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Work Schedule
First Shift (Days)Environmental Conditions
Adherence to all Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Safety StandardsJob Description
At Thermo Fisher Scientific, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Join our colleagues in bringing our Mission to life \- enabling our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We provide our teams with the resources needed to achieve individual career goals while taking science a step beyond through research, development and delivery of life\-changing therapies. With clinical trials conducted in 100\+ countries and ongoing development of novel frameworks for clinical research through our PPD clinical research portfolio, our work spans laboratory, digital and decentralized clinical trial services. Your determination to deliver quality and accuracy will improve health outcomes that people and communities depend on – now and in the future.
Thermo Fisher's clinical research business is a leading global contract research organization and world leader in serving science. We are passionate, deliberate, and driven by our mission – to enable our customers to make the world healthier, safer, and cleaner.
Within our Analytical Services team, we have a functional service provider solution, which is a unique partnership that allows our customers to leverage the experience of our staff, while allowing you, the employee, to gain direct experience working onsite at a pharmaceutical/ biopharmaceutical company, all while maintaining full\-time benefits.
Summary:
The primary purpose of this position is to contribute to developing, validating and implementing bioanalytical immunoassays for the measurement of biotherapeutics, biomarkers, and the detection of anti\-drug antibodies (i.e., immunogenicity) in biological samples to support drug development and regulatory filing.
Essential Functions:
- Develops, validates, and implements immunoassays for the analysis of clinical and non\-clinical pharmacokinetic or toxicokinetic samples in a GLP\-like or GLP environment with some level of guidance
- Ensure assay performance meets regulatory expectations for specificity, sensitivity, precision, accuracy, and robustness.
- Independently troubleshoot and optimize ligand binding PK and ADA assays to ensure robustness and reproducibility.
- Maintain lab inventories and order lab supplies to ensure continuity of bioanalytical activities.
- Utilize Watson LIMS and Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELN) for data processing, documentation, and reporting.
- Ensures that electronic notebooks and other documentations are up to date as per departmental guidelines
- Prepare or contributes to study reports following the departmental policies and procedures.
- Ensures compliance with and maintains required training in BMS and departmental GLP, SOP, safety and other departmental guidelines
- Achieves objectives in a manner consistent with the Core BMS Behaviors
- Prepares and makes scientific presentations at internal and external meetings
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Develops, validates and implements immunoassays for the analysis of clinical and non\-clinical pharmacokinetic or toxicokinetic samples in a GLP environment with some level of guidance
- Contributes to validation and other analytical reports, BAS sections to the TK and clinical study reports. Contributes to the preparation of BAS sections to regulatory filings, BAS responses to regulatory filings, SOP’s, and other guidelines
- Processes bioanalytical study samples using validated methods.
- Reports study sample results to clients following the departmental policies and procedures.
- Troubleshoots and fixes ordinary assay problems
- Ensures compliance with and maintains required training in BMS and departmental GLP, SOP, safety and other departmental guidelines
- Ensures that electronic notebooks and other documentations are up to date as per departmental guidelines
- Achieves objectives in a manner consistent with the Core BMS Behaviors
- Prepares and makes scientific presentations at internal and external meetings
Education/Experience/Licenses/Certifications:
- Bachelor's degree in relevant life sciences program field
- AND 6\-8 years of relevant experience
Preferred: 4\+ years in a CRO or GLP regulated laboratory environment
In some cases an equivalency, consisting of a combination of appropriate education, training and/or directly related experience, will be considered sufficient for an individual to meet the requirements of the role.
Working Environment:
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Below is listed the working environment/requirements for this role:
Able to communicate, receive, and understand information and ideas with diverse groups of people in a comprehensible and reasonable manner.
Able to work upright and stationary and/or standing for typical working hours.
Able to lift and move objects up to 25 pounds
Able to work in non\-traditional work environments.
Able to use and learn standard office equipment and technology with
proficiency.
May have exposure to potentially hazardous elements, including infectious agents, typically found in healthcare or laboratory environments.
Able to perform successfully under pressure while prioritizing and handling multiple projects or activities.
Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Watch as our colleagues explain 5 reasons to work with us. As one team of 100,000\+ colleagues, we share a common set of values \- Integrity, Intensity, Innovation and Involvement \- working together to accelerate research, solve complex scientific challenges, drive technological innovation and support patients in need. \#StartYourStory with PPD, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, where diverse experiences, backgrounds and perspectives are valued.
Apply today! http://jobs.thermofisher.com
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Thermo Fisher Scientific is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.
Accessibility/Disability Access
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Job Seekers with a Disability: Thermo Fisher Scientific offers accessibility service for job seekers requiring accommodations in the job application process. For example, this may include individuals requiring assistance because of hearing, vision, mobility, or cognitive impairments. If you are a job seeker with a disability, or assisting a person with a disability, and require accessibility assistance or an accommodation to apply for one of our jobs, please submit a request by telephone at 1\-855\-471\-2255\*. Please include your contact information and specific details about your required accommodation to support you during the job application process.
- This telephone line is reserved solely for job seekers with disabilities requiring accessibility assistance or an accommodation in the job application process. Messages left for other purposes, such as not being able to get into the career website, following up on an application, or other non\-disability related technical issues will not receive a response.
Compensation and Benefits
The salary range estimated for this position based in New Jersey is $90,000\.00–$110,000\.00\.
This position may also be eligible to receive a variable annual bonus based on company, team, and/or individual performance results in accordance with company policy. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package that our U.S. colleagues and their families can count on, which includes:
- A choice of national medical and dental plans, and a national vision plan, including health incentive programs
- Employee assistance and family support programs, including commuter benefits and tuition reimbursement
- At least 120 hours paid time off (PTO), 10 paid holidays annually, paid parental leave (3 weeks for bonding and 8 weeks for caregiver leave), accident and life insurance, and short\- and long\-term disability in accordance with company policy
- Retirement and savings programs, such as our competitive 401(k) U.S. retirement savings plan
- Employees’ Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) offers eligible colleagues the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount
For more information on our benefits, please visit: https://jobs.thermofisher.com/global/en/total\-rewards
Salary Context
This $90K-$110K range is in the lower quartile for Research Scientist roles in our dataset (median: $183K across 109 roles with salary data).
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 Thermo Fisher Scientific, 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. Entry-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $97,880. This role's midpoint ($100K) sits 55% below the category median. Disclosed range: $90K to $110K.
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.
Thermo Fisher Scientific AI Hiring
Thermo Fisher Scientific has 4 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across Research Scientist, AI/ML Engineer. Positions span Lawrenceville, NJ, US, Waltham, MA, US, Pleasanton, CA, US. Compensation range: $110K - $203K.
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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