Senior Principal Data Scientist, Data and Statistical Science AI/ML (m/f/x)

Passion for Innovation. Compassion for Patients.

With over 120 years of experience and more than 17,000 employees in over 20 countries, Daiichi Sankyo is dedicated to discovering, developing, and delivering new standards of care that enrich the quality of life around the world.

In Europe, we focus on two areas: The goal of our Specialty Business is to protect people from cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in Europe, and help patients who suffer from it to enjoy every precious moment of life. In Oncology, we strive to become a global pharma innovator with competitive advantage, creating novel therapies for people with cancer.

Our European headquarters are in Munich, Germany, and we have affiliates in 13 European countries and Canada.

For our European headquarter in Munich or our other affiliates in Europe we are looking for a

Senior Principal Data Scientist, Data and Statistical Science AI/ML (m/f/x)
 

The position:

The Senior Principal Data Scientist will manage, with very limited direction, end-to-end delivery of AI/ML projects (from business understanding, over hands-on development to dissemination), to ensure high quality deliverables are on time and within budget.
The person will partner with internal and external stakeholders as well as vendors to optimize AI/ML technology, processes and standards.
This individual will have a strong knowledge of AI/ML applications and best practices as well as strong technical skills in working with (clinical) data.
Further the Senior Principal Data Scientist will require strong skills in continuous improvement, project management, change management and risk management.

Roles & responsibilities:

Project level AI/ML activities:

• Responsible, with very limited supervision, for both managing and implementing AI/ML projects from business understanding and translation of business needs to AI/ML tasks, over data understanding and preparation, to modeling, validation and dissemination
• Identify innovative ways to improve the efficiency, quality and productivity of AI/ML activities and actively contribute to implementation 
• Contribute to raising and maintaining awareness of best practices for reproducible data science, global regulatory requirements, internal guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• Ensure timely and accurate completion of AI/ML deliverables
• Contribute, with very limited supervision, to documents submitted to regulatory or pricing authorities
• Proactively identifies and manages risks in assigned projects

Vendor Oversight:

• Responsible for providing direction and execute oversight of vendor delivery, to ensure compliance with the protocol, external/internal standards, applicable regulatory guidelines, policies, SOPs, and other relevant guidelines
• Engages in vendor selection and contracting, including review and negotiation of baseline budget and timelines
• Oversees budget management activities across the project duration
• Participates in meetings or teleconferences with health authorities

Operational Excellence Innovation:

• May lead and/ or participate in global evidence generation initiatives to improve the harmonization and efficiency of process and/or develop and implement innovative solutions
• Maintains current knowledge of industry best practice in AI/ML methodology
• May act as Subject Matter Expert for AI/ML by providing guidance and support to Data and Statistical Science team members as well as represent the department in cross-functional teams
• Responsible for monitoring regulatory guidance and industry best practices to formulate proposals for new functional standards
• Demonstrates leadership within AI/ML by partnering with internal and external stakeholders to optimize technology, processes, and standards (improving quality/inspection readiness, decreasing cycle times, and reducing costs)

Any other duties deemed pertinent to the needs of the business.

Professional experience & education:

Education and Experience:

• MSc (PhD preferable) in computer science, statistics, computational biology or related fields
• At least 8 years of experience in data science / business intelligence / statistics role supporting drug development and/or post marketing in a clinical research, pharmaceutical, CRO or medical device setting
• Extensive programming experience in Python technology stack (pandas, numpy, scikit-learn, scikit-survival, matplotlib, seaborn, shap etc.), knowledge of R and other languages is a plus. Experience in working with virtual environments and version control (e.g. git) 
• Excellent knowledge of machine learning algorithms for clustering, classification, regression, anomaly detection, and optimization, preferably with both small and big data
• Exposure to cloud computing platforms
• Knowledge in NLP, image analysis / deep learning and/or federated learning will be considered a plus
• Experience in oncology therapeutic area and/or in late phase projects is desirable

Competencies and Generic Skills:

• Excellent English language skills 
• Excellent storytelling and communication skills, both oral and written, especially in explaining complex concepts in simple terms 
• Good negotiation and project management skills
• Demonstrates entrepreneurship and leadership and proactive problem solving
• Extended knowledge and understanding of the principles, concepts, methods, and standards of clinical research
• Ability and interest to work remotely with worldwide team members across cultures and time zones
• Understanding of GCP and GDPR principles is desirable

Why work with us?

Working at Daiichi Sankyo is more than just a job – it is your chance to make a difference and change patients’ lives for the better. We can only achieve this ambitious goal together. That is why we foster a culture of mutual respect and continuous learning, with a strong commitment to inclusion and diversity. Here, you will have the opportunity to grow, think boldly, and contribute your ideas. If you have a proactive mindset and passion for addressing the needs of patients, we eagerly await your application.

For more information: www.daiichi-sankyo.eu