Job Title: Scientist, Machine Learning

Reporting to: Lead, Decision Science

Location: Durham, North Carolina or Remote

About Pairwise:

Pairwise is a mission-driven, food+tech company dedicated to building a healthier world through better fruits and vegetables. Pairwise was founded in 2017 by scientists at Harvard University, MIT, and Broad Institute who are eminent in the field of gene editing, as well as biotechnology industry pioneers. Our team is tuned in to consumer food trends, and we believe that consumers deserve more variety and innovation in their fresh food choices. We are primed to deliver that innovation through one of the best gene-editing platforms in food and agriculture. Pairwise has an exclusive 5-year research collaboration with Bayer to develop products in corn, soybean, wheat, canola, and cotton. Plus, Pairwise is developing new types of leafy greens, berries, and stone fruit, with the first product expected in late 2023. Pairwise is based in the start-up friendly Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina.

About This Role:

Creativity and embracing the “new” are key attributes that drive successful organizations. At Pairwise we were founded on cutting edge technology, and we are committed to continuous improvement and being the ones to create the “new”. Machine learning is just one of the ways we’re doing just that. As a Machine Learning Scientist at Pairwise, you will get to build and apply data-driven methods for protein and RNA engineering and gene discovery. There will also be the opportunity to work closely with Protein Sciences and tool discovery teams to define problems, identify data needs and build models to accelerate discovery.

We are a collaborative, team-oriented company who is looking for a scientist passionate about this field, with a PhD or equivalent level of training, to join our team. Being motivated by a desire to apply machine learning based approaches in the exciting field of synthetic biology will key to success in this role.

Essential Functions:

• Design and develop novel machine learning models and algorithms for data-driven generation of proteins and RNA to test in our experimental platforms.
• Work with CRISPR tool discovery teams to define problems and identify what internal and external datasets need to be acquired to effectively train and test models.
• Develop production-quality code for deploying models.
• Strong communication skills to present work to diverse audiences.
• Provide technical contributions in a fast-paced team environment to accelerate our efforts on building an analytics-driven product pipeline.
• Collaborate with universities and other scientific organizations to bring diverse thought into Pairwise.

Job Requirements:

• PhD, or equivalent experience, in Computational Biology, Computer Science or related quantitative fields.
• Experience using Python, R or other statistical and/or mathematical programming packages.
• 3+ years of experience developing Machine Learning methods to solve scientific problems especially with biological sequence data.
• Strong proficiency in data visualization and predictive modeling.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver scientific results in a cross functional environment.
• Experience with AWS computing/storage, snakemake, and Docker are a plus but not required.
• Experience with Rosetta protein modeling platform is a plus but not required.

Offerings:

• Comprehensive Benefits Plan, including Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA/FSA, 401k, Life Insurance, Short-Term & Long-Term Disability, and more!
• Flexible PTO (use what you need, when you need it), in addition to company holidays.
• Casual work environment.
• Mission-driven organization focused on creating healthier fruits and veggies.
• A cutting-edge, driven community looking to lead the industry in innovation and nutrition.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit and use hands to finger, handle or feel, and techniques that require fine motor skills and repetitive motions. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. The employee is regularly required to talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

EEO Statement:
We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Pairwise we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

No Recruiters please.