Associate Director of Data and Modeling

The role

The Associate Director of Data and Modeling will lead multidisciplinary teams working across data engineering, artificial intelligence, machine learning, scientific computing, and modeling. This person will set technical direction, build production-grade data platforms, and bridge the gap between research prototypes and reliable systems.

What you will do

• Set technical direction for data platforms, AI/ML systems, and scientific computing.
• Guide design and operation of data systems for large scientific and health datasets.
• Lead development of AI/ML capabilities including predictive modeling and LLMs.
• Build a sustainable modeling and simulation practice.
• Strengthen engineering practices around testing, CI/CD, and containerization.
• Build and lead multidisciplinary technical teams.
• Create an operating cadence for predictable technical delivery.
• Work with security and privacy stakeholders to ensure responsible AI use.
• Encourage technical publication and open-source contribution.
• Contribute to federal growth and proposal efforts as a senior technical leader.

Required qualifications

• Eight or more years of progressively responsible experience in software engineering, data engineering, machine learning engineering, computational science, data science, or a closely related technical
• Five or more years of leadership experience building and guiding multidisciplinary technical teams.
• Experience personally designing, building, deploying, and operating production-grade data, AI/ML, software, or scientific computing systems.
• Strong technical judgment across modern data and AI architectures, distributed processing, containerized environments, CI/CD, MLOps or LLMOps, observability, and production operations.
• Success moving analytical or AI/ML work from research and prototyping into reliable production use.
• Experience building or leading large and complex data pipelines.
• Experience leading modeling, simulation, scientific computing, or computational research work.
• Ability to review technical designs, identify risk, and resolve engineering problems.
• Experience delivering technical systems in research-intensive, regulated, or high-governance environments.
• Strong communication skills for technical discussion and explanation to stakeholders.

Nice to have

• Advanced degree in computer science, bioinformatics, computational biology, data science, engineering, applied mathematics, physics, or another quantitative discipline.
• Prior experience as a hands-on technical practitioner before moving into leadership.
• Experience leading organizations of approximately 20 or more engineers, scientists, and technical specialists.
• Experience with biomedical or health data platforms and standards such as OMOP, FHIR, PCORnet, CDISC, or related clinical terminology systems.
• Experience with high-performance computing, large-scale scientific workflows, workflow orchestration, containerized research environments, or petabyte-scale scientific data.
• Experience deploying Generative AI capabilities with evaluation, retrieval, traceability, privacy controls, human review, monitoring, and appropriate safeguards.
• Experience applying AI/ML to scientific imaging, genomics, proteomics, real-world data, clinical data, or other high-dimensional biomedical datasets.
• Track record of technical publications, conference presentations, open-source contributions, or patents.
• Experience working with NIH or other federal health and biomedical research organizations.
• Experience serving as a technical or solution lead for federal proposals, capture efforts, or strategic partnerships.

Benefits

• 100% Medical, Dental & Vision Coverage for Employees
• Paid Time Off and Paid Holidays
• 401K match up to 5%
• Educational Benefits for Career Growth
• Employee Referral Bonus
• Flexible Spending Accounts: Healthcare (FSA), Parking Reimbursement Account (PRK), Dependent Care Assistant Program (DCAP), Transportation Reimbursement Account (TRN)

About the company

Axle Informatics is a bioscience and information technology company committed to accelerating biomedical discovery through data science, software engineering, scientific computing, and research technology.