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Sr. Data Platform Engineer - Computer System Validator
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Your work will change lives. Including your own.
Recursion is a leading, clinical-stage TechBio company decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery. Central to its mission is the Recursion Operating System (OS), a platform built across diverse technologies that continuously expands one of the world’s largest proprietary biological, chemical and patient-centric datasets. Recursion leverages sophisticated machine-learning algorithms to distill from its dataset a collection of trillions of searchable relationships across biology and chemistry unconstrained by human bias. By commanding massive experimental scale—up to millions of wet lab experiments weekly—and massive computational scale—owning and operating one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world—Recursion is uniting technology, biology, chemistry and patient-centric data to advance the future of medicine.
In this role, you will:
- Build, scale, and operate in a validated data platform. You will be a member of the platform team responsible for building, operating, and tuning a data platform with petabyte scale data, and maintaining a GxP-compliant data platform for clinical data. These platforms allow our users to discover and query across the breadth of our data at Recursion, which includes a chemistry library of billions of compounds, cellular microscopy images taken in millions of different experimental contexts, and millions of assay results, all supporting Recursion’s drug discovery.
- Engineer Data Integrity and Traceability: You will ensure data flows with integrity in the validated environment by building the automated audit trails and lineage required by 21 CFR Part 11 making our datasets in the clinical datalake queryable and relatable for regulatory questions. Additionally, you'll work with biologists, chemists, and data scientists to build relatability and query-ability into these datasets so they can be used in the future to answer the sorts of questions we haven't even thought of asking yet.
- Act as a mentor, coach, and sponsor. You will share your technical knowledge and experiences, delivering impact, learning, and growth across teams at Recursion.
The Team You’ll Join
- You will join the Data Lake team that built and maintains our Data Lake/house. The team is responsible for relational and object storage and has the motto: all data flows to the Data Lake. The team solves the problem of making our diverse data discoverable, queryable, and relatable across datasets while we continue to add new data modalities as we grow. This will require collaboration with many different groups including teams building out reports, dashboards, and applications, teams finding and generating the required data for machine learning problems, and teams building and iterating on new data processing pipelines.
Nice to Haves: Experience in a regulated environment (Fintech, Medicine, Nuclear Industry, etc.), Experience with Search (Elasticsearch), Vector/Graph databases, or deep experience scaling within the GCP ecosystem is a significant plus.
Working Location & Compensation:
This is an office-based, hybrid position at either of our US offices located in Salt Lake City, Utah or New York City, New York. Employees are expected to work in the office at least 50% of the time.
At Recursion, we believe that every employee should be compensated fairly. Based on the skill and level of experience required for this role, the estimated current annual base range for this role is $142,500 - $220,500. You will also be eligible for an annual bonus and equity compensation, as well as a comprehensive benefits package.
#LI-EP1
The Values We Hope You Share:
- We act boldly with integrity. We are unconstrained in our thinking, take calculated risks, and push boundaries, but never at the expense of ethics, science, or trust.
- We care deeply and engage directly. Caring means holding a deep sense of responsibility and respect - showing up, speaking honestly, and taking action.
- We learn actively and adapt rapidly. Progress comes from doing. We experiment, test, and refine, embracing iteration over perfection.
- We move with urgency because patients are waiting. Speed isn’t about rushing but about moving the needle every day.
- We take ownership and accountability. Through ownership and accountability, we enable trust and autonomy—leaders take accountability for decisive action, and teams own outcomes together.
- We are One Recursion. True cross-functional collaboration is about trust, clarity, humility, and impact. Through sharing, we can be greater than the sum of our individual capabilities.
Our values underpin the employee experience at Recursion. They are the character and personality of the company demonstrated through how we communicate, support one another, spend our time, make decisions, and celebrate collectively.
More About Recursion
Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX) is a clinical-stage TechBio company decoding biology to radically improve lives. Recursion is advancing a portfolio of differentiated investigational medicines across its wholly owned and partnered pipeline in oncology, rare disease, neuroscience, immunology, and other therapeutic areas with significant unmet need. Enabling its mission is the Recursion OS, an AI-native, end-to-end drug discovery and development platform integrating biology, chemistry, and clinical development into a unified intelligence system. Powered by proprietary multimodal data, purpose-built AI models, and bilingual teams fluent in both science and AI, the Recursion OS is designed to translate complex science into medicines that matter — faster, better, and at scale — for patients who are waiting.
Recursion’s platform infrastructure is anchored in Salt Lake City, Utah and Milton Park, Oxfordshire, where its automated biology and chemistry laboratories generate proprietary data at industrial scale. Recursion also maintains offices in New York, Montréal, and London, three global hubs for talent and leadership at the intersection of AI and scientific innovation. Learn more at www.recursion.com, or connect on X and LinkedIn.
Recursion is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, local, or provincial human rights legislation.
Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.
Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Recursion Pharmaceuticals and its affiliate companies do not accept resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Recursion or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Recursion’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Recursion, and Recursion will not owe any referral or other fees. Our team will communicate directly with candidates who are not represented by an agent or intermediary unless otherwise agreed to prior to interviewing for the job.
Ready to apply?
Apply to Recursion
Sr. Data Platform Engineer - Computer System Validator
Share this job
Your work will change lives. Including your own.
Recursion is a leading, clinical-stage TechBio company decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery. Central to its mission is the Recursion Operating System (OS), a platform built across diverse technologies that continuously expands one of the world’s largest proprietary biological, chemical and patient-centric datasets. Recursion leverages sophisticated machine-learning algorithms to distill from its dataset a collection of trillions of searchable relationships across biology and chemistry unconstrained by human bias. By commanding massive experimental scale—up to millions of wet lab experiments weekly—and massive computational scale—owning and operating one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world—Recursion is uniting technology, biology, chemistry and patient-centric data to advance the future of medicine.
In this role, you will:
- Build, scale, and operate in a validated data platform. You will be a member of the platform team responsible for building, operating, and tuning a data platform with petabyte scale data, and maintaining a GxP-compliant data platform for clinical data. These platforms allow our users to discover and query across the breadth of our data at Recursion, which includes a chemistry library of billions of compounds, cellular microscopy images taken in millions of different experimental contexts, and millions of assay results, all supporting Recursion’s drug discovery.
- Engineer Data Integrity and Traceability: You will ensure data flows with integrity in the validated environment by building the automated audit trails and lineage required by 21 CFR Part 11 making our datasets in the clinical datalake queryable and relatable for regulatory questions. Additionally, you'll work with biologists, chemists, and data scientists to build relatability and query-ability into these datasets so they can be used in the future to answer the sorts of questions we haven't even thought of asking yet.
- Act as a mentor, coach, and sponsor. You will share your technical knowledge and experiences, delivering impact, learning, and growth across teams at Recursion.
The Team You’ll Join
- You will join the Data Lake team that built and maintains our Data Lake/house. The team is responsible for relational and object storage and has the motto: all data flows to the Data Lake. The team solves the problem of making our diverse data discoverable, queryable, and relatable across datasets while we continue to add new data modalities as we grow. This will require collaboration with many different groups including teams building out reports, dashboards, and applications, teams finding and generating the required data for machine learning problems, and teams building and iterating on new data processing pipelines.
Nice to Haves: Experience in a regulated environment (Fintech, Medicine, Nuclear Industry, etc.), Experience with Search (Elasticsearch), Vector/Graph databases, or deep experience scaling within the GCP ecosystem is a significant plus.
Working Location & Compensation:
This is an office-based, hybrid role in our London office. Employees are expected to work in the office at least 50% of the time.
At Recursion, we believe that every employee should be compensated fairly. Based on the skill and level of experience required for this role, the estimated current annual base range for this role is £75,900 - £101,900. You will also be eligible for an annual bonus and equity compensation, as well as a comprehensive benefits package.
#LI-EP1
The Values We Hope You Share:
- We act boldly with integrity. We are unconstrained in our thinking, take calculated risks, and push boundaries, but never at the expense of ethics, science, or trust.
- We care deeply and engage directly. Caring means holding a deep sense of responsibility and respect - showing up, speaking honestly, and taking action.
- We learn actively and adapt rapidly. Progress comes from doing. We experiment, test, and refine, embracing iteration over perfection.
- We move with urgency because patients are waiting. Speed isn’t about rushing but about moving the needle every day.
- We take ownership and accountability. Through ownership and accountability, we enable trust and autonomy—leaders take accountability for decisive action, and teams own outcomes together.
- We are One Recursion. True cross-functional collaboration is about trust, clarity, humility, and impact. Through sharing, we can be greater than the sum of our individual capabilities.
Our values underpin the employee experience at Recursion. They are the character and personality of the company demonstrated through how we communicate, support one another, spend our time, make decisions, and celebrate collectively.
More About Recursion
Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX) is a clinical-stage TechBio company decoding biology to radically improve lives. Recursion is advancing a portfolio of differentiated investigational medicines across its wholly owned and partnered pipeline in oncology, rare disease, neuroscience, immunology, and other therapeutic areas with significant unmet need. Enabling its mission is the Recursion OS, an AI-native, end-to-end drug discovery and development platform integrating biology, chemistry, and clinical development into a unified intelligence system. Powered by proprietary multimodal data, purpose-built AI models, and bilingual teams fluent in both science and AI, the Recursion OS is designed to translate complex science into medicines that matter — faster, better, and at scale — for patients who are waiting.
Recursion’s platform infrastructure is anchored in Salt Lake City, Utah and Milton Park, Oxfordshire, where its automated biology and chemistry laboratories generate proprietary data at industrial scale. Recursion also maintains offices in New York, Montréal, and London, three global hubs for talent and leadership at the intersection of AI and scientific innovation. Learn more at www.recursion.com, or connect on X and LinkedIn.
Recursion is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, local, or provincial human rights legislation.
Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.
Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Recursion Pharmaceuticals and its affiliate companies do not accept resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Recursion or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Recursion’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Recursion, and Recursion will not owe any referral or other fees. Our team will communicate directly with candidates who are not represented by an agent or intermediary unless otherwise agreed to prior to interviewing for the job.
Ready to apply?
Apply to Recursion
Senior Data Platform Engineer
Share this job
Your work will change lives. Including your own.
Recursion is a leading, clinical-stage TechBio company decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery. Central to its mission is the Recursion Operating System (OS), a platform built across diverse technologies that continuously expands one of the world’s largest proprietary biological, chemical and patient-centric datasets. Recursion leverages sophisticated machine-learning algorithms to distill from its dataset a collection of trillions of searchable relationships across biology and chemistry unconstrained by human bias. By commanding massive experimental scale—up to millions of wet lab experiments weekly—and massive computational scale—owning and operating one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world—Recursion is uniting technology, biology, chemistry and patient-centric data to advance the future of medicine.
In this role, you will:
- Build, scale, and operate a data platform. You will be a member of the platform team responsible for building, operating, and tuning a data platform that allows users to discover and query across the breadth of our data at Recursion, which includes a chemistry library of billions compounds, petabytes of cellular microscopy images taken in millions of different experimental contexts, and millions of assay results, all supporting Recursion’s drug discovery.
- Build relatability into a heterogeneous dataset. At Recursion, we generate datasets based on a wide swath of diverse biological models and treatment approaches. You'll work with biologists, chemists, and data scientists to build relatability and query-ability into these datasets so they can be used in the future to answer the sorts of questions we haven't even thought of asking yet.
- Act as a mentor, coach, and sponsor. You will share your technical knowledge and experiences, delivering impact, learning, and growth across teams at Recursion.
The Team You’ll Join
- You will join the Data Lake team that built and maintains our Data Lake/house. The team is responsible for relational and object storage and has the motto: all data flows to the Data Lake. The team solves the problem of making our diverse data discoverable, queryable, and relatable across datasets while we continue to add new data modalities as we grow. This will require collaboration with many different groups including teams building out reports, dashboards, and applications, teams finding and generating the required data for machine learning problems, and teams building and iterating on new data processing pipelines.
The Experience You’ll Need
- 5+ years of deep experience in modern, cloud-based data engineering. You have a proven track record of building and maintaining robust platforms that enable the discovery, query, and processing of large-scale datasets.
- Expertise in Core Technologies (Mandatory): You possess advanced proficiency in Python and SQL and experience with Containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, etc.), and Agentic Development (Cursor, Claude, etc.)
- Data Fundamentals & Architecture: You have a deep understanding of Relational Databases (Postgres, MySql, etc.) and are proficient in working with data container files (e.g., Parquet, Avro, etc.). You are familiar with Medallion Architecture (Bronze/Silver/Gold) and know how to apply its principles to build scalable, reliable data products.
- Cloud & Platform Operations: You are seasoned in at least one major cloud provider (GCP, AWS, or Azure). You are comfortable in a "DevOps" capacity—specifically managing the infrastructure and tools that empower other engineers to run their pipelines, rather than focusing solely on building ETL flows.
- Hands-On: You understand the trade-offs between different architectures (Data Lake vs. Warehouse) and can make high-level decisions regarding CI/CD and system maintenance. Crucially, you are a "doer" who enjoys getting into the weeds of implementation, not only designing the blueprint.
- Collaborative Problem Solver: You thrive in environments with significant technical ambiguity. You can navigate complex systems and diverse technologies to deliver solutions that are easily monitored, quantified, and understood in production.
- People-First Mindset: You prioritize supporting your coworkers’ growth. We value a culture where meeting deadlines never comes at the expense of being a helpful, empathetic teammate.
- Intellectual Curiosity: While a background in drug discovery, biology, or chemistry isn't required, a drive to learn the domain and explore new technologies is essential!
While we require the core competencies above, you will be working directly with our specific stack:
- Cloud: Google Cloud Platform (GCP), GCS, Pub/Sub.
- Tools: dbt, Prefect, Argo Workflows, BigQuery, Snowflake, Fivetran, Datastream, AI/LLM (Cursor, Claude Code, and Gemini available).
- Infrastructure: Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, CI/CD (Argo).
Working Location & Compensation:
This position can be based at either our London or Milton Park office. Please note that we are a hybrid environment and ask that employees spend 50% of their time in the office.
At Recursion, we believe that every employee should be compensated fairly. Based on the skill and level of experience required for this role, the estimated current annual base range for this role is £75,900 - £101,900. You will also be eligible for an annual bonus and equity compensation, as well as a comprehensive benefits package.
#LI-EP1
The Values We Hope You Share:
- We act boldly with integrity. We are unconstrained in our thinking, take calculated risks, and push boundaries, but never at the expense of ethics, science, or trust.
- We care deeply and engage directly. Caring means holding a deep sense of responsibility and respect - showing up, speaking honestly, and taking action.
- We learn actively and adapt rapidly. Progress comes from doing. We experiment, test, and refine, embracing iteration over perfection.
- We move with urgency because patients are waiting. Speed isn’t about rushing but about moving the needle every day.
- We take ownership and accountability. Through ownership and accountability, we enable trust and autonomy—leaders take accountability for decisive action, and teams own outcomes together.
- We are One Recursion. True cross-functional collaboration is about trust, clarity, humility, and impact. Through sharing, we can be greater than the sum of our individual capabilities.
Our values underpin the employee experience at Recursion. They are the character and personality of the company demonstrated through how we communicate, support one another, spend our time, make decisions, and celebrate collectively.
More About Recursion
Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX) is a clinical-stage TechBio company decoding biology to radically improve lives. Recursion is advancing a portfolio of differentiated investigational medicines across its wholly owned and partnered pipeline in oncology, rare disease, neuroscience, immunology, and other therapeutic areas with significant unmet need. Enabling its mission is the Recursion OS, an AI-native, end-to-end drug discovery and development platform integrating biology, chemistry, and clinical development into a unified intelligence system. Powered by proprietary multimodal data, purpose-built AI models, and bilingual teams fluent in both science and AI, the Recursion OS is designed to translate complex science into medicines that matter — faster, better, and at scale — for patients who are waiting.
Recursion’s platform infrastructure is anchored in Salt Lake City, Utah and Milton Park, Oxfordshire, where its automated biology and chemistry laboratories generate proprietary data at industrial scale. Recursion also maintains offices in New York, Montréal, and London, three global hubs for talent and leadership at the intersection of AI and scientific innovation. Learn more at www.recursion.com, or connect on X and LinkedIn.
Recursion is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, local, or provincial human rights legislation.
Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.
Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Recursion Pharmaceuticals and its affiliate companies do not accept resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Recursion or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Recursion’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Recursion, and Recursion will not owe any referral or other fees. Our team will communicate directly with candidates who are not represented by an agent or intermediary unless otherwise agreed to prior to interviewing for the job.
Ready to apply?
Apply to Recursion
Your work will change lives. Including your own.
The Impact You’ll Make
At Recursion, we are reimagining drug discovery through a powerful synthesis of AI, automation, and deep scientific expertise. In this role, you will be the bridge between complex chemical data and the strategic systems that power our discovery programs. Your primary focus will be building the tools and infrastructure that support our computational designers and medicinal chemists in making data-driven decisions for the next steps in discovery programs. You will expose analytics that help us further automate the platform by closing the Design-Make-Test-Learn (DMTL) loop to accelerate the design process.
You will have high-level ownership of our analytical ecosystem—including the Spotfire library, data schemas, and automation services—transforming complex datasets into directed platform improvements. You will be at the center of our DMTL loop, creating the tools that empower our scientists to design novel, high-quality drug candidates with unparalleled speed and precision. Your work will directly accelerate our portfolio, drive our partnerships, and contribute to our mission of decoding biology to radically improve lives.
In this role, you will:
- Build and maintain integrated project dashboards that serve as a core resource for design teams by syncing assay results with cross-functional portfolio data.
- Code and manage robust repositories for Spotfire automation and BigQuery integration to streamline the flow of data across the discovery lifecycle.
- Design and evolve metrics and predictive modeling workflows that inform "next-best" design recommendations and track project progress through the discovery lifecycle.
- Create automated reporting pipelines to proactively surface critical signals, ensuring project teams can take timely action on new scientific data.
- Collaborate cross-functionally to translate strategic objectives into scalable analytical tools, using adoption metrics to prioritize features that deliver the greatest impact.
- Define and analyze metrics for product success, tool adoption, and scientific impact to ensure teams are focused on critical priorities for accelerating drug discovery.
- Identify and innovate on gaps in analytics maturity, taking responsibility for implementing solutions that modernize how our scientists interact with data.
- Contribute to the development of Agentic AI systems that leverage our data infrastructure to automate and enhance the understanding of Structure-Activity Relationships (SAR).
The Team You’ll Join
You will be a core member of the Design Workflow team, an interdisciplinary group responsible for the end-to-end development and operation of our molecular design platform. We are the orchestration engine for the Hit-to-Lead (H2L) and Lead Optimization (LO) phases of drug discovery. Our team embodies a “Build & Operate” philosophy, intentionally integrating the development of the Recursion OS with its direct application in advancing our portfolio.
The Experience You’ll Need
- Expert-level proficiency in TIBCO Spotfire development, including experience managing automation services and measuring tool adoption through action logs.
- Advanced engineering foundation in Python, BigQuery, and Prefect, with a track record of maintaining production-level repositories via Git.
- Experience in a major cloud provider (Google Cloud Platform preferred) to support scalable data infrastructure.
- Scientific domain knowledge of the drug discovery lifecycle and the specific data products required to support end-to-end chemist workflows.
- Proven ability to synthesize data from multiple domains—such as lab informatics, chemistry, and portfolio management—into clear, execution-ready recommendations.
- Exceptional systems-thinking and communication skills, with the ability to deconstruct complex scientific workflows and identify key leverage points.
- Practical experience with AI/ML frameworks applied to drug discovery and the development of agentic systems to automate complex scientific reasoning and SAR analysis.
- Degree in a relevant field (Chemistry, Cheminformatics, Engineering, or Computer Science) with significant professional experience in a biotech or pharmaceutical R&D setting.
Working Location & Compensation:
This is an office-based, hybrid role in our London office. Employees are expected to work in the office at least 50% of the time.
At Recursion, we believe that every employee should be compensated fairly. Based on the skill and level of experience required for this role, the estimated current annual base range for this role is £75,900 - £101,900. You will also be eligible for an annual bonus and equity compensation, as well as a comprehensive benefits package.
#LI-EP1
The Values We Hope You Share:
- We act boldly with integrity. We are unconstrained in our thinking, take calculated risks, and push boundaries, but never at the expense of ethics, science, or trust.
- We care deeply and engage directly. Caring means holding a deep sense of responsibility and respect - showing up, speaking honestly, and taking action.
- We learn actively and adapt rapidly. Progress comes from doing. We experiment, test, and refine, embracing iteration over perfection.
- We move with urgency because patients are waiting. Speed isn’t about rushing but about moving the needle every day.
- We take ownership and accountability. Through ownership and accountability, we enable trust and autonomy—leaders take accountability for decisive action, and teams own outcomes together.
- We are One Recursion. True cross-functional collaboration is about trust, clarity, humility, and impact. Through sharing, we can be greater than the sum of our individual capabilities.
Our values underpin the employee experience at Recursion. They are the character and personality of the company demonstrated through how we communicate, support one another, spend our time, make decisions, and celebrate collectively.
More About Recursion
Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX) is a clinical-stage TechBio company decoding biology to radically improve lives. Recursion is advancing a portfolio of differentiated investigational medicines across its wholly owned and partnered pipeline in oncology, rare disease, neuroscience, immunology, and other therapeutic areas with significant unmet need. Enabling its mission is the Recursion OS, an AI-native, end-to-end drug discovery and development platform integrating biology, chemistry, and clinical development into a unified intelligence system. Powered by proprietary multimodal data, purpose-built AI models, and bilingual teams fluent in both science and AI, the Recursion OS is designed to translate complex science into medicines that matter — faster, better, and at scale — for patients who are waiting.
Recursion’s platform infrastructure is anchored in Salt Lake City, Utah and Milton Park, Oxfordshire, where its automated biology and chemistry laboratories generate proprietary data at industrial scale. Recursion also maintains offices in New York, Montréal, and London, three global hubs for talent and leadership at the intersection of AI and scientific innovation. Learn more at www.recursion.com, or connect on X and LinkedIn.
Recursion is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, local, or provincial human rights legislation.
Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.
Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Recursion Pharmaceuticals and its affiliate companies do not accept resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Recursion or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Recursion’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Recursion, and Recursion will not owe any referral or other fees. Our team will communicate directly with candidates who are not represented by an agent or intermediary unless otherwise agreed to prior to interviewing for the job.
Ready to apply?
Apply to Recursion
Senior Software Engineer, Chem-Bio
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About the AI Security Institute
The AI Security Institute is the world's largest and best-funded team dedicated to understanding advanced AI risks and translating that knowledge into action. We’re in the heart of the UK government with direct lines to No. 10 (the Prime Minister's office), and we work with frontier developers and governments globally.
We’re here because governments are critical for advanced AI going well, and UK AISI is uniquely positioned to mobilise them. With our resources, unique agility and international influence, this is the best place to shape both AI development and government action.
About the Team
AISI's Chem Bio (CB) team conducts technical research to assess evolving AI capabilities related to science R&D and CB misuse, and the effectiveness of technical safeguards that might mitigate risks arising from those capabilities.
The goal of our research is to inform critical decisions on security, opportunities, policy, and risk mitigation made by governments and AI developers.
We're a close-knit, unusually interdisciplinary team—made up of machine learning researchers and engineers, software engineers, virologists and bacteriologists, behavioural research scientists, biosecurity experts, long-standing CB policy specialists and talented generalists—who work closely with other technical and policy teams across government.
Role Responsibilities
We are building a dedicated engineering function within the CB team — a small team that owns the shared platform, tooling, and infrastructure that our research projects depend on. This role is a senior individual contributor within that function. The successful candidate will:
- Design and build reliable systems — architect and deliver core platform components that enable researchers to run experiments and ship results quickly, including LLM-based agent systems, evaluation frameworks, and supporting infrastructure.
- Work closely with researchers — translate varied research needs across general agents, science agents, chemical and biological models and other CB workstreams into well-engineered, maintainable systems.
- Own and deliver significant engineering work — take responsibility for substantial technical projects and shared components, driving them from design through implementation, iteration, and maintenance.
- Write high-quality production code — build scalable, robust, and maintainable software, primarily in Python, with strong engineering discipline around testing, documentation, and observability.
- Contribute to engineering standards and practices — help improve code quality, development workflows, and shared engineering approaches within a growing engineering team embedded in a research-heavy environment.
- Collaborate across AISI — work with our Core Technology and engineering teams to share tooling, align on infrastructure, and avoid duplication.
- Support technical direction — contribute to architectural decisions, identify opportunities to strengthen shared infrastructure, and help make pragmatic technical trade-offs.
- Mentor others through technical leadership — support other engineers through collaboration, code review, and knowledge sharing, without formal line-management responsibility.
Role Requirements
We are looking for the following skills, experience and attitudes, but a successful candidate will not necessarily need to meet all these criteria. We can be flexible in shaping the role and salary to your background, expertise, and level of experience.
- Significant experience writing production-level Python code that is scalable, robust, and easy to maintain, with a track record of delivering substantial technical work.
- Strong infrastructure and platform skills — experience with cloud environments (AWS), container orchestration (Kubernetes), and job scheduling (Slurm or similar).
- Experience owning technical projects or major systems as a senior individual contributor. You do not need formal management experience for this role.
- Familiarity with the AI/ML ecosystem: OpenAI-compatible APIs, PyTorch, and the tooling around LLM-based systems.
- Ability to work across multiple teams, understanding varied research needs and delivering reliable engineering solutions.
- A sense of mission, urgency, and responsibility for success: Demonstrated ability to solve challenging problems, implement solutions efficiently and acquire any missing knowledge necessary to get the job done. Motivated to build software with direct policy impact.
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to work effectively in a dynamic, multidisciplinary team environment.
Strong candidates may also have:
- Experience working in a research environment — you don't need to be a researcher, but you should be comfortable working alongside them and translating ambiguous research requirements into engineering plans.
- Familiarity with computational biology tools, workflows, or datasets.
- Experience building or maintaining internal developer platforms, shared libraries, or CI/CD systems for technical teams.
Please note that this is a reserved post. We can only consider applications from UK nationals (including dual nationals who hold British citizenship). Appointment is conditional on successfully completing UK Government SC clearance. Prior clearance is not required—we will sponsor and support you. You should normally have been resident in the UK for the past 5 years. You may also be required to undergo Developed Vetting (DV). DV typically requires a longer period of UK residency (around 10 years). Employment is conditional on obtaining and maintaining the required clearance(s). More detail on clearance eligibility can be found on the UK Government website: National security vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK.
Other core requirements:
- You should be able to spend at least 9 days per fortnight working with us.
- You should be willing to work from our office in London (Whitehall) at least 3 days/week.
- You should be UK-based.
What We Offer
Impact you couldn't have anywhere else
- Incredibly talented, mission-driven and supportive colleagues.
- Direct influence on how frontier AI is governed and deployed globally.
- Work with the Prime Minister’s AI Advisor and leading AI companies.
- Opportunity to shape the first & best-resourced public-interest research team focused on AI security.
Resources & access
- Pre-release access to multiple frontier models and ample compute.
- Extensive operational support so you can focus on research and ship quickly.
- Work with experts across national security, policy, AI research and adjacent sciences.
Growth & autonomy
- If you’re talented and driven, you’ll own important problems early.
- 5 days off and annual stipends for learning and development, and funding for conferences and external collaborations.
- Freedom to pursue research bets without product pressure.
- Opportunities to publish and collaborate externally.
Life & family*
- Modern central London office (cafes, food court, gym), or where applicable, option to work in similar government offices in Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, Salford or Bristol.
- Hybrid working, flexibility for occasional remote work abroad and stipends for work-from-home equipment.
- At least 25 days’ annual leave, 8 public holidays, extra team-wide breaks and 3 days off for volunteering.
- Generous paid parental leave (36 weeks of UK statutory leave shared between parents + 3 extra paid weeks + option for additional unpaid time).
- On top of your salary, we contribute 28.97% of your base salary to your pension.
- Discounts and benefits for cycling to work, donations and retail/gyms.
*These benefits apply to direct employees. Benefits may differ for individuals joining through other employment arrangements such as secondments.
Salary
Annual salary is benchmarked to role scope and relevant experience. Most offers land between £65,000 and £145,000 made up of a base salary plus a technical allowance (take-home salary = base + technical allowance). An additional 28.97% employer pension contribution is paid on the base salary.
This role sits outside of the DDaT pay framework given the scope of this role requires in depth technical expertise in frontier AI safety, robustness and advanced AI architectures.
The full range of salaries are available below:
- Level 3: £65,000–£75,000 (Base £37,150 + Technical Allowance £27,850–£37,850)
- Level 4: £85,000–£95,000 (Base £44,195 + Technical Allowance £40,805–£50,805)
- Level 5: £105,000–£115,000 (Base £58,040 + Technical Allowance £46,960–£56,960)
- Level 6: £125,000–£135,000 (Base £71,525 + Technical Allowance £53,475–£63,475)
- Level 7: £145,000 (Base £71,525 + Technical Allowance £73,475)
Additional Information
Use of AI in Applications
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Internal Fraud Database
The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented. For more information please see - Internal Fraud Register.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check and get baseline personnel security standard (BPSS) clearance before they can be appointed. Additionally, there is a strong preference for eligibility for counter-terrorist check (CTC) clearance. Some roles may require higher levels of clearance, and we will state this by exception in the job advertisement. See our vetting charter here.Nationality requirements
We may be able to offer roles to applicant from any nationality or background. As such we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet the standard nationality requirements (opens in a new window).
Working for the Civil Service
Diversity and Inclusion
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About us
Who We’re Looking For
You are a problem solver and builder, passionate about creating practical solutions that help customers make better engineering decisions. You can grasp and apply advanced engineering concepts across multiple industries, and you excel at working directly with customers, often on-site, to develop high-fidelity simulation models that feed into AI tools that are both useful and used.
You bring deep expertise in fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and multiphase modelling, including particle-laden flows, fluidised beds, and coupled CFD-DEM. You are highly proficient in at least one of Star-CCM+, OpenFOAM, or Fluent, and experienced with DEM codes such as EDEM, LIGGGHTS, or Rocky. You are adept at automating these tools to create scalable optimisation workflows. Experience in parametric CAD modelling (NX or CATIA) and coding in Python (or the ability to pick up new programming languages quickly) is an advantage.
With 3–5 years of industry experience (post-MEng, MSc, or PhD) in a commercial, non-research environment, you are ready to hit the ground running. You are confident setting up simulations independently, interpreting complex results with rigour, and making sound decisions grounded in solid engineering judgement.
What you'll do
- Independently build complex multi-physics models, from geometry clean-up and meshing through to simulation, post-processing, and integration of experimental data for validation, spanning single-phase, multiphase, and coupled CFD-DEM regimes.
- Develop and validate DEM models of granular and particle-laden systems, including fluidised beds, pneumatic conveying, mills, aerosols, suspensions and coating processes, applying appropriate contact models, size distributions, and coupling strategies.
- Build robust parametric CAD models coupled with simulation pipeline automation to execute advanced design optimisation and DoE studies across large parameter spaces.
- Partner with customers to address complex engineering challenges through advanced simulation and AI solutions. Present results clearly, recommend actionable next steps, and balance accuracy with efficiency under real project deadlines.
- Work at the intersection of CAE and data science to generate high-quality simulation datasets for training machine learning and deep learning surrogate models. Apply smart sampling strategies to capture the design space efficiently and reduce computational cost.
- Leverage Flux (our cloud platform) and on-premise HPC resources to accelerate high-fidelity modelling, going beyond standard setup practices to achieve genuine performance gains at scale.
- Continuously improve engineering best practices, adapting simulation model setups and outputs to support the development of deep learning surrogates and physics-informed ML models.
- Combine project leadership with a commitment to mentoring junior colleagues, contributing to a culture of collaboration, rigour, and shared growth.
- Travel globally (North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania) up to 2–3 weeks per quarter to work on-site with customers building solutions together.
What we're looking for
Core simulation skills
- Multiphase CFD: VOF, Euler–Euler, Euler–Lagrange, or mixture models
- DEM modelling: EDEM, Rocky, LIGGGHTS, or equivalent
- Coupled CFD–DEM workflows for particle–fluid systems
- Heat and mass transfer modelling
- Reacting flows and phase-change processes (advantageous)
- Proficiency in Star-CCM+, OpenFOAM, or Fluent
Engineering and workflow
- 3–5 years post-graduate experience in industry (not research)
- MEng, MSc, or PhD in mechanical, chemical, or process engineering
- Python scripting and simulation automation
- DoE, surrogate modelling, and design space exploration
- Parametric CAD modelling (NX or CATIA advantageous)
- Strong written and verbal communication with technical and non-technical audiences
Our delivery teams drive innovation to turn AI models into practical solutions - read our blog to learn more about how you’ll contribute to this exciting journey!
What we offer
Build what actually matters
Help shape an AI-native engineering company at a formative stage, tackling problems that genuinely matter for industry and society. This is work with real-world impact - and something you can be proud to stand behind.
Learn alongside exceptional people
Work with a high-caliber, collaborative team of engineers, scientists, and operators who care deeply about doing great work, and about helping each other get better. We come from diverse backgrounds, but we share a commitment to operating at the highest level and addressing some of the most complex challenges out there. If you’re ambitious, thoughtful, and driven by impact, you’ll feel at home.
Influence over hierarchy
We operate with a flat structure: good ideas win - wherever they come from. Questioning assumptions and challenging the status quo isn’t just welcomed, it’s expected.
Sustainable pace, long-term ambition
Building meaningful technology is a marathon, not a sprint. We believe in balancing focused, ambitious work with a life beyond it. Our hybrid model blends time together in our Shoreditch office with work-from-home days, giving you the flexibility to work sustainably while staying connected in person.
And it doesn’t stop there …
🚀 Equity options - share meaningfully in the company you’re helping to build.
🏦 10% employer pension contribution - because investing in future matters.
🍽️ Free office lunches - to keep you energised and focused.
👶 Enhanced parental leave - 3 months full pay paternity and 6 months full pay maternity leave, to provide extra flexibility during the moments that matter most.
🍼 YellowNest nursery scheme - to help working parents manage childcare costs.
☀️ 25 days of Annual Leave (+ Public Holidays) - because taking time to rest matters.
🏥 Private medical insurance - 100% employee cover, giving you complete peace of mind.
💪 Wellhub Subscription - gain access to thousands of gyms, classes and wellness apps, supporting both physical and mental wellbeing.
👀 Eye tests - because good work depends on good health.
📈 Personal development - dedicated support for learning, development, and leveling up over time.
💛 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) - confidential wellbeing support, available whenever you need it.
🚲 Bike2Work scheme and 🚆 Season ticket loan - to make getting to work easier and greener.
🚗 Octopus EV salary sacrifice - for a simpler, more sustainable way to drive electric.
🔎 Watch this space, we’re continuing to build this as we grow…
Ready to apply?
Apply to PhysicsX
Associate Director, Engineering Sciences- Thermal, Fluid and Combustion
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Chart Your Journey at Secretariat
From a collaborative culture to teammates who will always be by your side, find a career that will grow with you. Deliver your impact at Secretariat.
Secretariat professionals are trusted in the highest-stakes legal, risk, and regulatory matters around the world.
When you join Secretariat, you become part of a rapidly growing elite team of bright minds and passionate problem-solvers. Your skills and expertise will be utilized on day one – working with the world’s most renowned investment funds, law firms, leading corporations, and influential institutions to answer complex questions that shape critical financial, economic, and strategic business decisions.
Our globally integrated teams are united by the ambition, energy, and commitment they bring to every challenge. We inspire and empower an open, collaborative culture that embraces ongoing professional development, recognition, diversity, and – most importantly – you.
Make your impact at Secretariat.
Responsibilities
- Lead complex failure analysis and engineering investigations, providing technical direction and ensuring high-quality, defensible outputs
- Serve as a subject matter expert in areas such as Fluid Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, and Combustion
- Oversee laboratory testing, computational analysis, and field investigations
- Act as a primary client interface, communicating complex technical findings clearly to clients, counsel, and non-technical stakeholders
- Support and, where appropriate, serve as an expert witness, including preparation for depositions, hearings, and trials
- Manage multiple engagements, including scope, budget, timelines, and risk
- Mentor junior professionals and contribute to team development and technical excellence
- Drive business development, including proposal development, client relationship expansion, and market visibility
Requirements
- Requisite professional designations and work experience:
- Ph.D. or equivalent advanced degree in Mechanical, Chemical, Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering, or related field
- Significant experience in engineering consulting, applied research, or industry, including leading complex engagements
- Deep expertise in relevant disciplines (e.g., fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, combustion)
- Proven ability to manage client relationships and multidisciplinary teams
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, particularly in high-stakes or dispute contexts
- Demonstrated contribution to business development and practice growth
- Chartered Engineer (or equivalent) preferred
- Willingness to travel as required
Secretariat is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We offer competitive compensation and benefits, and we support the continuing professional development of our employees.
A rewarding career above all
There are a lot of fine consulting firms out there. But when everything is on the line, it takes a unique combination of skill and savvy to succeed under pressure.
Our culture and people are driven by passion, pride, and performance. Passion for the clients we serve, the work we deliver, and the communities we live in. Pride in our cohesive team recognized for excellence and trusted to perform in the most challenging situations. And our track record of outstanding performance across all of our disciplines speaks for itself.
Our people are motivated to be the best in everything they do – from our approach to making the complex simple to the way we mentor our up-and-coming talent to become trusted experts early in their careers.
To learn how Secretariat collects, uses, and protects your personal information during the recruitment process, please review our Privacy Policy
Ready to apply?
Apply to Secretariat