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