Senior Forward Deployment Engineer - Cheminformatics & AI Modelling

Responsibilities

• ● AstraZeneca are looking for a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer with a strong Chemistry Background based in our new Kendall Square R&D facilities to continue to build and enhance our next-generation multi-modality drug discovery platform.
• ● AstraZeneca has invested heavily in our Augmented Design-Make-Test-Analyze IT (A-DMTA) toolsets as we seek to deliver better, differentiated candidate drugs into trials, faster, for greater patient benefit. We have made great strides in creating an ecosystem enabling operational and experimental data capture, and in developing scaled analytics, AI/ML-enabled services, and digital capabilities for both traditional small molecules and complex modalities to drive a Predict First culture in drug discovery. We are extending these capabilities with more advanced modelling, intelligent applications, and platform engineering solutions.
• ● We are looking for a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer with a Chemistry Background to join our team and help build our integrated software platform supporting key drug discovery science. In this role you will join a global team of engineers, cheminformaticians , architects, business analysts, and product managers in our Augmented Design Make Test Analyse (A-DMTA) organisation to support small molecule and new modality drug discovery as a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer.
• ● The following will form part of the role:
• ● Partner directly with scientists, product teams, and technical partners to understand high-value problems and translate them into practical engineering solutions.
• ● Design, build, deploy, and improve software applications , agentic solutions , MCP server s and to ols and services that support key scientific workflows in drug discovery.
• ● Prototype rapidly, validate with users, and evolve successful solutions into robust, scalable, production-grade systems.
• ● Bridge chemistry, cheminformatics, data, and engineering to deliver integrated solutions across scientific and technical workflows.
• ● Collaborate with product, design, data science, and scientific teams to build high-impact applications and services.
• ● Plan, implement, and support platform and infrastructure development with the objective of improving scalability, reliability, performance, and usability.
• ● Advocate for rigorous engineering practices and discipline, including code reviews, automated testing, logging, monitoring, documentation, and maintainability.
• ● Help develop and promote a strong software engineering culture across multidisciplinary teams.
• ● Stay on top of relevant technology trends, experiment with new approaches , participate in internal and external technology communities, and mentor other members of the engineering community.
• ● Work with modern technology stacks in cloud environments to support scientific software delivery.
• ● Required skills
• ● Masters degree (PhD preferred) in Chemistry or a relevant field with experience in cheminformatics, chemistry toolkits, chemistry search, and related algorithms or demonstrable equivalent experience
• ● At least 5 years of relevant experience in the pharmaceutical industry or academia
• ● Strong software engineering expertise in Python, including advanced object-oriented design and development of production-quality applications and services.
• ● Strong problem-solving and solution design skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific or business needs into practical software solutions.
• ● Ability to rapidly prototype solutions, validate them with users, and mature them into robust, maintainable production systems.