Senior Scientist, Machine Learning
Flagship Pioneering, Inc. · Cambridge, MA
$168,000–$258,500from the description
Jul 25, 2026
Cambridge, MA
Jul 26, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role centers on building machine learning models for molecular science at an early-stage biotech focused on small molecule drug discovery. The work involves developing, training, and validating generative chemistry and molecular models, curating and benchmarking datasets, and collaborating closely with wet lab scientists. It suits a computational scientist with a strong background in protein and small molecule modeling who is comfortable shaping technical direction from the ground up.
Senior level · 5+ years · Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 2,100 people in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (data scientists). range 610–3,100
Applicant volume Heavy — This req sits in a large pool with little in its requirements to thin it, and auto-apply tools fire at everything in the occupation. Applying early and leading with the rare skills below is what gets read.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $134,944 (middle half $104,979–$169,773). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (6)
The posting lists all qualifications — including Python and HPC/cloud compute — under a 'Preferred Qualifications' heading, which is technically a preferred section. However, the role's core mission (training and fine-tuning molecular models, generative chemistry) makes machine learning, molecular modeling, generative chemistry, Python, and HPC/cloud compute de facto hard gates for any viable candidate; they are marked required accordingly. All other skills are drawn from the same preferred section and are marked preferred.
The Ph.D. requirement is framed as preferred ('Ph.D. in machine learning, computational biology, or a similar field with 5+ years of industry or postdoctoral experience'), not a hard gate, so the degree requirement is set to None. The 5+ years figure is treated as the overall experience minimum.
Location is inferred as the Boston/Cambridge, MA area based on Flagship Pioneering's headquarters; no explicit city is stated in the posting.
Boltz-2, ESM-2, and Chai-2 are listed together as examples of SOTA models the candidate should be familiar with; they are grouped as alternatives under one skill entry.
The alt SOC (15-1252 Software Developers) reflects that a significant portion of the role involves writing and training ML models and building platform workflows, which overlaps with software development work.
Ignored 4 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): molecular modeling, protein language modeling, protein design, small molecule pose prediction.
Read the full posting
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