Head of AI​/ML Therapeutic Design

Metaphore Biotechnologies is a Flagship Pioneering-founded company focused on creating a new class of functional biological therapeutics. We are pioneering the power of function-first AI drug design and high-throughput data assays to make previously intractable drug targets accessible and unlock breakthroughs that outperform today's drugs for maximum patient impact.

Our computationally driven MIMIC™ platform is the world's first structure-independent sequence-to-function platform for protein design. Inspired by nature, our mission is to transform patient lives by unlocking the power of biological therapeutics with a new mimic-discovery platform.

Metaphore is seeking an exceptional, execution-driven scientist and leader to serve as Head of AI/ML Therapeutic Design, driving the next frontier of AI-powered biologics. In this role, you will define the vision and long-term strategy for Metaphore’s AI/ML platform while leading a team of experts to build a scalable, high‑performance AI/ML engine. Working closely with cross-functional drug discovery teams, you and your team will translate advances in AI/ML into impactful therapies by delivering actionable molecule candidates.

As a key member of the R&D leadership team, you will shape how AI/ML transforms every stage of our drug discovery process—from high-throughput assay design and novel therapeutic generation to lead optimization and candidate nomination. This role offers a unique opportunity to drive our integrated discovery platform end-to-end and help bring transformative therapeutics from concept to clinic.

• Scientific & Technical Leadership: Deploy state-of-the-art generative models for de novo protein design, and molecule screening, and optimization, focusing on timely drug discovery impact. Architect and train new models with a clear path toward program impact and differentiation.
• Strategic Vision: Define the AI strategy and deployment for Metaphore. Oversee at-scale compute infrastructure and propose collaborative data acquisition strategies to continuously train, evaluate, and optimize our models while optimizing costs and program impact.
• Team Building & Mentorship: Recruit, mentor, and lead a multidisciplinary team of computational scientists. Foster a culture of engineering rigor, scientific curiosity, and bold, tech‑first innovation. Act as a senior hands‑on mentor to nurture and grow the team.
• Platform Operations & LDBT Loop: Partner deeply with our Discovery as well as Biologics & Enabling Technologies teams to seamlessly integrate high-throughput laboratory data into model training, accelerating the Learn‑Design‑Build‑Test (LDBT) loop to an industrial scale. Consistently demonstrate rapid learning and iterative improvements to our AI/ML platform across stakeholders.
• Portfolio Impact: Drive the computational discovery of novel therapeutic candidates across multiple modalities, advancing our internal pipeline and strategic partnerships (such as our active pharma collaborations).
• External Engagement: Represent Metaphore’s AI/ML platform externally, clearly communicating differentiation and value. Cultivate partnerships with leading tech providers, cloud computing partners, and academic institutions. Publish breakthroughs in top‑tier AI conferences and scientific journals.

• Advanced degree (PhD preferred) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computational Biology, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or related discipline.
• 15+ years of industry or rigorous academic experience, with a proven track record of developing and deploying novel deep learning architectures for molecular biology, protein design, or structural biology.
• Deep expertise in modern machine learning paradigms (Transformers, Diffusion, Equivariant architectures) and a strong command of state-of-the-art tools, including ML‑ops.
• Demonstrated experience leveraging AI/ML, reproducibly and at scale, delivering impact in drug discovery contexts.
• Demonstrated experience with modern engineering architectures to facilitate rapid and scalable implementation and deployment of AI/ML capabilities.
• Demonstrated experience leveraging heterogeneous…