Principal Computational Scientist - Discovery Biology N & I (Billerica MA)

Work Your Magic with us! Start your next chapter and join EMD Serono.

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.

United As One for Patients, our purpose in Healthcare is to help create, improve and prolong lives. We develop medicines, intelligent devices and innovative technologies in therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Neurology and Fertility. Our teams work together across 6 continents with passion and relentless curiosity in order to help patients at every stage of life. Joining our Healthcare team is becoming part of a diverse, inclusive and flexible working culture, presenting great opportunities for personal development and career advancement across the globe.

This role does not offer sponsorship for work authorization. External applicants must be eligible to work in the US.

Your Role:

We are seeking an experienced computational biologist to drive translational target discovery and disease understanding in neuroscience and immunology, with a strong focus on functional genomics and human disease biology. This role will connect human genetics and patient-derived multi-omics data with experimental model systems and predictive disease modeling to support target identification, validation, and prioritization across the discovery pipeline.

As a Principal Scientist, Computational Biology – Functional Genomics within the Research Unit Neuroscience & Immunology (N&I), you will work at the interface of human genetics, computational biology, functional genomics, and translation, in close collaboration with bench scientists, disease area biologists, computational genetics colleagues, and cross-functional drug discovery teams. You will interpret genetic findings in biological context, generate mechanistic hypotheses, prioritize targets, and help guide the design and interpretation of perturbation-based experiments in disease-relevant systems.

A central part of the role is to help connect human disease biology to experimental validation and back again. You will translate human genetics and patient-derived multi-omics into testable functional hypotheses, help identify relevant preclinical model systems, and integrate perturbation and omics data from those models back with human datasets to assess translational relevance, refine disease mechanisms, and strengthen confidence in downstream clinical success.

You will integrate diverse data types, including human genetics, transcriptomics, proteomics, imaging, perturbation datasets, and single-cell or spatial omics where relevant, to uncover disease mechanisms and build scalable computational approaches for target validation and prioritization. You will contribute to predictive models of disease biology and perturbation response using systems biology, network analysis, and AI-enabled methods, with applications in disease modeling, patient stratification, disease endotyping, and therapeutic hypothesis prioritization. In partnership with cross-functional teams, you will also help integrate evidence on translatability, safety and toxicity risk, druggability, and modality considerations to support portfolio decisions.

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications:

PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Systems Biology, Biophysics, Data Science, or a related quantitative discipline, or in Biology, Medicine, Neuroscience, Immunology, or a related life science field with substantial specialization in computational biology

Significant postdoctoral and/or industry experience, including relevant experience in pharma or biotech drug discovery

Preferred Qualifications:

Strong experience in computational biology applied to target discovery, functional genomics, translational biology, or disease modeling

Experience interpreting human genetics and patient-derived multi-omics data to generate mechanistic hypotheses and support target identification or validation

Experience integrating complex datasets, including combinations of transcriptomics, proteomics, perturbation data, imaging, genetics, and single-cell or spatial omics

Good understanding of how to connect human disease biology with preclinical model systems, including assessing translational relevance and supporting model selection or data interpretation

Experience with perturbation biology or functional genomics data, such as CRISPR/RNAi screening, Perturb-seq, Cell Painting, or related approaches

Strong programming skills in Python and/or R, with experience building reproducible analytical workflows

Familiarity with systems biology, network analysis, gene regulatory networks, knowledge graphs, machine learning, or AI-enabled approaches for biological data integration and predictive modeling

Understanding of drug discovery and development, including target prioritization, translatability, safety and toxicity considerations, druggability, and modality-related questions

Experience leading scientific projects and collaborating effectively across multidisciplinary and cross-functional teams

Analytical, hypothesis-driven, and creative, with the ability to connect complex data to clear biological and strategic decisions

Strong communication skills in English, including the ability to explain complex computational concepts to diverse scientific audiences

What we are looking for

We are looking for an experienced scientist who combines deep computational expertise, strong biological intuition, translational thinking, and pharma drug discovery experience. You are excited by the opportunity to connect human disease biology with experimental validation, integrate diverse data types into mechanistic insight, and help shape data-driven decisions in target discovery and translational research.

You are:

scientifically rigorous and hypothesis-driven

strategic, creative, and impact-oriented

collaborative and effective in cross-functional environments

comfortable working across discovery, functional genomics, and translation

motivated to connect complex data to clear biological and portfolio decisions

Location: On-site Billerica MA

Pay Range for this position: $140,200 - $210,200

The offer range represents the anticipated low and high end of the base pay compensation for this position. The actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, level of experience, education, skills, and other job-related factors. Position may be eligible for sales or performance-based bonuses. Benefits offered by the Company include health insurance, paid time off (PTO), retirement contributions, and other perquisites. For more information click here .

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe that this variety drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!

Apply now and become a part of a team that is dedicated to Sparking Discovery and Elevating Humanity!