Interested in this AI/ML Engineer role at Bristol Myers Squibb?
Apply Now →Skills & Technologies
About This Role
Working with Us
Challenging. Meaningful. Life\-changing. Those aren’t words that are usually associated with a job. But working at Bristol Myers Squibb is anything but usual. Here, uniquely interesting work happens every day, in every department. From optimizing a production line to the latest breakthroughs in cell therapy, this is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it. You’ll get the chance to grow and thrive through opportunities uncommon in scale and scope, alongside high\-achieving teams. Take your career farther than you thought possible.
Bristol Myers Squibb recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility in our work environment. We offer a wide variety of competitive benefits, services and programs that provide our employees with the resources to pursue their goals, both at work and in their personal lives. Read more: careers.bms.com/working\-with\-us .
Position Summary
This is a new position. You will join a cutting\-edge Drug Development Data Science and Advanced Analytics (DSAA) team as a senior scientific and technical leader, driving data science strategy and execution to advance the global drug development process. We are looking for a seasoned data scientist with a strong computational, statistical, and biological background and a demonstrated track record of leading analytical strategy, driving methodological innovation, and translating complex, multi\-modal data into impactful scientific insights that inform clinical development decisions.
As an Associate Director, you will provide scientific leadership across diverse data types generated in drug development — including clinical trial data, genomics, proteomics, imaging, flow cytometry, and other biomarker modalities — driving both the strategic direction and hands\-on execution of data science efforts across early\-to\-late phase drug development programs. You will define and champion analytical frameworks, methodological standards, and scalable approaches that elevate the quality and impact of data science across the organization, while serving as a key scientific partner to Biostatistics leads, Translational and Clinical Scientists, and senior cross\-functional stakeholders. This position may include management of a small team of data scientists. We are looking for a technically excellent, scientifically influential, and strategically minded practitioner.
What You'll Do
Data Science Strategy \& Scientific Leadership
- Serve as a senior scientific resource within the DSAA organization, providing strategic direction and methodological guidance on data science approaches across multiple drug development programs
- Lead the design and execution of exploratory and confirmatory analyses (both hypothesis\-generating and hypothesis\-driven) across diverse and complex data types, from early discovery through late\-phase clinical development
- Drive the development and implementation of innovative statistical methods, novel analytical frameworks, and state\-of\-the\-art AI/ML approaches to address key scientific questions in drug development
- Shape the analytical strategy for drug development programs, contributing to decisions around trial design, endpoint selection, biomarker strategy, and evidence generation
- Identify opportunities to leverage emerging data science methodologies and technologies to accelerate drug development and address the complexities of novel data types
- Represent DSAA in cross\-functional program team meetings, providing authoritative scientific input and influencing development decisions through rigorous, data\-driven analysis
Advanced Analytics \& Modeling
- Lead the development and application of novel computational methods for patient segmentation, biomarker discovery, and precision medicine from multimodal clinical and omics datasets in partnership with Translational, Clinical, and Statistical Scientists
- Oversee and execute data science analyses on datasets from BMS clinical trials and real\-world data cohorts, spanning genomics, proteomics, imaging, flow cytometry, and other high\-dimensional biomarker data types
- Drive the integration, mining, and visualization of diverse, high\-dimensional, and disparate datasets across therapeutic areas and development phases, developing novel analytical approaches where existing methods fall short
- Lead the formulation, implementation, testing, and validation of predictive models and scalable automated processes for delivering modeling results across multiple programs
- Apply and advance the use of AI/ML, deep learning, NLP, causal ML, and explainable AI across multiple data modalities and clinical development contexts, maintaining currency with the state of the art
- Lead application of rigorous statistical approaches to clinical trial data, including survival analysis, longitudinal/mixed\-effects modeling, causal inference, and principled handling of missing data and censoring
- Contribute to and influence the scientific and statistical strategy of drug development programs, including the development of predictive biomarkers, novel trial designs, and precision medicine approaches
Data Engineering \& Reproducibility
- Define and champion standards for scalable, reproducible, and well\-documented analytical pipelines and codebases using Python, R, SQL, and cloud platforms
- Establish and enforce data quality frameworks to assess and ensure fitness\-for\-purpose of diverse data sources across programs
- Promote rigorous model evaluation practices including appropriate cross\-validation, calibration assessment, out\-of\-sample validation, and transparent reporting of model performance
- Drive adoption of scalable, automated analytical processes and best\-in\-class software engineering practices across the team
Leadership, Mentorship \& Cross\-Functional Influence
- If applicable, manage and develop a small team of data scientists, building capabilities, fostering scientific rigor and innovation, and ensuring delivery of high\-quality outputs within program timelines
- Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior and mid\-level data scientists, elevating team\-wide methodological and engineering standards through code reviews, collaborative problem\-solving, and knowledge sharing
- Partner with lead and protocol statisticians in shaping statistical analysis plans (SAPs) for exploratory data science analyses supporting drug development programs
- Collaborate with and influence cross\-functional teams including clinicians, translational medicine scientists, biostatisticians, data engineers, regulatory scientists, and IT/engineering professionals
- Communicate complex analytical strategies and results with clarity and scientific authority to both technical and non\-technical audiences, including senior leadership
- Build and maintain strong, high\-trust working relationships across the organization, establishing DSAA as a valued scientific partner
Key Requirements
- Ph.D. in a relevant quantitative field (e.g., Computational Biology, Biostatistics, Statistics, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field) and 6\+ years of academic/industry experience; or Master's Degree in a relevant quantitative field and 8\+ years of industry experience
- Demonstrated mastery in data science and statistical analysis with data generated from clinical trials or electronic health records, with a strong track record of delivering impactful results in a pharma R\&D context
- Significant experience leading the development and application of statistical and machine learning models on high\-dimensional data for time\-to\-event, longitudinal, and multivariate outcomes
- Proven expertise in the application of AI/ML and proficiency in Python, R, SQL, and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, Databricks)
- Deep familiarity with clinical trial design, drug development processes, and the role of biomarkers and data science in regulatory and clinical decision\-making
- Demonstrated ability to define and drive analytical strategy across multiple concurrent programs, balancing scientific rigor with practical delivery
- Significant track record of driving statistical and AI/ML innovation, with a perspective on leveraging emerging approaches to expedite drug development and address complexities of novel data types
- Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, and to manage multiple concurrent high\-priority programs with competing timelines
- Excellent communication, data presentation, and visualization skills; ability to convey complex analytical concepts to diverse audiences including senior leadership
- Capable of establishing and sustaining strong, high\-trust working relationships across the organization
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with genomics, proteomics, imaging, flow cytometry, or immunobiology datasets from clinical trials is highly preferred
- Experience with NLP is highly preferred
- Experience with Survival Analysis and time\-to\-event modeling is highly preferred
- Experience with causal ML and explainable AI is highly preferred
- Knowledge of molecular biology and understanding of disease pathways is preferred
- Experience with real\-world data (RWD/RWE) sources, including EHR, claims, or registry data, and associated analytical and causal inference methods is preferred
- Familiarity with digital health data and wearable/sensor\-derived data types is a plus
- Experience with or exposure to novel clinical trial design (e.g., adaptive, platform, or biomarker\-enriched trials) is preferred
- Prior experience in a people management or formal scientific leadership role is a plus
- Experience with scalable compute and deployment patterns, including cloud\-based platforms and parallelization for large\-scale data processing and model training is a plus
*If you come across a role that intrigues you but doesn’t perfectly line up with your resume, we encourage you to apply anyway. You could be one step away from work that will transform your life and career.*
Compensation Overview:
Brisbane \- CA \- US: $218,120 \- $264,308\&\#xa;Cambridge Crossing: $218,120 \- $264,308 \&\#xa;Princeton \- NJ \- US: $189,670 \- $229,834 \&\#xa;Seattle \- WA: $208,640 \- $252,824\&\#xa;
The starting compensation range(s) for this role are listed above for a full\-time employee (FTE) basis. Additional incentive cash and stock opportunities (based on eligibility) may be available. The starting pay rate takes into account characteristics of the job, such as required skills, where the job is performed, the employee’s work schedule, job\-related knowledge, and experience. Final, individual compensation will be decided based on demonstrated experience.
Eligibility for specific benefits listed on our careers site may vary based on the job and location. For more on benefits, please visit https://careers.bms.com/life\-at\-bms/.
Benefit offerings are subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans in effect at the time and may require enrollment. Our benefits include:
- Health Coverage: Medical, pharmacy, dental, and vision care.
- Wellbeing Support: Programs such as BMS Well\-Being Account, BMS Living Life Better, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP).
- Financial Well\-being and Protection: 401(k) plan, short\- and long\-term disability, life insurance, accident insurance, supplemental health insurance, business travel protection, personal liability protection, identity theft benefit, legal support, and survivor support.
Work\-life benefits include:
Paid Time Off
- US Exempt Employees: flexible time off (unlimited, with manager approval, 11 paid national holidays (not applicable to employees in Phoenix, AZ, Puerto Rico or Rayzebio employees)
- Phoenix, AZ, Puerto Rico and Rayzebio Exempt, Non\-Exempt, Hourly Employees: 160 hours annual paid vacation for new hires with manager approval, 11 national holidays, and 3 optional holidays
Based on eligibility\*, additional time off for employees may include unlimited paid sick time, up to 2 paid volunteer days per year, summer hours flexibility, leaves of absence for medical, personal, parental, caregiver, bereavement, and military needs and an annual Global Shutdown between Christmas and New Years Day.
All global employees full and part\-time who are actively employed at and paid directly by BMS at the end of the calendar year are eligible to take advantage of the Global Shutdown.
*\*Eligibility Disclosure:* *T* *he summer hours program is for United States (U.S.) office\-based employees due to the unique nature of their work. Summer hours are generally not available for field sales and manufacturing operations and may also be limited for the capability centers. Employees in remote\-by\-design or lab\-based roles may be eligible for summer hours, depending on the nature of their work, and should discuss eligibility with their manager. Employees covered under a collective bargaining agreement should consult that document to determine if they are eligible. Contractors, leased workers and other service providers are not eligible to participate in the program.*
Uniquely Interesting Work, Life\-changing Careers
With a single vision as inspiring as “Transforming patients’ lives through science™ ”, every BMS employee plays an integral role in work that goes far beyond ordinary. Each of us is empowered to apply our individual talents and unique perspectives in a supportive culture, promoting global participation in clinical trials, while our shared values of passion, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion and integrity bring out the highest potential of each of our colleagues.
On\-site Protocol
BMS has an occupancy structure that determines where an employee is required to conduct their work. This structure includes site\-essential, site\-by\-design, field\-based and remote\-by\-design jobs. The occupancy type that you are assigned is determined by the nature and responsibilities of your role:
Site\-essential roles require 100% of shifts onsite at your assigned facility. Site\-by\-design roles may be eligible for a hybrid work model with at least 50% onsite at your assigned facility. For these roles, onsite presence is considered an essential job function and is critical to collaboration, innovation, productivity, and a positive Company culture. For field\-based and remote\-by\-design roles the ability to physically travel to visit customers, patients or business partners and to attend meetings on behalf of BMS as directed is an essential job function.
Supporting People with Disabilities
BMS is dedicated to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace accommodations/adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request a reasonable workplace accommodation/adjustment prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodations/adjustments in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, direct your inquiries to [email protected] . Visit careers.bms.com/ eeo \-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.
Candidate Rights
BMS will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, pursuant to applicable laws in your area.
If you live in or expect to work from Los Angeles County if hired for this position, please visit this page for important additional information: https://careers.bms.com/california\-residents/
Data Protection
We will never request payments, financial information, or social security numbers during our application or recruitment process. Learn more about protecting yourself at https://careers.bms.com/fraud\-protection .
Any data processed in connection with role applications will be treated in accordance with applicable data privacy policies and regulations.
If you believe that the job posting is missing information required by local law or incorrect in any way, please contact BMS at [email protected] . Please provide the Job Title and Requisition number so we can review. Communications related to your application should not be sent to this email and you will not receive a response. Inquiries related to the status of your application should be directed to Chat with Ripley.
R1605305 : Associate Director, Data Science
Salary Context
This $208K-$264K range is above the 75th percentile for AI/ML Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $175K across 2162 roles with salary data).
View full AI/ML Engineer salary data →Role Details
About This Role
AI/ML Engineers build and deploy machine learning models in production. They work across the full ML lifecycle: data pipelines, model training, evaluation, and serving infrastructure. The role has evolved significantly over the past two years. Where ML Engineers once spent most of their time on model architecture, the job now tilts heavily toward inference optimization, cost management, and integrating LLM capabilities into existing systems. Companies want engineers who can ship production systems, and the experimenter-only role is fading fast.
Day-to-day, you're writing training pipelines, debugging data quality issues, setting up evaluation frameworks, and figuring out why your model performs differently in staging than it did on your dev set. The best ML engineers are obsessive about reproducibility and measurement. They instrument everything. They know that a model is only as good as the data feeding it and the infrastructure serving it.
Across the 4,317 AI roles we're tracking, AI/ML Engineer positions make up 70% of the market. At Bristol Myers Squibb, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week might include: debugging a data pipeline that's silently dropping 3% of training examples, running A/B tests on a new model version, writing documentation for a feature flag system that lets you roll back model deployments, and reviewing a junior engineer's PR for a new evaluation metric. Meetings tend to be cross-functional since ML touches product, engineering, and data teams.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
Skills Required
Python and PyTorch dominate the requirements. Most roles expect experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and familiarity with ML frameworks like TensorFlow or JAX. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) has become a top-3 skill requirement as companies integrate LLMs into their products. Docker and Kubernetes show up in about a third of postings, reflecting the production focus of the role.
Beyond the core stack, employers increasingly want experience with experiment tracking tools (MLflow, Weights & Biases), feature stores, and vector databases. Fine-tuning experience is valuable but less common than you'd think from reading Twitter. Most production LLM work is RAG and prompt engineering, not fine-tuning. If you have both, you're in a strong position.
Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI/ML Engineer roles pay a median of $214,900 based on 6,420 positions with disclosed compensation. Director-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $274,554. This role's midpoint ($236K) sits 10% above the category median. Disclosed range: $208K to $264K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $215,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $266,300. The 90th percentile reaches $320,790. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($287,500) and Research Engineer ($272,100). By seniority level: Entry: $110,000; Mid: $194,400; Senior: $227,400; Director: $274,554; VP: $241,000.
Bristol Myers Squibb AI Hiring
Bristol Myers Squibb has 4 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer. Based in Princeton, NJ, US. Compensation range: $138K - $264K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 15% (635 positions) offer remote work, while 3,657 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (1,650 roles, $220,000 median); San Francisco (1,335 roles, $265,000 median); Los Angeles (708 roles, $214,112 median).
Career Path
Common paths into AI/ML Engineer roles include Data Scientist, Software Engineer, Research Engineer.
From here, career progression typically leads toward ML Architect, AI Engineering Manager, Principal ML Engineer.
The fastest path into ML engineering is through software engineering with a self-directed ML education. A CS degree helps, but production engineering skills matter more than academic credentials. Build something that works, deploy it, and measure it. That portfolio project is worth more than a Coursera certificate. For career growth, the fork comes around the senior level: go deep on technical complexity (staff/principal track) or move into managing ML teams.
What to Expect in Interviews
Expect system design questions around ML pipelines: how you'd build a training pipeline for a specific use case, handle data drift, or design A/B testing infrastructure for model deployments. Coding rounds typically involve Python, with emphasis on data manipulation (pandas, numpy) and algorithm implementation. Take-home assignments often ask you to build an end-to-end ML pipeline from raw data to deployed model.
When evaluating opportunities: Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 4,317 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 138 entry-level, 2,071 mid-level, 1,655 senior, and 453 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 15% of the market (635 positions). The remaining 3,657 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $215,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $266,300. The 90th percentile reaches $320,790. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($287,500 median, 34 roles); Research Engineer ($272,100 median, 227 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($244,000 median, 23 roles).
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 4,317 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (3,004), Data Scientist (345), AI Software Engineer (309). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (138) are outnumbered by mid-level (2,071) and senior (1,655) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 453 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 15% of all AI roles (635 positions), with 3,657 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $215,000. Top-quartile roles start at $266,300, and the 90th percentile reaches $320,790. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $287,500 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $145,000. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (2,249 postings), Aws (1,224 postings), Azure (938 postings), Rag (915 postings), Gcp (660 postings), Pytorch (640 postings), Prompt Engineering (624 postings), Kubernetes (559 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get Weekly AI Career Intelligence
Salary data, skills demand, and market signals from 16,000+ AI job postings. Every Monday.