Pfizer Pharma GmbH Posted June 30, 2026

Senior Machine Learning Research Scientist (m/f/d) - Generative AI for Drug Design

Berlin, Germany Full time
Information Technology Senior

Pfizer Pharma GmbH is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

A career at Pfizer offers opportunity, ownership and impact.

All over the world, Pfizer colleagues work together to positively impact health for everyone, everywhere. Our colleagues have the opportunity to grow and develop a career that offers both individual and company success; be part of an ownership culture that values diversity and where all colleagues are energized and engaged; and the ability to impact the health and lives of millions of people. Pfizer, a global leader in the biopharmaceutical industry, is continuously seeking top talent who are inspired by our purpose to innovate to bring therapies to patients that significantly improve their lives.

Right now, we are seeking highly qualified candidates to fill the position:

Senior Machine Learning Research Scientist (m/f/d) - Generative AI for Drug Design

Location: Berlin, Germany

Join our pioneering team at the forefront of AI-driven drug discovery.

As authors of the FLOWR and PILOT frameworks, we are expanding our group of machine learning research scientists to further advance the development and application of state-of-the-art generative models for both structure- and ligand-based drug design. In this role, you will design, implement, and validate novel machine learning tools that generate testable hypotheses and help accelerate the entire drug discovery continuum. You will work with Pfizer’s rich proprietary data, large-scale external datasets, and ultra-large data from strategic collaborations to push the boundaries of our machine learning capabilities. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research while translating innovation into real-world impact for patients.

What You Will Do

Design, develop, and validate state-of-the-art machine learning models, with a focus on generative AI and self-supervised learning

Apply modern generative frameworks (e.g., diffusion or flow-based approaches) to molecular design challenges

Develop predictive models combining structural and biochemical data (e.g., binding affinity prediction)

Explore and implement novel representation learning approaches using large-scale, unlabeled datasets

Translate emerging research in machine learning into impactful applications in drug discovery

Collaborate with cross-functional experts in computational biology, chemistry, and medicine design

Contribute to publications, conferences, and external scientific engagement

Your Profile

We are looking for individuals with strong technical expertise and curiosity to drive innovation. You may bring experience through different pathways:

Required Qualifications:

Advanced degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Computational Biology, or a related field

Proven experience in developing machine learning models and algorithms

Strong programming skills (e.g., Python)

Experience working with scientific or complex structured datasets

Preferred Qualifications:

Strong publication record in machine learning or computational science (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR or comparable venues)

Hands-on experience implementing deep learning models using frameworks such as PyTorch

Expertise in modern generative modeling techniques, such as diffusion models, flow-matching approaches, reinforcement learning and/or self-supervised learning methods (e.g., JEPA)

Experience working with scientific data types relevant to drug discovery (e.g., molecular structures, protein data, or large-scale biological datasets)

Experience with high-performance computing environments (e.g., SLURM) and/or cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Google Cloud)

Familiarity with cheminformatics tools (e.g., RDKit)

Proven ability to translate research ideas into applied solutions in a scientific or industrial setting

Technologies We Use

Slurm-based on-premise compute clusters, Google Cloud Platform, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Python (PyTorch, numpy, pandas, scikit-learn, RDKit).

Breakthroughs   that   change   patients ’   lives   - Unser klares Unternehmensziel ist es, Durchbrüche zu erreichen, die das Leben von   PatienInnen   verändern. Sie sind der Sinn unseres Tuns. Wenn Sie Teil dieser Vision sein wollen und die gleiche Leidenschaft teilen, ist Pfizer der ideale Ort, um eine Karriere zu beginnen oder um eine erfolgreich fortzusetzen.

Überzeugt?

Dann freuen wir uns über Ihre Online-Bewerbung mit vollständigen und aussagekräftigen Unterlagen ( Anschreiben, Lebenslauf und Dateien wie Zeugnisse   u.ä.     können Sie unter „Meine Berufserfahrung" unter Ihrem Lebenslauf hinzufügen und hochladen).

Bitte beachten Sie, dass wir aus Datenschutzgründen ausschließlich Bewerbungen über unsere Plattform annehmen können.

Pfizer garantiert Chancengleichheit während des gesamten Bewerbungsprozesses sowie die Einhaltung der lokalen Gesetzgebungen in den jeweiligen Ländern, in denen Pfizer agiert. Pfizer schließt jegliche diskriminierende Faktoren aus, die u. a. das Geschlecht und Alter, die ethnische Zugehörigkeit, Religion oder Weltanschauung, sexuelle Orientierung oder Behinderung betreffen.

Inklusion von Menschen mit Behinderungen

Unser Anliegen ist es, allen Mitarbeitenden zu ermöglichen, dass Sie ihre Fähigkeiten und Kenntnisse voll einbringen und weiterentwickeln können. Wir sind stolz darauf, ein inklusiver Arbeitgeber zu sein, indem wir allen Bewerber:innen gleiche Chancen bieten. Wir ermutigen Sie, sich von Ihrer besten Seite zu zeigen, mit dem Wissen und dem Vertrauen, dass wir alle angemessenen Anpassungen vornehmen werden, um Ihre Bewerbung und Ihre zukünftige Karriere zu unterstützen. Ihre Reise mit Pfizer beginnt hier!


Pfizer endeavors to make www.pfizer.com/careers accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process and/or interviewing, please email disabilityrecruitment@pfizer.com. This is to be used solely for accommodation requests with respect to the accessibility of our website, online application process and/or interviewing. Requests for any other reason will not be returned.

 Um mehr über zulässige und unzulässige Anwendungen von KI im Rekrutierungsprozess zu erfahren, lesen Sie bitte unsere Richtlinien zur Nutzung von KI durch Kandidatinnen und Kandidaten auf Pfizer Careers .


Information & Business Tech

Job details

Seniority
Senior
Function
Information Technology
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Berlin, Germany
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Information Technology role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 378 comparable Senior Information Technology roles across 33 biopharma companies.

378Comparable roles tracked
355Currently active
33Companies hiring similar roles
21Countries represented

Salary context

45 of 378 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Senior Data Security Engineer (Insider Risk Management – Engineering) · AbbVie $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Peer group range $0 – $224,445 (median $151,100)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 378 comparable roles

India196
United States78
Spain23
Poland14
Portugal10
Greece9

+ 15 more countries

Seniority mix

378 of 378 peers have a known seniority level

Senior289
Principal50
Associate Director39

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 378 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
GlaxoSmithKline Services GmbH & Co. KG Munich, Germany Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AstraZeneca Munich, Germany Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AstraZeneca Munich, Germany Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
45%similar
Roche Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland Senior
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Roche Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland Senior
Same function Same seniority

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
Senior Data Architect (m/f/d)
GlaxoSmithKline Services GmbH & Co. KG · Munich, Germany · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Senior Test Engineer (m/f/d) for regulated Computational Pathology products
AstraZeneca · Munich, Germany · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Senior Scientific Software Engineer (Fullstack)
Roche · Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Senior Staff Software Engineer, Research Systems
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.