Postdoctoral Scientist, Multimodal Single Cell Foundation Models Full-time

Postdoctoral Scientist, Multimodal Single Cell Foundation Models

Our expertise in Innovative Medicine is informed and inspired by patients, whose insights fuel our science-based advancements. Visionaries like you work on teams that save lives by developing the medicines of tomorrow.

Join us in developing treatments, finding cures, and pioneering the path from lab to life while championing patients every step of the way.

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine is currently seeking a Postdoctoral Scientist, Multimodal Single Cell Foundation Models, a fixed-term position for 2-years, located at one of our sites in Spring House, PA, Cambridge, MA, New Brunswick, NJ, or San Diego, CA.

Key Responsibilities:

In this role, you will join the Data Science and Digital Health organization within Johnson and Johnson Innovative Medicine, focusing on leading the development of advanced network-based in silico immune/autoimmune disease models and/or neurodegenerative disease models. You will play a crucial role in identifying, characterizing and advancing therapeutic candidates for clinical development by providing innovative, multi-modal insights of complex biological regulation through the lens of computational modeling. Your responsibilities will include overseeing collaborations with multidisciplinary teams, driving model development, performing data analysis, and ensuring adherence to best practices in software engineering. You will work alongside biologists, immunologists and/or neuroscientists to convert their biological hypotheses into testable computational outcomes. Together, you will design and implement data-driven strategies to deepen our understanding of biological processes and disease mechanisms. Additionally, you will provide technical leadership, mentor junior scientists, and define research strategies to advance our understanding of various diseases and their underlying mechanisms.

In This Role, You Will:

• Collaborate with Translational Research, Discovery, and Development teams across therapeutic areas to develop AI/ML models that drive biological insights for personalized medicine.
• Analyze and integrate high-dimensional biological data from single-cell sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and other modalities for model training and validation.
• Develop and implement scalable statistical and machine learning algorithms by using large scale transcriptomics datasets.
• Participate in designing experiments that enable rigorous model evaluation alongside cross-functional teams.
• Have a strong background in training, fine-tuning, and deploying LLMs, as well as staying up-to-date with the latest advancements and research in the field, which is essential.
• Develop and deploy machine learning models and algorithms to analyze and extract insights from large, complex datasets across multiple modalities.
• Ensure the accuracy, reliability, and scalability of the machine learning models and algorithms developed.
• Collaborate with data engineering teams to ensure seamless integration and deployment of foundation models into production environments.
• Document and communicate best practices and workflows for applying LLM technology in multi-omics data analysis.
• Maintain compliance with internal coding standards, data integrity practices, and reproducibility protocols for research outputs.
• Communicate model performance and research findings effectively through technical reports, presentations, and contributions to peer-reviewed publications.

Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in computer science, artificial intelligence, computational biology, bioinformatics, or a related field, completed within the past 3 years, or to be completed within the next 6 months.
• Fluency in Python is required, proficiency in R and C/C++ would be a plus.
• Proven track record of successfully performing and interpreting large-scale single cell analyses. Must be able to design informative downstream analyses to identify novel biological insights and confirm in silico results.
• Strong background in developing and optimizing machine learning algorithms.
• Experience in modular software development with a focus on scalable, reusable code for AI/ML systems.
• Expertise in git version control and adherence to computational research best practices is essential (please include your Github/Bitbucket repo with your resume/CV).
• Deep knowledge of machine learning techniques and high-dimensional optimization.
• Experience analyzing large-scale transcriptomics datasets.
• Proven track record of impactful research with publications in top-tier peer-reviewed journals.
• Strong communication skills to present complex concepts clearly to both scientific peers and non-experts.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Strong background in immunology and/or neuroscience research, and a proven track record of successfully completing biology driven projects.
• Knowledge of therapeutic strategies and clinical implications in neuroscience and immune-related diseases across the “gut brain axis”.

Other:

• This position is based in either Spring House, PA, Cambridge, MA, New Brunswick, NJ, or San Diego, CA, and currently has the option to follow a hybrid schedule of 3 days per week working on site and 2 days per week working remotely. (No fully remote option available.)

Johnson & Johnson is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by federal, state or local law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Johnson & Johnson is committed to providing an interview process that is inclusive of our applicants' needs. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request an accommodation, please contact us via https://www.jnj.com/contact-us/careers or internal employees contact AskGS to be directed to your accommodation resource.

The anticipated base pay range for this position is $77,000 to $108,000. The Company maintains highly competitive, performance-based compensation programs. Under current guidelines, this position is eligible for an annual performance bonus in accordance with the terms of the applicable plan. The annual performance bonus is a cash bonus intended to provide an incentive to achieve annual targeted results by rewarding for individual and the corporation's performance over a calendar/performance year. Bonuses are awarded at the Company's discretion on an individual basis.

Employees are eligible for the following time off benefits: Vacation – up to 120 hours per calendar year Sick time – up to 40 hours per calendar year Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays – up to 13 days per calendar year of Work, Personal and Family Time – up to 40 hours per calendar year Additional information can be found through the link below.