Principal, Machine Learning Engineer

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computational Biology, Biophysics, or a related quantitative field
• Demonstrated ability to formulate and drive research programs independently, from problem definition through publication and deployment
• Fluency across ML and at least one life science domain (structural biology, protein engineering, molecular biology, genomics, or related), with experience designing computational experiments grounded in biological reality
• Strong track record of cross-functional collaboration with experimental scientists, translating between ML and biology
• Expertise in ML frameworks (PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow) and experience with large-scale distributed training infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or on-prem clusters)

• Strong expertise in structure prediction, co-folding, geometric deep learning, or structure-aware molecular ML, with a track record of training these models
• Experience with AlphaFold or AlphaFold-derived methods (e.g., Boltz, Protenix), RFdiffusion, or protein language models
• Experience in computational protein design, particularly antibody and nanobody engineering
• Strong expertise in generative model architectures and training, with hands-on experience training models on distributed infrastructure
• Experience designing biological sequences or molecular structures with demonstrated wet-lab validation
• Contributions to open-source ML tools, frameworks, or benchmark datasets for scientific applications
• Experience with agentic frameworks or active learning loops in scientific contexts
• Multiple high-impact first-author or senior-author publications, or open-source contributions in AI for Science, at premier venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, AAAI, Nature Methods, Nature Biotechnology, or equivalent)

We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity.

Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.

U.S. Benefits. Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees; and a company subsidized lunch program.

International Benefits.

Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region.

USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.

Lila Sciences is building Scientific SuperintelligenceTM to solve humankind's greatest challenges.

We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI.

Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.

LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science FactoryTM instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy.

Learn more at www.lila.ai.

Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance.

If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

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