Senior Machine Learning Scientist in Cambridge

About us

• Bindbridge is advancing sustainable agriculture through AI-powered molecular glue discovery and design.
• Backed by Speedinvest and Nucleus Capital , we are building a computational platform to bring targeted protein degradation to agriculture.
• Our first goal is to discover herbicides that revolutionise crop protection while minimising environmental impact.

The role

• As a Senior Machine Learning (ML) Scientist you will build the next generation of our molecular glue discovery and design platform.
• You will set technical direction and own the quality bar day to day: review code and methods, decide what gets built and what gets cut, and scale research ideas from prototype to production.
• You will build the models that power the platform, from structure prediction through candidate design to the scoring layer that ranks them.
• You will own evaluation, building benchmarks that are honest about leakage, memorisation and held-out difficulty.
• You will translate the biology and chemistry team's research into concrete modelling strategies.
• You will help hire, onboard and mentor engineers as the team grows.
• This role is for a mission-driven technical leader who wants to push the frontier of AI for molecular design and turn that progress into crop protection that works.

What you will bring

• Significant experience applying ML to real-world problems in structural biology, chemistry or drug discovery.
• Proven experience leading ML teams and setting technical direction in a fast-paced, multi-disciplinary environment.
• Depth in at least one of: protein structure and complex prediction, docking or generative molecular design.
• Strong hands‑on experience with PyTorch and the scientific Python ecosystem.
• Experience contributing to and maintaining deep‑learning codebases, with a high bar for engineering quality, reproducibility and testing.
• The judgement to review methods, models and code you did not write, and to tell when a number is measuring the wrong thing.
• A collaborative approach to solving problems.

Nice to have

• Publications or open‑source contributions in ML for structural biology, computational chemistry or drug discovery.
• PhD in a quantitative or computational field.
• Experience with targeted protein degradation, molecular glues, PROTACs or ternary complex modelling.
• Experience working in an interdisciplinary scientific environment, especially across ML, biology, chemistry and physics.
• Familiarity with the tools, data formats and workflows commonly used in computational biology and chemistry.
• A chance to build the models behind the first AI‑designed herbicides, in a field where targeted protein degradation has barely been applied.
• Significant ownership and independence as the senior technical seat on the platform.
• A small, fast‑moving team where what you build is what the company runs on.

What to expect

• Bindbridge is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, and we encourage you to apply even if you do not match every line above.
• No advance preparation, take‑home exercises or algorithmic coding tests at any stage.
• We do not use AI tools to assess candidates. Every application is reviewed by a person, and all hiring decisions are made by people.
• If any adjustments would help you take part, let us know when we contact you and we will be happy to discuss them.

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