mRNA – Computational Chemistry Principal Data Scientist M/F

Key Skills

Cheminformatics, Common data structures, English Proficiency, French language, High performance computing- HPC, Novel algorithms, Prototyping, Python Programming, R Programming, RNA-seq Data processing, Statistical modeling

Job Description

In the race for the future of health – The Sanofi mRNA Center of Excellence (CoE)

At Sanofi, we chase the miracles of science, and we know mRNA has a role to play in the future of health. And while the pandemic has shaken up our industry, creating new opportunities and risks, we believe the acceleration of innovation with mRNA technology means vaccines and treatments for more people faster than before.

That’s why we’re looking for bold, optimistic world-changers to join our mRNA Center of Excellence. We’re investing €400m a year into the new Center, hiring a team of 450 dedicated employees, and focusing on implementing an integrated end-to-end mRNA vaccine capabilities and research with R&D, digital and CMC teams.

Bring your ambition and optimism and join us on our journey to discover and deliver transformative medicine to patients through the advancement of our cutting-edge mRNA technology!

About the Opportunity

As an experienced Computational Chemist, you will lead projects bringing your expertise in lipid chemistry, cheminformatics, and machine learning to the task of developing and implementing first-in-class and best-in-class computational solutions and models for screening, optimizing, and evaluating lipid nanoparticles and formulations for mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics as part of the Data and Computational Science team in the mRNA CoE. This team brings end to end data integration and advanced analytics (pre-clinical, biomarkers, process development, CMC, clinical) in the mRNA CoE. Deploying and exploiting digital solutions (AI/machine learning, data, analytics) to integrate the full data value chain, extracting actionable information for a move to a full data driven strategy and decision-making process, to increase probability of success and to accelerate mRNA vaccines and therapeutics development and launch.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES FOR POSITION

In this role you will

• Collaborate with stakeholders and other group experts in the development and execution of the scientific strategy and technical solutions to develop best-in-class mRNA vaccines and therapeutics
• Identify, set strategy, and execute development of 1 to 2 projects to deliver data and computational solutions for the integration of chemical, structural, and biological data to support data analytics and visualization
• Design, develop and validate robust analytical and machine learning approaches to support in silico characterization, screening, optimization and analysis of lipid nanoparticles and mRNA - nanoparticle formulations
• Provide scientific and technical leadership in computational chemistry including structure-based design, QSAR, cheminformatics and modern AI/machine learning approaches
• Collaborate internally to develop scientific hypotheses and drive new scientific insights based on computational frameworks
• Develop, deploy, and assess the results of at-scale models at varying levels of model granularity encompassing heterogeneous preclinical and clinical data
• Employ machine learning methods such as deep learning, neural networks, reinforcement learning, graphical and generative models to deconvolve high dimensional experimental and in silico modelling results
• Maintain a well-documented, reusable codebase, and traceable model history
• Maintain awareness of latest developments in relevant fields, evaluatesand applies as warranted
• Generate IP and participate in the drafting of patent filings
• Prepare and publish scientific papers and congress reports
• Demonstrate good software engineering practices
• Proactively identify, assess, and internalize emerging technologies and methods

COMPETENCIES/REQUIREMENTS FOR POSITION

About you

• PhD in Cheminformatics, Computational Chemistry, or related field with 3+ years post-doc experienceincluding project leadership; preferentially in industry
• Experience leading and executing projects integrating biological, chemical, and structural data
• Extensive experience in computational and statistical analysis, structure activity analysis, cheminformatics, modellingand machine learning algorithms
• Expertise in scientific computing (python, R) and cheminformatic software
• Practical experience proposing, prototyping, and deploying novel algorithms; developing and validating new models
• Demonstrated record of transforming algorithms/theory into practical applications delivering robust models that are high performance, interpretable and actionable
• Experience with software development good practices (code versioning, testing, etc.)
• A creative problem solver, skilled in divergent thinking and turning complex data into actionable insights and knowledge
• Good communication scientific writing and presentation skills, ability to simplify complex problems and communicate complex solutions in a simple and effective manner
• Recognized expert with good networking skills and fluent interactions with one or more scientific communities
• Understanding of vaccine development processes is a plus, as well as familiarity with RNA processes and RNA-centric techniques/methods
• Fluent in English (French is a plus)