AI Data Scientist-Furman lab

Job Description

Position Summary

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging is seeking an exceptional, highly motivated AI Data Scientist / Agentic AI Engineer to join a collaborative research team focused on aging, computational biology, multi-omics, and translational data science.

This position is ideal for a creative, technically outstanding individual with a Master’s degree or equivalent experience who has demonstrated excellence through high-impact projects, awards, hackathons, publications, startup experience, open-source contributions, or other evidence of exceptional technical ability. We are especially interested in candidates who are deeply fluent in the use of large language models, agentic AI systems, modern software engineering practices, and scalable approaches for harmonizing and modeling large, complex datasets.

The successful candidate will contribute to multiple government-funded and institutional research initiatives, including a recently launched, government-funded project focused on using large-scale human data to better understand biological aging, resilience, healthspan, and age-related disease risk. This role will help develop innovative AI-enabled systems for organizing, harmonizing, analyzing, modeling, and interpreting large datasets generated across multiple collaborators, institutions, platforms, and data types.

We are looking for someone who is not only technically strong, but also inventive, entrepreneurial, and capable of rapidly building solutions. The ideal candidate will be comfortable working at the intersection of AI, software engineering, data science, and biomedical research, and will bring the creativity needed to design new approaches for managing and modeling complex scientific data.

Key Responsibilities2. Apply LLMs, agentic AI, and modern machine learning approaches to biomedical research

Develop AI-enabled systems for large-scale data harmonization and modeling The candidate will help design, build, and implement computational systems that support the organization, harmonization, modeling, and interpretation of large biomedical datasets. Responsibilities may include:
Developing agentic AI workflows to support data curation, quality control, documentation, and analysis
Designing LLM-powered tools to help harmonize large datasets across cohorts, studies, institutions, and assay platforms
Building pipelines to extract, standardize, and validate metadata and data dictionaries
Creating systems to support multi-modal data integration across omics, clinical, demographic, imaging, and functional datasets
Developing scalable approaches for identifying patterns, inconsistencies, and missing information across large datasets
Supporting model development for prediction, classification, clustering, and biological interpretation
Prototyping AI tools that improve research productivity, reproducibility, and scientific discovery

Responsibilities may include:

Building workflows using large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, vector databases, tool-calling agents, and automated reasoning systems
Designing AI agents capable of interacting with structured and unstructured scientific data
Developing systems that assist with literature mining, data annotation, hypothesis generation, and biological interpretation
Evaluating the performance, limitations, and reliability of AI-enabled tools in biomedical research contexts
Supporting responsible, reproducible, and well-documented use of AI in federally funded research
Collaborating with bioinformaticians and domain experts to translate research needs into functional computational tools

3. Support large-scale data science and computational biology projects

The candidate may contribute to analyses involving:

Transcriptomics, including single-cell and bulk RNA-seq
Proteomics
Metabolomics
Epigenetics and biological aging clocks
Clinical and phenotypic datasets
Survey data
Integrative multi-omics
Dimensionality reduction and clustering
Classification methods and predictive modeling
Drug repurposing
Network analysis and pathway enrichment
Computer vision and feature extraction, as applicable

4. Collaborate across interdisciplinary teams

The candidate will work closely with computational biologists, data scientists, principal investigators, research staff, software engineers, and external collaborators. Responsibilities may include:

Translating scientific goals into computational tools and workflows
Participating in project meetings and presenting technical progress
Creating clear documentation, diagrams, and technical specifications
Supporting manuscript preparation, grant writing, figure generation, and reporting
Working with diverse teams to improve data transfer, management, and analysis systems
Helping establish best practices for AI-assisted data science in biomedical research

Qualifications

Required Education and Experience

Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent professional, entrepreneurial, or technical experience will also be considered
Demonstrated experience building AI, data science, machine learning, or software engineering systems
Strong proficiency in Python
Experience using large language models, AI APIs, or LLM-based developer tools
Experience with modern software engineering practices, version control, testing, documentation, and collaborative development
Ability to work independently, rapidly prototype solutions, and solve ambiguous technical problems

Required Skills

Strong practical experience with large language models and AI-assisted workflows
Interest or experience in agentic AI, tool-calling agents, retrieval-augmented generation, vector search, or automated workflow orchestration
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
Ability to design systems for organizing, harmonizing, and modeling large datasets
Comfort working with structured and unstructured data
Excellent written and oral communication skills
Strong attention to detail and commitment to reproducibility
Ability to collaborate with both technical and non-technical team members
High degree of creativity, initiative, and intellectual curiosity

Preferred Qualifications

Evidence of exceptional technical achievement, such as hackathon wins, awards, competitive programming, startup experience, open-source contributions, publications, deployed products, or other high-impact projects
Experience with biomedical, healthcare, clinical, or omics data
Experience with APIs, cloud platforms, Docker, databases, or scalable data systems
Experience with vector databases, embeddings, RAG systems, or AI agent frameworks
Experience with Python-based data science libraries and machine learning frameworks
Familiarity with data harmonization, metadata standards, ontologies, or research data repositories
Experience working in fast-paced startup, academic, or highly collaborative environments

Compensation And Benefits

Salary range: $60,000–$75,000, commensurate with experience
Full-time position
Exciting, collaborative work environment at the forefront of aging research, AI, and computational biology
Opportunity to help build AI-enabled systems for large-scale biomedical discovery
Generous benefits package, including:
Health insurance
Paid parental leave
Generous paid time off
401(k) with 5% employer match
Work visa sponsorship may be available for qualified candidates
About The Buck Institute

Our success will ultimately change healthcare. At the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, we aim to end the threat of age-related diseases for this and future generations by bringing together the most capable and passionate scientists from a broad range of disciplines to identify and impede the ways in which we age.

The Buck is an independent, nonprofit institution located in Marin County, California, with the goal of increasing human healthspan, or the healthy years of life. Globally recognized as a pioneer and leader in efforts to target aging — the number one risk factor for diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, macular degeneration, heart disease, and diabetes — the Buck seeks to help people live better longer.

We are an equal opportunity employer and strive to create an atmosphere where diversity of identity, experience, and background are welcomed, valued, and supported. Candidates who contribute to this diversity are strongly encouraged to apply.

To Apply

Interested candidates should click the Apply button to complete the online application.

Please upload:

Resume or CV
A brief statement describing your technical interests, relevant AI/data science experience, and examples of systems, tools, or projects you have built
Names and contact information for three references, if available