Data Science & AI Lead

Data Science & AI Lead – AI-native AgBio Start-up (London, hybrid)

Cubiq is exclusively partnered with an AI-native agbio start-up decoding how soil works. The company combines genomic foundation models with its own molecular biology wet lab to model soil as a living biological system. It sells that insight to crop science R&D teams.

It has just signed its first multi-year deal with a global crop science major. It is part of NVIDIA’s Inception programme and is scaling up its platform. It’s now hiring its first Data Science & AI Lead to own the function and build the team around it.

What you’ll do

• Lead the data science and AI function, reporting to the CTO
• Bring genomic foundation models into the platform: evaluate new models, interpret their representations and integrate them with other data (for example through VAEs and multi-modal approaches)
• Turn complex soil genomics and multi-omics data into models that customers use
• Work closely with the bioinformatics and wet lab teams to design experiments and validate results
• Shape the team’s work and objectives, and grow a small team of data scientists and ML engineers
• Set the technical direction for how AI is used across the business

What you’ll bring

• A strongly quantitative background. A PhD in a quantitative field is preferred
• Deep experience working with complex genomic data. Human health, plant, microbiome or soil backgrounds are all welcome
• Hands-on experience applying deep learning or foundation models to biological sequence data (PyTorch or similar)
• The ability to lead and shape other people’s work. First-time leads stepping up from a senior role are welcome
• The right to work in the UK

What’s on offer

• A founding leadership role in one of the least explored areas of biology
• A competitive base salary plus meaningful EMI share options (flexibility for exceptional candidates)
• London hybrid, 2 days a week in the office
• A short process: a call with the head of bioinformatics, then a scenario-based technical conversation with the CTO, then a meeting with the CEO