AI Data Scientist-Furman lab - Buck Institute - Career Page
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 Responsibilities
1. 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
2. Apply LLMs, agentic AI, and modern machine learning approaches to
biomedical research
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 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
