Senior Scientist, AI for Discovery — New Target Discovery

About AstraZeneca At AstraZeneca, we put patients first and strive to meet their unmet needs worldwide. Working here means being entrepreneurial, thinking big and working together to make the impossible a reality. If you are swift to action, confident to lead, willing to collaborate, and curious about what science can do, then you're our kind of person. We are a global, science-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing, and delivering innovative medicines that enrich the lives of patients. Our R&D engine combines deep biology expertise with cutting-edge artificial intelligence to accelerate how we find and validate new drug targets — ultimately bringing life-changing therapies to patients faster. About Our Site The Discovery Centre (DISC) is AstraZeneca’s global corporate headquarters and flagship research and development facility, located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK. The DISC brings together scientists, engineers, laboratory specialists, technology experts, and corporate colleagues in a highly collaborative environment. The facility provides a modern working environment with advanced laboratories and research infrastructure, including robotics, high-throughput screening, computational science, data-enabled research, and AI-supported technologies. Its location on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus provides access to a strong local network of healthcare, academic, and life-sciences expertise, supporting professional development, external collaboration, and scientific exchange across the biomedical sector. About the Team The AI for Discovery — New Target Discovery team exists to surface novel drug targets that Oncology and BioPharmaceuticals R&D can act on. We accelerate discovery by building and deploying two core AI capabilities: agentic AI and predictive models of biology to accelerate new target decision making across AZ R&D. Our team supports both Oncology and BioPharmaceuticals therapeutic areas, sharing learnings across target discovery approaches and connecting new target strategy across AstraZeneca disease areas. We partner closely with therapeutic area scientists in Oncology, CVRM, Respiratory, Immunology, and Infectious Disease — as well as AI engineering and AI research teams. What the Role Involves This is a hands-on individual contributor role at the intersection of artificial intelligence and drug discovery biology. You will apply your technical skills in AI and biology to build, deploy, and evaluate agentic AI and predictive modeling tools that support new target discovery across AstraZeneca’s therapeutic areas. Key responsibilities: ·       Work with therapeutic area scientists to understand their challenges and apply agentic AI and predictive models to accelerate target identification and validation. ·       Build and deploy multi-agent AI systems into therapeutic area workflows, translating AI capabilities into actionable scientific insights. ·       Develop, evaluate, and benchmark predictive foundation models for in silico biology — including perturbation prediction, virtual cell models, and preclinical efficacy forecasting. ·       Write production-quality code, pipelines, and tools that the team and broader organization can rely on. ·       Collaborate effectively within cross-functional project teams, communicating technical findings to both expert and non-expert audiences. ·       Contribute to AstraZeneca’s external visibility through publications, conference presentations, and scientific collaborations. Essential Skills ·       PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, AI/ML, systems biology, or a related quantitative discipline, or a Bachelor’s/Master’s degree with equivalent research experience. Candidates with additional post-doctoral or indust