Head of AI

Who we are & about this role

At Basecamp Research we believe the future of the biotech industry will be built upon the combination of foundational data sets, constructed from the wealth of diversity we see in nature, with state of the art AI algorithms. This is why we have built the largest, most sophisticated, entirely ethically sampled database of natural biodiversity in existence. We have already demonstrated our ability to build SOTA models for a variety of tasks in biology and after successfully closing our $60 million series B raise, we are currently expanding our team and compute resources to build the next generation of biological foundation models. As a result, we're looking for a Head of AI to steer the development of our foundation models, lead the AI team, as well as our partnerships in academia and industry (we're involved in research partnerships with several of the largest tech companies in the world). This role will enable you to develop an AI strategy based on an ever -growing, entirely new-to-science data supply embedded in a highly ambitious and collaborative environment of scientists and engineers.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of AI/ML researchers/engineers, providing technical guidance and fostering a culture of innovation

• Oversee the development and implementation of novel AI/ML models and algorithms

• Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams of lab scientists, bioinformaticians, and engineers to define research objectives and translate findings into practical applications

• Manage and prioritize multiple research projects, ensuring alignment with company goals and timelines

• Contribute to the architectural design of AI systems, balancing research exploration with production-grade implementations

• Provide thought leadership for the team

• Mentor team members, fostering their growth as AI researchers and engineers

• Represent Basecamp Research’s AI capabilities at conferences, in publications, and in collaborations with academic and industry partners

About You (Required):

• A graduate degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computational Biology, or a related field

• 5+ years of industry experience in AI/ML research or engineering, of which at least 4 years in a technical lead or 3 years in a managerial role

• Strong publication record or demonstrated expertise in areas such as generative AI, deep learning, or computational biology

• Experience applying AI techniques to biological problems, particularly in protein design or DNA/genomics

• Proven track record of leading successful AI research projects and translating research into practical applications

• Excellent communication skills, able to explain complex AI concepts to diverse audiences

• Experience training large generative models, including experience with large-scale multi-node training on HPC GPUs or in the cloud (AWS/Lambda/Azure preferred)

• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to think critically about AI research challenges

• Excellent strategic planning skills

Additional Skills (desired but not required):

• Experience with protein or DNA bioinformatics

• MLOps experience

• Software engineering skills and knowledge of data pipelining (e.g. via Airflow) and prior experience of cloud-based ML model deployment

• Experience with Agile systems