The posting
About Inari...
Inari is the SEEDesign™ company. We embrace the diversity and complexity of nature in every aspect of our business to drive innovation – to push the boundaries of what is possible. Through our unrivaled technology platform, Inari uses predictive design and advanced multiplex gene editing to develop step-change products. We are taking a nature positive approach to unlock the full potential of seeds that will transform the food system. The results will lead to more productive acres delivering value creation for farmers and a more sustainable future for our planet.
Our success is dependent on great minds, collaborating to generate bright ideas and deliver exceptional outcomes.
We have 200 employees, with research sites in Cambridge, MA (USA) and Ghent (Belgium), as well as a product development site in West Lafayette, IN (USA). We’ve deliberately built a team that brings diversity of thought to all aspects of our business, to generate new ideas, approaches, and ways of operating. And we've intentionally combined experience with potential, bringing agriculture industry experts with the desire to innovate together with bright minds from academia, human therapeutics, software, and consulting. If you want to be part of a diverse and inclusive team developing unique solutions to feed the world while protecting our planet’s natural resources, we’d love to hear from you!
About the role...
The Opportunity
Inari is transforming sustainable agriculture through AI-driven predictive design and advanced gene editing, and the team building our AI/ML capabilities is central to that mission. We are looking for an AI/ML leader to set the direction and technical standards for our AI Team – you will help define how artificial intelligence (AI) drives Inari to the next-generation of predictive design while staying close to the work that gets us there.
- You will own the roadmap for machine learning (ML) systems that serve genomic, phenotypic, and multi-omic predictions to scientists as well as the agentic systems we are building.
- You will balance delivery of production-ready ML workflows against the exploration of new modeling approaches that advance step-change trait improvement in crops.
- You will decide where we build versus adopt across foundation models, agentic systems, and third-party platforms.
- You will be accountable for the delivery, quality, and operability of everything your team ships.
This is an opportunity to lead in a highly cross-functional environment, working alongside computational biologists, data engineers, software engineers, and crop scientists.
What You’ll Do
- Set and execute the technical direction and standards for Inari’s AI Team, and find the right balance between shipping production ML workflows and exploring innovative modeling approaches.
- Define how models are evaluated and validated against experimental and field outcomes, so scientists can trust what they act on.
- Partner with computational and crop biologists to contextualize heterogeneous biological data and drive research-critical modeling programs.
- Drive the delivery of applied AI solutions – including agentic, GenAI, RAGs, and foundation models that advance scientific and business outcomes.
- Manage, mentor, and develop a high-caliber team of ML engineers, along with focused contractor engagements that help deliver specific capabilities.
- Remain hands-on, applying your technical expertise to solve complex problems and support the team where your contribution will have the greatest impact.
- Represent the AI Team in leadership conversations, helping shape and deliver Inari’s Data & AI Strategy.
What You’ll Bring
Required
- MS or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, Computational Biology, or a related field (or BS with equivalent experience) and 7+ years of experience in machine learning, AI, or related technical roles, with a track record of models & ML pipelines running in production.
- Strong hands-on ML depth: advanced Python and the scientific stack, with experience training and deploying neural networks in PyTorch and/or TensorFlow.
- Proven ability to deploy, maintain, and monitor ML models and pipelines at scale, with practical experience across AWS, SageMaker, Docker, MLflow, and Airflow or equivalents.
- Experience owning a modeling roadmap end to end, from problem framing and evaluation through delivery.
- Experience leading a technical team, including setting direction, supporting the growth of the engineers on it, and influencing decisions beyond your own team.
- Strong grasp and practical experience with modern AI systems, including foundation models, RAG, and agentic workflows, with the judgment to know where they do and don’t apply.
- Strong and clear communication with cross-functional leaders, scientific partners, fellow engineers, and the ability to translate between biological questions and ML framings.
Great to have
- Background in life sciences, biotech, AgTech, or another domain where data and AI are central to scientific work.
- Familiarity with omics data types (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics).
- Experience applying ML to biological systems - in trait prediction, functional genomics, or network-based modeling.
- Experience training and fine-tuning ML models, including foundation models, with a track record of translating model outcomes into business impact.
- Experience supporting production-grade RAG, agentic, or model-serving systems, MCPs and similar agent integration frameworks.
- Familiarity with AWS Sagemaker, MLflow, AWS Bedrock Agentcore, or similar platforms & frameworks.
Why You’ll Love This Role
- Build the models today that drive Inari’s products tomorrow - your team’s predictions help shape what products and editing tools get designed, tested, and grown.
- Play in a rare technical sandbox - AI, biology, genomics, foundation models, engineering, agents. Boring isn’t on the menu.
- Stay close to the action - this is a leadership role that doesn’t ask you to stop building.
- Lead a group of talented ML engineers - building a strong team culture by defining what good looks like and how you get there.
- Join a culture built on openness and shared ownership. Inari runs on integrity, collaboration, and bold thinking - where speaking up is the norm and innovation is celebrated.
Inari is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Learn more about us:
About Inari: https://inari.com/about-us/
Multiplex Gene Editing – The Key to Unlocking the Full Potential of Seed: https://inari.com/multiplex-gene-editing-matters-for-the-population-the-planet-and-the-people-who-grow-our-food/
The Promise of AI in Plant Breeding: https://inari.com/the-promise-of-ai-in-plant-breeding-2/
Unseen Upside Podcast: AI & Agriculture – Data-Driven Fields, Resilient Futures: https://www.cambridgeassociates.com/podcasts/agriculture/
AgTech Breakthrough AgTech Company of the Year: https://inari.com/inari-repeats-as-agtech-company-of-the-year/
Bloomberg: Inari AgTech Startup: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-07/agtech-startup-inari-raises-equity-at-2-17-billion-valuation
BBC: Disaster-Proofing Crops: https://inari.com/bbc-news-how-crops-are-being-disaster-proofed/
Reuters: Gene Editing Wheat: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/australian-trial-gene-edited-wheat-aims-10-bigger-yields-2024-05-23/#:~:text=CANBERRA%2C%20May%2023%20(Reuters),and%20make%20farming%20more%20sustainable
Inari at Databricks Data + AI Summit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJG-r3ob-n0
Job Applicant Privacy Notice: https://inari.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Job-Applicant-Privacy-Notice.pdf
FOR U.S. CANDIDATES: Please note that we use the resume you submit with your application during our background check process. To ensure an efficient and accurate background verification, we kindly ask that you carefully review and accurately represent your work history, education and other relevant information on your resume. Any discrepancies or inaccuracies found during the background check may impact your candidacy for the position.
Inari Agriculture provides immigration sponsorship for candidates in certain qualified roles that meet performance criteria. However, the company will not provide sponsorship to H-1B candidates whose employment would require payment of the $100,000 fee mandated by the Presidential Proclamation “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers.
