Director, Research AI

Job description

Overview Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is seeking a highly technical and strategic Director of Artificial Intelligence to lead the expansion of AI capabilities across the Research organization. This role will establish and lead a focused team to design and deploy next-generation agentic workflows that integrate directly into scientific research and the discovery of novel siRNA therapeutics. The Director will play a central role in partnering with Research teams to embed AI into daily scientific workflows, enabling faster, more scalable, and more reproducible discovery processes. This is a hands-on leadership role combining computational biology, AI engineering, and platform design, with strong partnership across Research and IT to deliver durable, enterprise-aligned solutions. You will join a growing Data & AI organization (20+ scientists and engineers) focused on transforming Alnylam into an AI-enabled research enterprise. Responsibilities Embed AI into Scientific Workflows (Primary Focus) • Partner deeply with Research teams to embed AI-driven solutions into day-to-day scientific workflows • Identify high-value opportunities to augment target and ligand discovery, and where appropriate, experimental design, data analysis, and decision-making • Drive adoption and measurable impact through close collaboration with assay teams and scientific leadership Develop and Deploy Agentic AI Workflows • Architect and deploy multi-agent systems that automate and orchestrate core research activities, including: • • Target Discovery that encompasses human genetics datasets • Ligand Discovery for the delivery of siRNAs to novel tissues and cell types • Competitive intelligence (landscape monitoring, literature synthesis, target scouting) • Experimental design and hypothesis generation • Data analysis and interpretation • Knowledge synthesis from public and in-house data • Integrate coding agents, research agents, and evaluation frameworks into scientific pipelines • Ensure systems are scientifically grounded, validated, and continuously improved via lab feedback loops Lead AI Strategy & Scientific Enablement • Define and execute the AI roadmap for Research aligned to Alnylam’s broader Data & AI strategy • Drive adoption of AI to improve speed, quality, and scalability of research workflows • Identify and prioritize AI use cases with clear scientific and operational impact Build and Lead an AI Engineering & Science Team • Recruit, lead, and develop a 3–5 person interdisciplinary team of data scientists and software engineers • Establish a high-performance culture blending scientific rigor with agentic software engineering discipline • Provide hands-on technical leadership in AI/ML, agent development, and production deployment Integrate with Enterprise Data & IT Platforms • Partner with IT to integrate AI workflows into the enterprise data platform and lakehouse environment • Contribute to secure, scalable, and compliant AI systems across AWS and GCP environments • Ensure alignment with data governance, security, and regulatory standards Deliver Production-Grade Systems • Oversee development of robust pipelines, model deployment frameworks, and evaluation systems • Drive best practices in MLOps, reproducibility, and model validation • Ensure AI solutions are reliable, scalable, and operationalized within Research Support Computational Enablement of Design Efforts • Provide computational and infrastructure support for ligand and an