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Freenome

Staff Machine Learning Scientist

Freenome, Brisbane, California, United States, 94005

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Why join Freenome? Freenome is a high‑growth biotech company developing tests to detect cancer using a standard blood draw. To do this, Freenome uses a multiomics platform that combines tumor and non‑tumor signals with machine learning to find cancer in its earliest, most‑treatable stages.

Cancer is relentless. This is why Freenome is building the clinical, economic, and operational evidence to drive cancer screening and save lives. Our first screening test is for colorectal cancer (CRC) and advanced adenomas, and it’s just the beginning.

Founded in 2014, Freenome has ~400 employees and continues to grow to match the scope of our ambitions to provide access to better screening and earlier cancer detection.

At Freenome, we aim to impact patients by empowering everyone to prevent, detect, and treat their disease. This, together with our high‑performing culture of respect and cross‑collaboration, is what motivates us to make every day count.

Become a Freenomer A “Freenomer” is a determined, mission‑driven, results‑oriented employee fueled by the opportunity to change the landscape of cancer and make a positive impact on patients’ lives. Freenomers bring their diverse experience, expertise, and personal perspective to solve problems and push to achieve what’s possible, one breakthrough at a time.

About This Opportunity At Freenome, we are seeking a Staff Machine Learning Scientist to help grow the Machine Learning Science team, within the Computational Science department. The ideal candidate has strong knowledge of AI, including machine learning fundamentals and extensive experience with deep learning methods, a track record of successfully using these methods to answer complex research questions, and the ability to drive independent research and thrive in a highly cross‑functional environment.

Their responsibilities include developing algorithms for early, blood‑based detection tests for cancer, building on a foundation of ML/DL and statistical skills to develop models for identifying molecular signals from blood, and collaborating with computational biologists, molecular biologists and ML engineers to design and drive research experiments that will significantly impact our organization’s mission to change the landscape of cancer.

The role reports to the Director, Machine Learning Science and may be a hybrid role based in our Brisbane, California headquarters (2–3 days per week in office), or remote.

What You’ll Do

Independently pursue cutting‑edge research in AI applied to biological problems (including cancer research, genomics, computational biology, immunology, etc.)

Build new models or fine‑tune existing models to identify biological changes resulting from disease

Build models that achieve high accuracy and generalize robustly to new data

Apply contemporary interpretability techniques to provide a deeper understanding of the underlying signal identified by the model, ideally suggesting potential biological mechanisms

Work closely with ML Engineering partners to ensure that Freenome’s computational infrastructure supports optimal model training and iteration

Take a mindful, transparent, and humane approach to your work

Must Haves

PhD or equivalent research experience with an AI emphasis in a relevant quantitative field such as Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, Computational Biology, or Bioinformatics

6+ years of postdoc or post‑PhD industry experience achieving impactful results using relevant modeling techniques

Expertise demonstrated by research publications or industry achievements in driving independent research in applied machine learning, deep learning, and complex data modeling

Practical and theoretical understanding of fundamental ML models (generalized linear models, kernel machines, decision trees and forests, neural networks, boosting, model aggregation)

Practical and theoretical understanding of DL models such as large language models or other foundation models

Extensive experience with training paradigms (supervised learning, self‑supervised learning, contrastive learning)

Proficiency in the state‑of‑the‑art ML/DL approaches across domains, with the ability to envision applications in biological data

Proficiency in a general‑purpose programming language (Python, R, Java, C, C++)

Proficiency in ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX) and ML platforms like Hugging Face

Experience with ML analysis and developer tools (TensorBoard, MLflow, Weights & Biases)

Excellent ability to communicate across disciplines and iterate experimentally in smaller steps

Proficient at productive cross‑functional scientific communication and collaboration with software engineers and computational biologists

A passion for innovation and demonstrated initiative in tackling new research areas

Nice To Haves

Deep domain‑specific experience in computational biology, genomics, proteomics or a related field

Experience building DL models for genomic data with knowledge of state‑of‑the‑art DNA foundation models

Experience in NGS data analysis and bioinformatic pipelines

Experience with containerized cloud computing environments (Docker in GCP, Azure, or AWS)

Experience in a production software engineering environment, including automated regression testing, version control, and deployment systems

Benefits And Additional Information The US target range of our base salary for new hires is $199,675 - $302,400. You will also be eligible to receive pre‑IPO equity, cash bonuses, and a full range of medical, financial, and other benefits depending on the position offered. Compensation is determined at the Company’s discretion and may vary based on location, skill level, experience, and education. We invite you to visit freenome.com/job-openings/ for additional company information.

Freenome is proud to be an equal‑opportunity employer, and we value diversity. Freenome does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws.

Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)

Seniority level Mid‑Senior level

Employment type Full‑time

Job function Other

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