Research Scientist, Life Sciences (Experimental Biology)

Details

Anthropic is building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems and is growing a Life Sciences team that combines cutting‑edge AI with hands‑on biological research. This role is a founding position on the Life Sciences team, operating at the intersection of computational and experimental biology to enable AI‑accelerated scientific discovery.

Responsibilities

• Design, execute, and iterate on experimental programs in molecular biology, biochemistry, protein and nucleic acid characterization, high‑throughput functional screens, and assay development.
• Partner directly with computational biologists to design experiments that produce high‑quality, analysis‑ready data and iterate quickly based on results.
• Generate and prioritize hypotheses using experimental judgment, literature, curated biological knowledge bases, and the team's computational predictions.
• Use Claude and Anthropic's internal agent frameworks heavily for experimental planning, protocol development, and data interpretation; provide evaluations, datasets, and failure cases back to model and product teams.

Requirements

Minimum qualifications

• Ph.D. in a biological science (molecular biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, computational biology) or a related field.
• Track record of bridging biological domain knowledge with computational approaches to solve scientific problems.
• Basic proficiency in Python and familiarity with ML development practices.

Preferred qualifications

• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and developing solutions in rapidly evolving research environments.
• Able to work independently while collaborating closely with cross‑functional teams.
• Results‑oriented with a bias toward flexibility and impact; able to balance rigorous scientific standards with rapid iteration.
• Published research or practical experience in scientific AI applications.
• Familiarity with modern machine learning techniques and model training methodologies.
• Familiarity with biological databases (UniProt, GenBank, PDB) and computational biology tools.

Logistics / Additional details

• Location: San Francisco, CA (Anthropic is headquartered there).
• Location‑based hybrid policy: staff are expected to be in one of Anthropic's offices at least 25% of the time.
• Minimum education: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education/training/experience (posting requires Ph.D. in Minimum qualifications).
• Visa sponsorship: Anthropic states they sponsor visas and retain an immigration lawyer to assist, though they note sponsorship may not be possible for every role/candidate.
• Annual Salary: $300,000 - $320,000 USD.

Company & team context

• The Life Sciences team focuses on making fundamental biological discoveries by combining experimental biology with AI and computational methods.
• The role involves close collaboration with AI researchers and product teams, frequent research discussions, and contributing to image and model improvement through practical lab experience and data.