SCIENTIST III

Position Summary

The University of Alabama at Birmingham invites qualified candidates to apply for a Scientist III position in the Systems Pharmacology AI Research Center (SPARC) department. The role requires deep technical expertise across AI for science protein and antibody design, AI-driven molecular dynamics, agentic AI and autonomous research systems, clinical trial simulations, virtual cell modeling, multi-modal drug discovery, and retrosynthesis; combined with a strategic orientation toward research planning, execution, and translation.

General Responsibilities

• Interpret, organize, execute and coordinate research assignments.
• Formulate and conduct research on problems of considerable scope and complexity.
• Explore subject area and define scope and selection of problems for investigation through conceptually related studies or series of projects of lesser scope.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

• Research Direction: Decide the focus of the lab's research agenda, including selection of research projects that align with both current scientific needs and future potential.
• Methodological Choices: Make choices about research methodologies, including the selection of appropriate AI algorithms, data sources, and experimental designs that maximize the potential for impactful findings.
• Resource Allocation: Determine how to allocate limited resources, such as lab equipment, funding, and personnel time, in a manner that optimally supports ongoing and future research efforts.
• Team Leadership: Make decisions about the mentoring and development of research staff, prioritizing areas for skills development and guiding research assistants and interns toward achieving lab and project goals.
• Funding Opportunities: Identify and prioritize grant and external funding opportunities that will offer the highest yield for the lab's objectives, including making decisions on when and how to pursue these opportunities.
• Commercial Partnerships: Judge the viability and potential of industrial and commercial collaborations and decide the terms under which these collaborations will proceed to ensure the mutual benefit of all stakeholders.
• Publication and Dissemination: Decide when research findings are robust and significant enough for publication and choose the appropriate platforms and journals for dissemination to ensure maximum impact.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy, D.V.M., or M.D. degree in a related field and six (6) years of related experience OR M.D. and Master's degree and four (4) years of related experience required.
• Work experience may NOT substitute for education requirement.
• Preferences: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in biomedical informatics, computing, computer science, data science, artificial intelligence, or a closely related field. PhD completed within the last 10 years preferred.
• AI/ML Expertise: Deep proficiency with modern machine learning, including deep learning, transformers, graph neural networks, generative models, and foundation models and their application across biomedical and chemical sciences.
• Molecular and Structural AI: Hands-on experience with novel AI approaches to molecular dynamics simulations, protein/antibody structure prediction and design, retrosynthesis, and multi-modal drug discovery.
• Programming and Engineering: Strong Python skills (PyTorch / JAX / TensorFlow); comfortable with HPC and GPU workflows, modern MLOps, and reproducible computational pipelines.
• Agentic and Autonomous AI: Experience designing agentic AI workflows or autonomous research systems for science, including LLM tool-use, retrieval-augmented pipelines, and self-driving experimentation loops.
• Statistical and Causal Reasoning: Strong statistical foundations including hypothesis testing, Bayesian inference, uncertainty quantification, and causal modeling for biomedical data.
• Biomedical Data at Scale: Familiarity with large-scale biomedical, omics, imaging, clinical-trial, and chemical datasets, including data integration across modalities for virtual-cell and multi-modal drug-discovery applications.

Key Skills

• Leadership: Ability to lead, guide, and mentor a team of researchers and students.
• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills for publishing research, delivering presentations, and grant writing.
• Collaboration: Ability to work efficiently in a multidisciplinary environment, with the capability to integrate various scientific domains.
• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical thinking and the ability to approach complex scientific problems creatively.
• Time Management: Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines effectively.

Pay

$80,300 - $133,300

Schedule

Day/1st Shift

Benefits

UAB offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off.