Interested in this Research Scientist role at Incyte Corporation?
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Overview:
Incyte is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel medicines to meet serious unmet medical needs in oncology and inflammation and autoimmunity. Incyte is committed to the rigorous pursuit of research and development excellence to improve the lives of patients, make a difference in health care, and build sustainable value.
The Company strives to discover and develop first\-in\-class and best\-in\-class medicines\-advancing a diverse portfolio of large and small molecules.
Position Overview
We are seeking a Clinical Scientist to join our Early Clinical Development Group at a level commensurate with experience (Associate Director through Executive Director).
This role is intentionally designed to attract both emerging leaders and experienced strategic contributors. Depending on level, you will contribute to or lead early clinical development and clinical pharmacology programs, with increasing ownership, strategic influence, and cross\-functional leadership at more senior levels. You will have the opportunity to work across the full product lifecycle—from First\-in\-Human studies through approval and post\-marketing—within a collaborative, science\-driven environment that values curiosity, innovation, and continuous learning. Key Responsibilities:Core Responsibilities (All Levels)* Contribute to the design, execution, and interpretation of early clinical and clinical pharmacology studies
- Collaborate cross\-functionally with Clinical Operations, Translational Sciences, Quantitative Clinical Pharmacology, and Statistics
- Support development of clinical documents including protocols, study reports, and regulatory submissions
- Analyze and interpret clinical safety and efficacy data in collaboration with Medical and Scientific teams
- Maintain awareness of competitive landscape and emerging standards of care
- Ensure adherence to timelines, budgets, SOPs, and regulatory requirements
- Present data internally and contribute to external scientific communications
Additional Responsibilities by LevelAssociate Director* Lead components of clinical studies and contribute to program\-level strategy
- Draft and independently own sections of key clinical and regulatory documents
- Collaborate closely with cross\-functional partners to execute study deliverables
- Present findings to internal teams
Director / Senior Director* Lead clinical studies and drive cross\-functional execution
- Contribute meaningfully to clinical development strategy
- Serve as a scientific leader on project teams and influence decision\-making
- Mentor junior team members and contribute to team development
Executive Director* Provide strategic leadership across programs or therapeutic areas
- Shape and drive clinical development strategy and represent programs to governance bodies
- Influence portfolio\-level decisions and external collaborations
- Serve as a recognized subject matter expert internally and externally
- Lead high\-visibility initiatives, including regulatory interactions and scientific presentations
QualificationsMinimum Requirements* PhD, PharmD, or MD with 5\+ years of relevant experience, OR
- BS/MS with 10\+ years of relevant experience
- Experience in early clinical development, clinical pharmacology, or a related discipline
- Strong analytical, communication, and problem\-solving skills
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a dynamic environment
Additional Experience by LevelAssociate Director* Experience contributing to clinical studies and cross\-functional teams
- Demonstrated ability to analyze and interpret clinical data
Director / Senior Director* Proven experience leading clinical studies or key program components
- Ability to influence cross\-functional teams and contribute to strategy
Executive Director* Extensive experience leading clinical development programs
- Strong track record of strategic leadership and influencing senior stakeholders
- Experience representing programs in high\-visibility settings (e.g., regulatory interactions, governance)
Preferred Qualifications (All Levels)* Experience in clinical pharmacology, immunology, or oncology
- Strong scientific curiosity and a proactive, question\-driven mindset
- Ability to present complex data clearly and effectively
Additional Information
Willingness to travel up to 20% as needed (reasonable accommodations available)
Disclaimer: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications. Management reserves the right to change or modify such duties as required.
Incyte Corporation is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.
We Respect Your Privacy
Learn more at: http://www.incyte.com/privacy\-policy
The Incyte hiring organization processes your personal data to manage your job application in order to enter into an employment relationship with you if you are the successful candidate.
During the process, you may be asked to respond to questions that will screen out your application if you do not meet certain objective criteria required by the job. You can learn more about this process here.
You may have the right to access, delete, restrict, edit, move, or object to the use of your personal data. You may also have a right to report concerns to the authority responsible for data privacy in the country where the position is based or where you live or work.
You can learn more about Incyte’s data protection practices here. By accessing this link you can learn about the types of personal data we collect, how we use it, whether collection and processing is optional, sources of the personal data we process, how it is shared, where it is stored or transferred to, how long we keep it, and contact information for Incyte, Incyte’s data protection officer, and your supervisory authority (if applicable).
Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns or would like to exercise your rights.
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Role Details
About This Role
Research Scientists push the boundaries of what AI can do. They design experiments, develop novel architectures, publish papers, and translate research breakthroughs into production capabilities. This is where the fundamental advances happen, from attention mechanisms to diffusion models to reasoning chains.
The work is intellectually demanding and often ambiguous. You might spend months on an approach that doesn't pan out. The best research scientists combine deep mathematical intuition with engineering pragmatism. They know when to go deep on theory and when to run experiments. They read papers voraciously and can spot incremental contributions from genuine breakthroughs.
Across the 3,823 AI roles we're tracking, Research Scientist positions make up 3% of the market. At Incyte Corporation, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: reading and discussing recent papers with your team, designing and running experiments on multi-GPU clusters, analyzing results and iterating on hypotheses, writing up findings for internal review or publication, and collaborating with engineering teams to productionize promising results. The ratio of thinking to coding is higher than in engineering roles.
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
Skills in Demand for This Role
PhD strongly preferred for most roles. Deep expertise in a specific area (NLP, computer vision, reinforcement learning, multimodal) is expected. PyTorch is the standard. Publication track record matters. Strong mathematical foundations in linear algebra, probability, optimization, and information theory are assumed.
Beyond the fundamentals, companies value experience with large-scale distributed training, novel architecture design, and the ability to bridge theory and practice. Understanding of current frontier topics (reasoning, multimodal, long-context, alignment) is essential. Code quality matters more than many researchers expect. Labs want researchers who can implement their ideas cleanly.
Strong research postings specify the research area, mention the team you'd join, and describe the problems they're working on. They often list recent publications from the team. Vague 'AI research' postings without specifics usually mean the company wants to sound impressive but doesn't have a real research agenda.
Compensation Benchmarks
Research Scientist roles pay a median of $223,400 based on 280 positions with disclosed compensation. Director-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $247,800.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $200,100. Top-quartile compensation starts at $253,500. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Engineering Manager ($275,000) and AI Safety ($274,200). By seniority level: Entry: $97,880; Mid: $165,000; Senior: $227,400; Director: $247,800; VP: $250,000.
Incyte Corporation AI Hiring
Incyte Corporation has 1 open AI role right now. They're hiring across Research Scientist. Based in Wilmington, DE, US.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 15% (590 positions) offer remote work, while 3,217 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,643 roles, $211,000 median); San Francisco (2,168 roles, $253,000 median); Los Angeles (1,792 roles, $191,580 median).
Career Path
Common paths into Research Scientist roles include PhD Student, Research Engineer, Postdoc.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Research Lead, Distinguished Scientist, VP of Research.
The PhD is the entry point for most paths. Choose your advisor and research area carefully since they'll define your first industry position. Publish consistently, contribute to open-source projects in your area, and build relationships at conferences. Industry research offers better compensation and compute resources than academia, but the pressure to show product impact is real.
What to Expect in Interviews
Research interviews are multi-stage: a research talk (present your best paper), technical deep-dives on your methodology, and often a 'research proposal' exercise where you design an experiment to test a hypothesis. Coding rounds test implementation ability alongside theoretical knowledge. Be prepared to implement a paper from scratch and discuss the design choices the authors made. Strong candidates can critique papers constructively and identify gaps in experimental methodology.
When evaluating opportunities: Strong research postings specify the research area, mention the team you'd join, and describe the problems they're working on. They often list recent publications from the team. Vague 'AI research' postings without specifics usually mean the company wants to sound impressive but doesn't have a real research agenda.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 3,823 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 112 entry-level, 1,798 mid-level, 1,516 senior, and 397 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 15% of the market (590 positions). The remaining 3,217 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $200,100. Top-quartile compensation starts at $253,500. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. Highest-paying categories: AI Engineering Manager ($275,000 median, 41 roles); AI Safety ($274,200 median, 55 roles); Research Engineer ($260,000 median, 434 roles).
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 3,823 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (2,629), Data Scientist (322), AI Software Engineer (279). 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 (112) are outnumbered by mid-level (1,798) and senior (1,516) 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 397 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 15% of all AI roles (590 positions), with 3,217 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 $200,100. Top-quartile roles start at $253,500, and the 90th percentile reaches $307,500. 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 Engineering Manager roles lead at $275,000 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $140,000. 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 (1,979 postings), Aws (1,190 postings), Azure (899 postings), Rag (839 postings), Gcp (726 postings), Pytorch (595 postings), Prompt Engineering (595 postings), Claude (540 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
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