Director, AI for Protein Engineering

Your Impact at Lila

Lila is embarking on a transformative mission to redefine the future of medicine by combining automated large-scale data generation with scientific superintelligence. We are seeking a visionary leader to serve as the Director, AI for protein engineering. In this pivotal role, you will build and lead a world-class team of computational and ML scientists from the ground up, dedicated to computational design of peptides, antibodies and enzymes. You will bridge the gap between cutting-edge generative AI and life-saving medicine, overseeing the design strategy for Lila’s biomolecule-based portfolio.

What You'll Be Building

• Team Leadership: Recruit, mentor, and scale a high-performing team of ML researchers and computational biologists. Foster a culture of "bilingual" excellence that thrives at the intersection of AI and biology.
• Scientific Strategy: Drive the research and implementation of generative ML models for biomolecule design, including: diffusion models, protein language models (pLMs), and structure-conditioned sequence generation.
• Portfolio Management: Supervise the development of our protein therapeutic portfolio, ensuring projects meet key milestones, from initial in silico design to lead optimization and developability assessment.
• Cross-Functional Synergy: Act as the primary bridge to our Life Science Experimental Research team. You will ensure computational designs are optimized for "wet-lab" validation and design the active learning feedback loops ****where experimental data (e.g., binding affinity, stability) improves our generative models.
• Product Integration: Partner with Life Science Product Management to align the technical roadmap with Lila’s commercial goals and therapeutic priorities.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• Proven Design Impact: The primary requirement is a track record of successful design of wet-lab validated biomolecules through AI.
• Education: PhD with a focus on computation, specifically in Computational Structural Biology or Computer Science, preferably with AI-driven drug discovery focus
• Technical Track Record: A portfolio of peer-reviewed publications or patents. We are specifically looking for first-author contributions in premier venues:
  • ML Focus: ICLR, ICML, or NeurIPS (Full track).
  • Biology/Nature Focus: Nature Methods, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Nature, Science, or Cell.
• Leadership: Demonstrated experience building and leading multidisciplinary teams and managing complex research portfolios in a biotech or pharmaceutical environment.
• Communication: Exceptional skills in translating high-dimensional ML concepts (e.g., latent space representations, folding dynamics) for biological scientists and presenting strategic visions to executive stakeholders.

Location: This role is based in San Francisco, CA or Boston, MA, with a strong preference for candidates located in or willing to relocate to San Francisco.

About Lila

Lila Sciences is the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous lab for life, chemistry, and materials science.  We are pioneering a new age of boundless discovery by building the capabilities to apply AI to every aspect of the scientific method.  We are introducing scientific superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges, enabling scientists to bring forth solutions in human health, climate, and sustainability at a pace and scale never experienced before. Learn more about this mission at  www.lila.ai

If this sounds like an environment you’d love to work in, even if you only have some of the experience listed below, we encourage you to apply.

We’re All In

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

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A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.