Senior Director, Engineering, Science

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in 2015 to help solve some of society's toughest challenges - from eradicating disease and improving education to addressing the needs of our local communities. Our mission is to build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone.

The Team

CZI supports the science and technology that will make it possible to cure, prevent, or manage all diseases by the end of this century. While this may seem like an audacious goal, in the last 100 years, biomedical science has made tremendous strides in understanding biological systems, advancing human health, and treating disease.

We build open-source software tools to accelerate science and generate more accurate and biologically important sources of data. We fund scientific research worldwide to advance the frontiers of knowledge. And we launched a family of institutes to do research that can't be done in conventional environments. Each aspect is essential to our approach to building for the long term.

CZI's work in science includes grantmaking programs, open-source software development, and close collaboration with its partner institutes at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network. The CZ Biohub Network includes the San Francisco, Chicago, and New York Biohubs as well as the Chan Zuckerberg Imaging Institute. CZI also collaborates with institutional partners like the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural & Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University. Join us in accelerating science.

The CZI AI/ML team is funding and building one of the largest computing systems dedicated to nonprofit life science research in the world. This new effort will provide the scientific community with access to predictive models of healthy and diseased cells, which will lead to groundbreaking new discoveries that could help researchers cure, prevent, or manage all diseases by the end of this century. You will collaborate directly with the AI/ML team responsible for developing and deploying ML models that use data developed by CZI and research partners all for the purpose of contributing to greater understanding of human cell function

The Opportunity

This is an excellent opportunity for an outstanding technical leader, inspired by CZI's mission, with a passion for the potential of technology to enable organizations to operate effectively, including accelerating scientific progress and applying technology to enable new science.

As a Senior Director of Engineering focusing on AI platform and application development, your role will be to spearhead and guide the development of cutting-edge technologies and solutions. You will lead the identification of key challenges and opportunities for accelerating science through developing and disseminating AI applications, fostering innovation and efficiency improvements in existing processes while creating novel solutions. Your responsibility extends to formulating and driving the Science team's overarching vision and strategy for technology development, collaborating with the Head of AI and the Scientific leadership to advance the Science mission.

The ideal candidate for this position will have a demonstrable history of successfully developing and implementing strategic plans for pioneering AI/ML and technology products, leveraging data and customer insights to inform and refine technology decisions. This individual will be proven to work collaboratively with internal teams and external partners, effectively aligning efforts to meet business objectives and customer needs. The candidate should excel in navigating complex, ambiguous environments, demonstrating a strong capability in driving projects to completion and focusing on impactful outcomes rather than mere outputs. This role demands a passion for experimentation and exploration, strategic as well as scaling up technology initiatives, a demonstrated talent for leadership in the ML/AI domain, and an unwavering commitment to achieving ambitious goals

What You'll Do

• Leadership and Team Management: Provide engineering and data science teams with leadership, mentoring, and management. Focus on developing and sustaining robust, scalable AI platforms and capabilities.

• Cross-functional collaboration: Through our partnerships with researchers and the scientific community and the work of our software team, we can create experiences, tools, and platforms that integrate research, practices, and content.

• Technical Vision and Strategy: Develop and implement a strategic technology roadmap for our Science initiative long-term vision-technical platforms, ensuring alignment with our organizational vision and objectives. Drive continuous innovation and the adoption of AI technologies to elevate product experiences.

• Technical Excellence: Uphold a standard of technical excellence, ensuring adherence to best practices in software development, machine learning, and platform architecture.

• Trust and Security: Cultivate a culture of trust and ethical AI practices, leading a team committed to deploying secure, state-of-the-art AI solutions that strictly comply with global data protection and privacy standards.

• Team Management and Mentorship: Lead a team of over 50 engineering and data science professionals, managing resources, timelines, and project scopes. Provide mentorship to foster a collaborative and productive environment.

• Problem-Solving: Utilize AI/ML solutions to address complex, real-world challenges, applying theoretical knowledge to create and improve practical, impactful products and services; we can create educational tools that better integrate research, practices, and content.

• Team Development and Recruitment: Focus on hiring, building, and developing a skilled team to meet organizational needs, ensuring they have the required expertise and capabilities.

• Partner Collaboration: Collaborate with scientific leaders and technology developers within the Science ecosystem and partner organizations to develop frameworks, data foundations, and architectures supporting our strategic vision.

What You'll Bring

• Extensive Leadership Experience: Over 10-15 years in technology leadership roles, including experience leading engineering and data science teams, showcasing a successful track record in guiding and managing sizable, multifaceted technology teams and a passion for innovation and scaling in scientific tools.

• Expertise in ML and AI: A deep understanding of machine learning and AI, building infrastructure, services, and scalable technology stack.

• Communication and Interpersonal Skills: Exceptional communication ability; fosters effective collaboration and empathy with diverse organizational and external stakeholders. Ability to engage and motivate a distributed, mission-oriented technical team.

• Business Acumen and Strategic Alignment: Proficient in aligning technology strategies with the organization's broader business goals and objectives, demonstrating strong business insight.

• Analytical and Problem-Solving Proficiency: Robust analytical skills coupled with the ability to solve complex technology challenges effectively.

Compensation

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for this role is $323,000.00 - $485,000.00 New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. Pay ranges outside Redwood City are adjusted based on cost of labor in each respective geographical market. Your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range for your location during the hiring process.

Benefits for the Whole You

We're thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible.

• CZI provides a generous 100% match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.

• Annual funding for employees that can be used most meaningfully for them and their families, such as housing, student loan repayment, childcare, commuter costs, or other life needs.

• CZI Life of Service Gifts are awarded to employees to "live the mission" and support the causes closest to them.

• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice.

• Funding for select family-forming benefits.

• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving to the Bay Area

• And more!

Commitment to Diversity

We believe that the strongest teams and best thinking are defined by the diversity of voices at the table. We are committed to fair treatment and equal access to opportunity for all CZI team members and to maintaining a workplace where everyone feels welcomed, respected, supported, and valued. Learn about our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

If you're interested in a role but your previous experience doesn't perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

Explore our work modes, benefits, and interview process at www.chanzuckerberg.com/careers.

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