undruggable targets requires new ideas.

We are seeking curious explorers who seek the space to try new things with ample support and a path to grow. You’ll bring your ML expertise to the table, collaborating with world class chemists and biologists to manifest the digital domain in the physical world. The result? New treatments for devastating diseases.

The Role

The Head of AI will lead and shape the ML Research group, driving the development of innovative models and methodologies for drug discovery. Reporting to the CEO & Founder, this leadership role involves overseeing teams of ML Research Scientists and Engineers, fostering a culture of collaboration and scientific excellence, and partnering cross-functionally to deliver state-of-the-art machine learning solutions.

This position combines strategic vision, technical leadership, and team mentorship to ensure Genesis Therapeutics remains at the forefront of machine learning for drug discovery.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement the strategic vision for the ML Research group, ensuring alignment with company goals.
• Serve as a thought leader in state-of-the art ML research, using the latest approaches in diffusion models, equivariant neural nets and predictive ML  Represent Genesis Therapeutics at conferences, workshops, and scientific forums.
• Guide the team in designing, implementing, and validating novel machine learning models tailored to drug discovery challenges, including molecular property prediction, generative modeling, and protein-ligand interactions.
• Prioritize and balance short-term project deliverables with long-term foundational research initiatives.
• Ensure high standards of scientific rigor and reproducibility in research outputs.
• Pioneer cutting edge research and original publications in top industry journals and conferences, including NeurIPS, ICML and more.
• Partner with cross-disciplinary teams, including computational chemists, software engineers, and drug discovery scientists, to deliver impactful ML-driven solutions.
• Collaborate with the Engineering team to deploy ML models into scalable production environments.
• Communicate findings and progress effectively to stakeholders at all levels: from interns to board of directors.
• Manage budgets, resource allocation, and project timelines for the ML Research group.
• Identify and establish external collaborations and partnerships to augment in-house capabilities.
• Lead and mentor a high-performing team of ML Research Scientists and ML Research Engineers.
• Foster a collaborative, innovative, and growth-oriented team culture.
• Manage recruitment, performance evaluations, and career development for team members.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Physics, or a related field.
• 8+ years of professional experience in machine learning research, with at least 3+ years in a leadership role managing research teams.
• Strong track record of developing and applying ML methods in areas such as deep learning, generative models, graph neural networks, or equivariant neural networks.
• Proven expertise in leveraging ML techniques for real-world problems. It is not a requirement that the Head of ML Research has deep experience in the drug discovery domain but must have demonstrated ability to champion great research and intellectual curiosity to learn quickly.
• Experience with state-of-the-art ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX) and distributed computing environments.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and inspire a diverse team of researchers and engineers.
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, with experience bridging the gap between research and application.
• Strategic thinking with a balance of creativity and execution focus.

Genesis Therapeutics is unifying AI and biotech to discover novel and breakthrough treatments for patients with severe and devastating conditions. Genesis was founded on groundbreaking molecular ML research and since has established itself as the industry leader in AI for small molecule drug discovery. Our team of accomplished biotech leaders and expert drug hunters joins forces with deep learning researchers and software engineers who are pioneering predictive and generative AI technologies for molecules.

Our team has created the industry's most advanced molecular AI platform called GEMS (Genesis Exploration of Molecular Space), to accelerate and optimize small molecule drug discovery and to enable the discovery of novel first-in-class and best-in-class small molecule drugs for challenging and/or undruggable targets. 

The company has leveraged GEMS to build an internal pipeline with multiple programs against high-value targets, including data-poor and canonically undruggable targets where GEMS is uniquely advantaged. In addition, Genesis has signed AI-focused platform collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies, including most recently Incyte Corporation (Feb 2025) and Gilead Sciences (Sept 2024).

We raised a $200M series B in August 2023, and have raised over $300M in funding from top technology and biotech investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Rock Springs Capital, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Radical Ventures, NVentures (NVIDIA's VC arm), BlackRock, and Menlo Ventures. 

Genesis is headquartered in Burlingame, CA, with a fully integrated laboratory in San Diego. We are proud to be an inclusive workplace and an Equal Opportunity Employer.