Applied AI Scientist at RA Capital Management in Boston, MA

Job description

• Imagine if you had the skills, knowledge, and teammates to both understand the root of the world’s most pressing problems and build the technologies and companies best positioned to solve them. RA Capital has done exactly that for more than two decades, backing bold ideas in medicines to further human health and now expanding into Planetary Health to improve how efficiently we utilize the world’s precious resources.
• RA Capital is among the leading providers of capital and services to the most promising innovators in the world. We invest flexibly—seed to IPO and beyond, anywhere in the world—with $10 B+ under management and a culture that prizes curiosity, rigor, and collaborative debate. We are investors who not only fund companies but get elbow deep in building them. From helping them recruit talent to helping them recruit patients for their studies to helping match them to strategic partners and even going to Washington to win reforms, RA Capital’s large team has people with nearly every relevant expertise one might need to turn an idea into a cure that actually helps people.
• If you live for first-principles problem-solving with great colleagues, thrive on complexity, and want to do meaningful work that ripples across industries and ecosystems, you’ll feel at home at RA Capital. Here, questions are welcomed, ideas are tested, and victories are shared. Even our lawyers are creative and engaging. And don’t get us started on our compliance team’s wicked sense of humor; nothing about what we do is boring.
• Are you ready to bring your creativity, discipline and collaborative spirit to help us invent the future? Join us and you’ll collaborate daily with investors, founders, physicians, biologists, engineers, economists, and reform advocates who think in systems and act with urgency.
• Join us to invent a happier, healthier, more productive future - and have fun doing it.
• As a Senior Applied AI Scientist, you will design and implement AI-driven systems that transform complex, unstructured information into reliable, decision-relevant insights. Working at the intersection of applied AI, data science, and investment research, you will partner closely with investment professionals to translate ambiguous questions into technical solutions and actionable conclusions.
• This is a hands-on individual contributor role with responsibility for independently owning projects from initial problem definition through deployment and ongoing improvement.

Responsibilities

• Design and build systems that transform unstructured healthcare, scientific, and financial information into structured, usable insights.
• Develop and deploy AI-driven workflows using approaches such as NLP, retrieval-augmented generation, knowledge graphs, embeddings, entity extraction, and agentic systems.
• Own applied AI projects from problem definition and prototyping through deployment, evaluation, and iteration.
• Develop benchmarks and evaluation frameworks to assess accuracy, relevance, reliability, and potential failure modes.
• Partner with investment professionals and other stakeholders to identify high-value use cases and incorporate findings into investment research and decision-making.
• Translate complex healthcare, financial, and analytical information into clear narratives, tools, and visualizations for technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Help establish best practices for data quality, testing, documentation, reproducibility, and responsible AI use.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in computer science, data science, engineering, statistics, applied mathematics, computational biology, or another related quantitative or technical field.
• At least 4 years of professional experience in applied machine learning, data science, software engineering, data engineering, or a related discipline, including at least 2 years working with NLP, information-retrieval, or LLM-based systems.
• Hands-on experience with one or more of the following: NLP workflows, knowledge graphs, vector databases, embedding-based retrieval, entity extraction and linking, RAG, or agentic AI systems.
• Experience taking AI or machine-learning solutions beyond initial prototyping, including testing, deployment, evaluation, or ongoing improvement.
• Strong Python and SQL skills, along with familiarity with software-engineering practices such as version control, testing, and documentation.
• Strong understanding of AI and machine-learning fundamentals, evaluation methods, and the limitations of LLM-based systems.
• Ability to independently structure ambiguous problems and communicate complex findings clearly to senior stakeholders.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future sponsorship or transfer of sponsorship.
• Must be based in Massachusetts or willing to relocate and able to work a hybrid schedule from RA Capital’s Boston office.
• Experience working with healthcare, life sciences, investment management, financial services, or other complex domain-specific data.
• Familiarity with scientific literature, clinical-trial information, company filings, market research, or other sources relevant to healthcare investing.
• Experience with Spark, PySpark, cloud-based AI platforms, or production data pipelines.
• Experience working directly with investment, research, business, or executive stakeholders.

Skills

Required

• Python
• SQL
• NLP workflows
• Knowledge graphs
• Vector databases
• Embedding-based retrieval
• Entity extraction and linking
• RAG
• Agentic AI systems
• AI/ML fundamentals
• Evaluation methods
• Understanding of LLM limitations

Preferred

• Spark
• PySpark
• Cloud-based AI platforms
• Production data pipelines
• Healthcare/life sciences data
• Scientific literature
• Clinical-trial information
• Company filings

Benefits

• RA Capital Management is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. Pay for this position will be based on experience, skills, qualifications, and current market conditions.
• In addition to base salary (listed below), employees may be eligible for performance-based bonuses and a comprehensive benefits package that includes health insurance, retirement contributions, and paid time off.
• Total Rewards
• We take pride in offering a comprehensive employee benefits program as a key part of overall compensation. Our Total Rewards include:
• Employer-paid monthly premiums for health, dental, and vision coverage
• Wellness benefits and programs to support physical and mental well-being
• Resources and perks that enhance work-life balance and financial security
• We’re dedicated to helping our employees thrive professionally and personally.
• $140,000 - $180,000 USD