STELLENBESCHREIBUNG

We are seeking a visionary and strategic Chief Scientific Officer to direct the research strategy and scientific roadmap behind the domain-specific Large Language Model (LLM) platform. In this executive role you will be the intellectual compass for the company, guiding the AI Research Team’s efforts and ensuring our technology remains at the cutting edge of scientific discovery.

Our clients mission is to develop state-of-the-art AI systems capable of understanding and reasoning over immunology, biotechnology and drug discovery scientific areas and build LLMs with . You will direct the AI research activities of the research team to ensure they are developing the optimal AI models for our specific domain requirements. Furthermore, you will serve as a critical bridge between the technical teams and the broader scientific community and helping immunologists and biotechnologists leverage AI to advance their research programs.

Main Responsibilities

Strategic Scientific Leadership & Direction

• Direct the AI Research Roadmap: Define and oversee the execution of the scientific roadmap, providing high-level guidance and management of the AI Research Team on the development of domain-specific LLMs.
• Ensure scientific output quality: Establish rigorous research governance including reproducibility practices, documentation standards, benchmark versioning, experiment tracking, model cards, and research risk management while ensuring scientific integrity and auditability.
• Oversee the Research Cycle: Direct the AI model building and benchmarking activities, ensuring rigorous evaluation frameworks are in place to validate model performance against com plex scientific constraints.
• Technology & Competitive Intelligence: Act as the company’s radar for the latest developments in AI for Scientific Discovery. Continuously monitor the landscape to ensure the company is never blind-sided by new technologies, and to identify emerging methodologies that could obviate or enhance our current approaches.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Alignment

• Empower Engineering & Product Teams: Collaborate deeply with Engineering and Product Development teams, ensuring they are constantly up-to-date with the latest AI breakthroughs. You will translate complex scientific AI concepts into actionable insights that inform both engineering architecture with the CTO and product features with the CPO.
• Strategic Alignment: Work with C-level leadership to ensure the scientific vision supports business objectives, preventing silos between Research, Engineering, and Product Development.

Internal Engagement & Translation

• Maintain an active open door policy with researchers (immunologists, biotechnologists).
• Actively engage with scientific staff to understand their experimental hurdles, educating them on how LLMs can advance their work, and determining which of their needs can be translated into scalable core technologies or product features.

Thought Leadership & Management

• Team Mentorship: Manage an interdisciplinary team of AI researchers and scientists, fostering a culture of rigorous inquiry and rapid iteration, ensuring delegation without getting lost in implementation.
• External Representation: Represent the client in academic and biotech communities, publishing high-impact research and establishing the company as a thought leader in AI-driven science.

Skills and Qualifications

Education and Experience

• Ph.D. required in artificial intelligence, computer science, computational biology, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience in machine learning applied to biological discovery or scientific reasoning, with a strong focus on strategic oversight in recent years. A proven track record publishing in high impact journals and articles in the field of AI.
• Proven track record at management-level role, guiding research teams rather than acting as an individual contributor. Clarity in communication to the CEO and shareholders.

Technical & Strategic Expertise

• AI Strategy: Deep theoretical background on LLMs, agentic systems, Reinforcement Learning (RL/RLHF), and RAG architectures. You must be able to critique and guide technical strategies using custom and standard benchmars ( (e.g., PubMedQA, BioLP-Bench, ProtocolQA , MedMCQA, , SciQ / ARC (scientific reasoning), GPQA (graduate-level science QA), TruthfulQA (hallucination resistance), litqa, HLE)
• Domain Knowledge: Strong AI research background with solid expertise in immunology, biotechnology, or drug discovery pipelines, with the ability to evaluate whether model outputs meet strict scientific standards.
• Communication: Exceptional communication skills to bridge the gap between technical AI research, product development, and experimental science.
• Experience with modern AI research directions including large language models, agentic systems, world-models, knowledge distillation, transfer learning, and reinforcement learning

What We Offer

• Competitive salary package and performance-based bonuses rewarding strategic contributions.
• Stock options to share in the long-term success of the company.
• The opportunity to lead the strategy for a tool that could fundamentally change how science is conducted, driving breakthroughs in immunology and global health.
• Access to a global network of top-tier scientists and innovators.

Location and Reporting:

• The position reports directly to the CEO, with strong collaboration required wnith the CTO and CPO.
• Location: Switzerland with office locations in Basel, Zurich, and Lausanne.
• Only open to those with current working permits for Switzerland.
• Note: This position requires at least two full days per week of presence in Basel.