Why choose AstraZeneca Spain?
AstraZeneca Spain is a rising force in our global business. With headquarters in Madrid and our global hub in Barcelona, we’ve become an important international centre of excellence in the fight against critical disease. Boasting vibrant universities and business schools, the Barcelona ecosystem is a place where scientists can thrive. We attract a diverse workforce from across the globe, shining a beacon for innovation in a country that’s committed to clinical development.
We invite you to bring your talents to Barcelona where our respiratory medicine R&D and Global Marketing centre offers opportunities in R&D, IT, Commercial and HR. Or join us in Madrid and shape our growth in our BUs (Respiratory, Oncology & CVRM ), and a range of Corporate functions. Additionally, you can find sales roles throughout the country. Together, we’re contributing to a world-leading pipeline of therapeutics and delivering life-changing medicines to patients.
Who do we look for?
Calling all tech innovators, ownership takers, challenge seekers and proactive collaborators. At AstraZeneca Spain, breakthroughs born in the lab become transformative medicine for the world's most complex diseases. Alongside technical expertise, colleagues have the resilience, energy and collaborative mindset to change lanes, work with different teams and start projects from scratch.
Here, diverse minds and bold disruptors can meaningfully impact the future of healthcare using cutting-edge technology. Whether you join us in Madrid or Barcelona, you can make a tangible impact within a global biopharmaceutical company that invests in your future. Join a talented global team that's powering AstraZeneca to better serve patients every day.
Success Profile
Ready to make an impact in your career? If you're passionate, growth-orientated and a true team player, we'll help you succeed. Here are some of the skills and capabilities we look for.
Diverse collaborators
This is a speak-up culture that values collaboration. You’ll proactively bring your unique perspectives, experiences and skills to the table and seek the same from others. With our international team composition and the need for fast-paced collaboration, you’ll always be building new connections with colleagues.
Cutting-edge innovators
When you join us, you’ll be part of a team that embraces digital technology and data to transform the way we work and the work we do. Every day, you’ll help make history, empowered to ignite your creativity and build something enduring.
Resilient trailblazers
Here, the answers aren’t always available. So, you’ll need to bring a fearless, self-starter mindset to navigate uncharted territories. You’ll harness your ceaseless energy to discover and make the necessary connections with colleagues to shape the future and achieve maximum impact.
Agile movers
Seize ownership and excel with autonomy to enjoy the constant rush of ground-breaking discovery. Your ability to anticipate sudden shifts and adapt swiftly will prove critical as you make your mark in an environment that rewards initiative and resilience.
Responsibilities
Senior Data Scientist - Machine Learning & AI in Genomics
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Competitive Salary & Benefits
Meaningful Impact. Make a more meaningful contribution Impact patients’ lives every day
Make a more meaningful impact in your career, with greater ownership and accountability to make a contribution. And in return… we’re looking for people driven by making a difference to patients’ and society, dedicated to doing the right thing.
Be part of the team where you are empowered to follow the science
Join the team that follows the science unlike anywhere else. This is the place for curious minds. Dig deep into the biology of complex disease and uncover breakthroughs.
Our belief powers us to push the boundaries. As we improve success rates, we keep moving forward. Celebrating both successes and failures along the way.
What you’ll do
We have an opportunity for a talented Senior Data Scientist at the Centre for Genomics Research (CGR) to be part of ground-breaking research at the forefront of human genomics. You will be part of a dynamic team in CGR’s multidisciplinary genomics research environment comprising bioinformaticians, computational biologists, genome scientists, software engineers, postdoctoral researchers, disease area specialists. You will also work closely with specialists in translational science, drug discovery, pre-clinical modelling, and clinical development. In this role you will be responsible for designing and implementing novel machine learning and deep learning methods applied to genomics. This includes identifying research problems that could be addressed through structured or unstructured, complex genomic data and developing appropriate models and analytical solutions.
- Design and implement novel machine learning and deep learning methods for variant interpretation and other genomics research questions
- Extract research and/or business value from highly unstructured genomic data and metadata, including the 500,000 UK Biobank resource
- Work with engineering and architecture to support large scale data preparation, the optimisation of analytics platforms and the industrialisation of proven analytics methods
- Coordinate and execute analyses within AstraZeneca’s Centre for Genomics Research
- Deliver novel insights into the biology of disease, including complex diseases but also extending to rare diseases
- Develop methods for validation of new targets for medicines and the improvement of selection of patients for clinical trials
- Assess the scientific & technical integrity of algorithms and tools within the analysis pipeline
- Maintaining a well-developed knowledge of genomic science and technical advances in the international community
- Present novel results to top tier genetics and/or machine learning conferences and publish in high impact journals
- Collaborate to apply genomic analysis with discovery and development teams
- Communicate results to a variety of audiences, technical and non-technical
- Ensuring own work, and work of team, is compliant with Good Laboratory Practice, Safety, Health and Environment standards and all other internal AstraZeneca standards and external regulations
Essential Criteria
- PhD degree (or equivalent experience) in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Machine Learning, or a related quantitative discipline
- Solid experience in developing learning methodologies and building robust production machine learning systems
- Strong programming skills and knowledge of algorithms and data structures.
- Solid experience in one or more languages (Python, R, C++) and in open-source ML packages (e.g. scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras)
- Applied experience with deep learning models (such as CNNs and Transformers)
- Ability to communicate effectively with team members and non-experts, both verbally and through documentation
- High level understanding or interest in the potential of genomics to impact drug discovery
- Ability to prioritize and problem-solve
- Excellent interpersonal skills and willingness to work within a team in a quickly evolving environment
- Track record of peer-reviewed publications in high-level scientific journals
- Passion for applying machine learning to the life sciences domain
Desirable Criteria
- Experience in large-scale data analysis in genomics and/or other omics
- Experience with Knowledge Graphs and Graph Neural Networks
- Familiarity with Generative AI (LLMs)
- Experience in Unix environments and Bash scripting
- Experience in high performance and/or cloud computing
Why we love it
If your passion is science and you want to become part of a team that makes a bigger impact on patients’ lives, then there’s no better place to be. Here we truly understand science and apply it every day to strengthen and grow our pipeline!
AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.
Reasons to Join
Thomas Mathisen
There are many things I enjoy when working at AstraZeneca, mainly the Speak up culture, the great colleagues that are in my teams, the great products that AstraZeneca provides to our patients and the challenging conversations I have around our medicines.
Christine Recchio
Working at AstraZeneca has impacted my life in such a positive way. I now have an improved work-life balance through creating my own schedule and time management, I feel a balance that I didn’t have before.
Stephanie Ling
There are a lot of reasons why I enjoy working in AstraZeneca, my colleagues being one of them. My team members and the managers have provided a great deal of guidance in helping me to be more confident in my daily work.
What we offer
We're driven by our shared values of serving people, society and the planet. Our people make this possible, which is why we prioritise diversity, inclusivity, balance and sustainability. Discover what a career at AstraZeneca could mean for you.
An award-winning company
We're passionate about being a great place to work, and 84% of our employees would recommend us as an employer. We've been recognised as a Top Employer in Spain, an EFR Family Responsible Business, and we achieved third place in Forbes Spain's Top 50 Best Places to Work list.
Inclusive environment
Diversity and inclusion are embedded in everything we do, and our different views, experiences and strengths enrich our culture. There's no salary gap at AstraZeneca, and the number of female employees has increased by four per cent over the last three years. We've also made all positions fully accessible.
Work-life balance
Your wellbeing means a lot to us, and we're here to support you through all of life's ups and downs. That's why we offer an unpaid leave policy, annual leave, reduced-hours timetables and a host of benefits, including a retirement plan, long service award, and health and travel insurance.
Sustainability initiatives
We're committed to harnessing the power of science to become a more sustainable business. We've reduced our carbon footprint by over 9,000 kg of CO2 over the last two years, and we lead the European GoGreen Project, which aims to introduce environmentally friendly options in our fleet of corporate vehicles.
We’ll keep you up-to-date
