Associate Principal AI Scientist - Evinova

On average, it takes more than 10 years to develop a drug and cost more than $1.3b. Over 70% of drug R&D cost is spending on clinical development and yet the success rate from phase I to approval is only around 10%.  At Evinova, a new health tech business as part of the AstraZeneca Group, we are under a mission to increase clinical trial success rate by 20%, accelerate clinical development timeline by 36 months and reduce study cost by 50%, by using state of the art AI and Machine Learning. 

If you are a solid coder with hands on experience of developing predictive models and complex data pipelines, good understanding of AI agentic solutions, strong software engineering skills, and strong business acumen then you could be a fantastic fit for our team. 

Talent with ambition to grow into a role will be a key differentiator of a successful candidate. Glass ceiling smashers especially welcome. 

We are seeking highly skilled and innovative Associate Principal AI Scientist to lead the development of various AI-based solutions. In this role, you will be responsible for designing, building, and deploying AI agents that can automate tasks, interact with users (eg, GenAI agents), and solve complex problems. The role will interact with product, design, engineering, MLops, and domain experts and partners. 
 

 WHAT THE ROLE INVOLVES 

• Develop AI and ML applications from ideation to production, including complex data pipelines, model training and validation, deployment, tailored to life sciences/health tech challenges. 

• Develop GenAI applications in all their workflow (prompt-engineering, fine-tuning, etc.) 

• Serve as a client‑facing technical advisor, presenting concepts and progress to external stakeholders and engaging business leaders to gather requirements and ensure solutions meet strategic goals. 

• Apply strong business acumen to translate AI/ML capabilities into measurable value and actionable recommendations for the organization. 

• Deliver production ready code and support deployment on cloud infrastructures (AWS). 

• Collaborate in a multidisciplinary environment to align AI initiatives with business objectives and drive digital transformation. 

SKILLS AND CAPABILITIES NEEDED 

Qualifications: 

• 5+ years of proven experience in applied machine learning, NLP and generative AI. 

• Proven track record of developing creative and novel AI solutions that have driven significant business impact. 

• Excellent analytical skills for working in a multidisciplinary and impact-orientend environment. 

• Expert knowledge of Python and advanced ML/LLM frameworks (e.g., scikit-learn, PyTorch, LangChain, LlamaIndex, etc). 

• Proven record of shipping production level code with best software engineering practice  

• Understanding of agentic AI concepts and frameworks (e.g., agentic design patterns, multi-agent systems,  reinforcement learning) and their applications in healthcare. 

• Experience in containerization technologies, CI/CD (github actions), frontend and backend development.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with experience presenting to executive leadership and partners. 

Desirable Skills/Experience 

• Experience with AWS CDK  

• Technical leadership experience, including successful delivery of large-scale AI projects. 

• Experience designing and implementing novel AI architectures or algorithms in real-world products. 

• Contributions to open-source AI projects or development of proprietary AI frameworks. 

• Experience in consulting and in interacting with business stakeholders. 
• Knowledge of drug development and previously experience of working in pharmaceutical industrial is nice to have but not required. 

Date Posted

Closing Date

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity.  We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills.  We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.  We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics.  We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.