Senior Director/Head, Translational AI Lab (TRAIL)

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Advances in AI, data, and computational sciences are transforming drug discovery and development. Roche's Research and Early Development organisations at Genentech (gRED) and Pharma (pRED) have demonstrated how these technologies accelerate R&D, leveraging data and novel computational models to drive impact. Seamless data sharing and access to models across gRED and pRED are essential to maximising these opportunities. The new Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CoE) is a strategic, unified group whose goal is to harness the transformative power of data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist our scientists in both pRED and gRED to deliver more innovative and transformative medicines for patients worldwide.

The Opportunity

The Senior Director, Head of the Translational AI Lab (TRAIL), is a pivotal scientific leadership role within Genentech's Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CoE). The Head of TRAIL will establish, nourish, and mentor a group of ~30 scientists focused on applied AI and data science enablements, to help establish, scale, and assess cutting-edge AI methods for their embedding within computational biology discovery research and translation.TRAIL is an innovation lab in the newly established AIBT Organization within the Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (C-CoE). TRAIL's mission is to enable translation and application of state-of-the-art AI methods to generate actionable biological and clinical insights. The Head of TRAIL will build and nourish strong links between the AI/ML Methods Development Department (BRAID) and applications of methods to specific biological questions. In doing so, TRAIL will lead efforts to identify high-impact scientific questions across therapeutic areas, co-design computational strategies with the AI Development teams, and perform data science to enable ML-readiness. Importantly, TRAIL will lead the development of innovative approaches for model benchmarking, interpretability, readiness assessment, and adaptation, with a strong emphasis on testing models in real-world biological and clinical contexts. This role requires deep expertise in computational biology, very strong familiarity with genomics and translational data as well as the cutting-edge of AI/ML, and a proven ability to lead cross-functional teams. Deep biological and genomics domain expertise will be essential to ensure meaningful scientific impact.

Vision for the Role

As Head of TRAIL, you will have the unique opportunity to define how foundational research in AI and computational biology reshapes translational science and patient outcomes across the Roche network. You will foster an environment that balances scientific excellence with real-world impact, where methodological rigor, open inquiry, and translational delivery are valued equally.

Key Responsibilities

Scientific and Strategic Leadership

• Define and execute the vision for TRAIL as a translational and applied AI center of excellence within gRED.

• Drive the application of AI/ML models to advance translational science, clinical trial design, biomarker discovery, and patient stratification.

• Build strong connections between world-class computational teams, spanning AI/ML development, applied informatics, and experimental science.

• Align TRAIL's strategy with Genentech's broader R&D priorities and the evolving landscape of computational biology and translation.

Team and Organizational Management

• Lead and grow a diverse team of computational biology scientists and data scientists (25-40 FTEs).

• Foster a culture of scientific excellence, collaboration, and delivery, with strong mentorship and talent development practices.

• Facilitate cross-functional collaboration with AI biology research development(BRAID), discovery biology, clinical sciences, biomarker development, data engineering, biostatistics, and informatics teams.

Innovation and Integration

• Advance the development of lab-in-the-loop and patient-in-the-loop AI paradigms in translational contexts.

• Prioritize models that are interpretable and clinically actionable, designed in close collaboration with experimental and clinical partners.

• Integrate TRAIL capabilities into ongoing gRED and pRED programs to enable earlier, more confident decision-making.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a key liaison with internal and external stakeholders to position TRAIL as a critical enabler of both the gRED and pRED pipelines.

• Represent Genentech's thought leadership in AI at scientific conferences, consortia, and with external collaborators and partners.

• Maintain a strong scientific presence in the external research community through publications, conference presentations, and collaborations with academic institutions. Support open science and reproducibility practices where appropriate.

Who you are

• Ph.D. (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, or a related field, with 10+ years of relevant experience across biopharma, tech, or academic research environments.

• Deep expertise in AI/ML and data science, with a strong track record of applying these methods to biological and clinical data (e.g., multi-omics, EHR, single-cell, spatial), ideally in translational or drug discovery contexts.

• Proven scientific leadership, demonstrated through impactful publications, external visibility, and success driving high-value, cross-functional research programs.

• Experience leading, growing, and mentoring high-performing teams of 10-25+ scientists and data scientists, with a focus on collaboration, delivery, and scientific excellence.

• Strong strategic and organizational skills, with the ability to align scientific goals with broader R&D objectives and drive integration across discovery, clinical, and computational domains.

• Exceptional communication and influence skills, with the ability to engage technical and non-technical stakeholders, represent the organization externally, and build productive partnerships across industry and academia.

Relocation benefits are available for this job posting.

The expected salary range for this position, based on the primary location of California, is $280,400 - $520,700. Actual pay will be determined based on experience, qualifications, geographic location, and other job-related factors permitted by law. A discretionary annual bonus may be available based on individual and Company performance. This position also qualifies for the benefits detailed at the link provided below.

Benefits

#ComputationCoE

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