The posting
At Viridian, we work with a sense of urgency for patients, creating unity with our team, the industry, and the community. We are committed to using proven science and engineering to improve the lives of people living with serious and rare diseases, and we are getting closer to achieving this goal every day.
Reporting to the Executive Director, Head of Modeling and Simulation, the Senior Data Scientist will be a hands-on technical leader who applies data science, statistical modeling, and computational methods to clinical development. The role will design and implement scalable analytical solutions spanning clinical trial simulation, predictive modeling, machine learning, and disease-progression models. Working closely with Biometric Sciences, Clinical Development, Data Management, and Clinical Pharmacology, the Senior Data Scientist will connect clinical data with pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD), exposure-response, and model-informed drug development analyses to improve study design and portfolio decisions. The position will also build robust data and software foundations and develop governed AI-enabled and agentic tools that accelerate scientific workflows while maintaining reproducibility, traceability, human review, and appropriate data protections.
This role may be based in our Waltham, MA headquarters, which would be a hybrid role, or it can also be fully remote. Our office-based employees are required to work in the office three (3) days a week. If remote, travel to headquarters for meetings would be required at the discretion of management.
Responsibilities (including, but not limited to):
- Design, build, and maintain analysis-ready clinical data structures that integrate raw, SDTM, ADaM, PK/PD, biomarker, imaging, operational, and/or relevant external or public data
- Develop production-quality analytical workflows in R and Python using modular code, version control, testing, documentation, and reproducible environments; improve scalability through efficient data structures, parallel computing, high-performance computing, APIs, and fit-for-purpose cloud technologies.
- Apply machine-learning and predictive modeling methods to clinical development questions, including patient stratification, outcome prediction, longitudinal response, missingness and dropout, site or enrollment performance, and identification of clinically meaningful response patterns; evaluate models using appropriate validation, calibration, discrimination, uncertainty, and interpretability methods.
- Partner with Clinical Pharmacology to integrate PK/PD, exposure-response, and disease-progression models with clinical trial simulation, including the generation of virtual-patient data.
- Evaluate study designs and development strategies using clinical trial simulation, Bayesian and frequentist methods, adaptive designs, multiplicity strategies, estimands, benefit-risk analyses, and quantitative decision criteria.
- Develop AI-enabled and agentic tools that support scientific and analytical workflows, such as data discovery, code generation and review, quality-control checks, evidence synthesis, clinical-data review, simulation execution, and generation of traceable analytical outputs.
- Continuously assess developments in machine learning, large language models, agentic systems, statistical computing, and biomedical data science; translate relevant advances into modeling and simulation workflows
- Communicate methods and results through clear technical documentation, visualizations, decision-focused summaries, and analytical contributions to protocols, regulatory interactions, abstracts, posters, manuscripts, and internal governance forums.
- Promote a strong “ONE Team” culture across all functions by fostering collaboration and a unified focus on delivering the best outcomes for patients
Qualifications:
- Requires a PhD degree in statistics, biostatistics, computer science, or data-science related field with 4+ years of relevant experience OR MS degree with 6+ years of relevant experience
- Advanced hands-on programming expertise in R and/or Python, including package or library development and related concepts (HPC, Git, etc.)
- Strong knowledge of data structures and data-engineering concepts, along with experience working with clinical trial data and applicable standards, including SDTM and ADaM.
- Demonstrated experience developing and validating machine-learning or predictive models using methods such as regularized regression, tree-based models, and gradient boosting
- Experience applying statistical modeling and simulations to clinical trial design, analysis, and portfolio decision-making
- Experience with clinical pharmacology or pharmacometrics, including PK/PD, population modeling, exposure-response, disease-progression modeling, simulation, or model-informed drug development
- Hands-on experience building AI-enabled or agentic applications using large language models
- Ability to manage a broad set of activities with competing and aggressive timelines, prioritize effectively, work independently, and adapt to a rapidly changing environment.
- Demonstrated problem solving skills (including taking ownership to ensure timely resolution), a strong sense of urgency, keen attention to detail, and the ability to successfully execute in a matrix environment under time and resource pressures.
- Strong verbal and/or written communications skills
- Strong commitment to ethical standards
- Proficient with Microsoft Office suite (i.e., Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, etc.)
- The salary range for this position is commensurate with experience
Salary Range
$170,000—$186,000 USD
Viridian offers a comprehensive benefits package including:
- Competitive pay and stock options for all employees
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance
- 100% Paid Parental Leave
- Short- and long-term disability coverage
- Life, Travel and AD&D
- 401(k) Company Match with immediate company vest
- Employee Stock Purchase plan
- Generous vacation plan and paid company holiday shutdowns
- Various fertility, mental, financial, and proactive physical health programs
Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination, harassment, or retaliation of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by Federal, State, and Local laws. Viridian will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.
Viridian Therapeutics, Inc participates in E-Verify, the federal program for electronic verification of employment eligibility.
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