Machine Learning Scientist, Reinforcement Learning
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 16, 2026. First seen by Alion on Jun 2, 2026. Profluent scores A on the Alion truth index.
Profluent is the frontier AI lab for biology. Profluent builds powerful foundation models for all of life's molecules, unlocking solutions that transform medicine, agriculture, and beyond. Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Emeryville, CA, Profluent is backed by leading investors including Altimeter Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Spark Capital, Insight Partners, Air Street Capital, AIX Ventures, and Convergent Ventures and has raised over $150M to date.
We're looking for a motivated and creative Machine Learning (ML) Scientist to drive research into reinforcement learning for biomolecular design. This position offers an opportunity to work at the forefront of generative modeling research across language processing, representation learning, and protein engineering. You should be a self-directed researcher who has the ability to rapidly prototype and evaluate new models and algorithms in the biomolecular domain.
As an early employee, you will proactively shape the direction of our machine learning efforts and collaborate across diverse teams of computational and experimental scientists.
Responsibilities
- Design and develop state-of-the-art online and offline reinforcement learning algorithms for protein design
- Collaborate across the machine learning and protein design teams to adapt and improve reinforcement learning techniques from other domains to protein design
- Architect, implement, and optimize core infrastructure to support the post-training of protein language models
- Curate relevant datasets and design tasks for rigorous evaluation of generative models
- Implement, analyze, and interpret multiple computational approaches and present results to colleagues in regular update meetings
- Work within a collaborative, fast-paced, interdisciplinary team across biology and machine learning to help shape the scientific and strategic vision of the company
Qualifications
- PhD (or equivalent industry experience) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Applied Math, Computational Biology, Statistics, or a related field
- Experience with conceiving of, implementing, and evaluating novel machine learning and reinforcement learning techniques
- Publications at major machine learning conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR) or scientific journals (Nature, Science, Nature Biotech, Nature Methods, PNAS)
- Experience with modern deep learning frameworks such as Pytorch or Jax
Preferences
- Familiarity with foundational biology of proteins and nucleic acids
- Experience developing machine learning models for proteins (language models, structure prediction, design)
- Experience with cloud compute platforms (GCP, AWS, Azure, OCI)
- Previous experience in data extraction and curation from bioinformatics data sources
- Familiarity with wet lab experimental assays and associated limitations
What We Offer
- High-growth opportunity with meaningful impact on the future of protein design
- Competitive compensation package with equity participation
- 401(k) with a strong employer match
- Comprehensive benefits including health/dental/vision insurance
- Generous PTO policy and commitment to work-life balance
- Professional development opportunities in a cutting-edge field at the intersection of AI and biology
Profluent Bio, Inc is an equal opportunity employer promoting diversity and inclusion in the workspace. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical conditions, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), sex (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding), genetic information, taking or requesting statutorily protected leave, or any other basis protected by law.
Employment Eligibility Verification
Legal authorization to work in the United States is required. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired must verify their identity and work eligibility and complete the required employment verification form upon hire.
Hiring Salary Range
$212,000—$339,000 USD
NOTICE TO STAFFING AND SEARCH FIRMS: Profluent does not accept unsolicited candidate submissions. We ask that agencies refrain from sending resumes to our careers inbox, hiring managers, or any Profluent employee. Any resume submitted without a signed agreement and an active search request from our Talent team will be treated as the property of Profluent, and no placement fee will be owed.