Job Description

Are you inspired by nature and interested in joining our world-class bioscience team to design leading enzymes that deliver safer, healthier, and more sustainable products. Join us at IFF in Palo Alto! We are hiring a Digital Biology Data Scientist expert to join our team of protein and strain engineers to create innovative solutions for customers across a broad range of consumer product, industrial and agricultural sectors.

Who we are:

IFF is a global leader in biotechnology; in early 2021, the company consolidated its leadership position by merging with DuPont's Nutrition & Biosciences division. The IFF laboratories in Palo Alto have a long and dynamic history that goes back to the beginnings of industrial enzyme technology (Genentech/Corning: Genencor, 1982), to becoming the world market leader in sustainable bio-solutions (Danisco).

At IFF Health & Biosciences, our R&D team develops microbial production strains and engineer enzymes for applications in the areas of food & beverages, home & personal care, animal feed, paper & textile processing, health and wellness and more. We have a strong focus on providing sustainable solutions on an industrial scale, and we are constantly evolving and innovating to offer competitive high-end products to our international customers.

Position Description:

IFF is seeking a Digital Biology Data Scientist with experience in data science and protein biochemistry to join our protein and strain engineering team. As a successful candidate, you will be part of a diverse and international team of domain experts and engineers that work towards the common goal of delivering novel products and real value for our customers. You will use state-of-the-art data-driven approaches to design enzymes and strains with improved performance, test them in high-throughput assays and help to continuously improve our data analysis and engineering workflows.

Candidates should be self-motivated, thrive in a research team environment, and committed to using biotechnology for commercial and societal impact.

This position will be located at our Palo Alto site working in close collaboration with IFF protein, strain, and fermentation scientists as well as our network of partners in digital and tech in the Silicon Valley.

Job Requirements

• Collaborate with other scientists across sites in areas of machine learning, protein biochemistry, high-throughput assays, data management and visualization.
• Develop machine learning models using large experimental datasets to improve protein designs.
• Scout, engage, and support our partnerships with external companies and service providers in data science that can accelerate and augment our capabilities.
• Deploy and design complex data analysis workflows including automated quality control and analysis of high-throughput assay data for strain and protein engineering projects.
• Engage with other bioinformaticians and data scientists to share relevant knowledge, opinions, and recommendations, working together to provide solutions as a team.
• Participate in multidisciplinary project teams and, with limited direction, perform data analysis and design and implement technical solutions to meet project requirements.

Required Qualifications:

• Ph.D. 5 yrs experience in Biological Sciences, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Structural Biology, Data Science, or related field.
• Comprehensive knowledge of deep learning in particular language modeling / text classification, machine learning including unsupervised learning, statistical analysis, and scientific data analysis.
• Demonstrated experience evolving enzymes or improving strains to produce metabolites or proteins.
• Experience with protein structure and protein biochemistry.
• Experience working with biological data, common bioinformatics tools, building data processing pipelines, working on Linux systems on-prem and cloud.
• Ability to write high-quality, structured, and maintainable Python and/or R code.
• Effective written and oral communication skills and demonstrated ability to work in a team environment.
• Productivity demonstrated through a track record of publications and/or patents.

Bonus Qualifications:

• Experience with application of generative AI and advanced protein structure modeling tools.
• Experience with DevOps/MLOps using Amazon Web Services (Sagemaker).
• Experience with data management approaches and relational databases.
• Experience in creating web-based data visualization tools.

Compensation ($139,400 - 156,800) is based on a variety of factors including but not limited to work experience, skills, certifications, and location.