Principal Data Scientist - RDT Applied AI
Genentech
- Location
- South San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Employment
- Full Time
- Work model
- On-Site
- Level
- Principal
- Posted
- Aug 27, 2026
Skills
About this role
Principal Data Scientist - RDT Applied AI Are you ready to use state-of-the-art AI to accelerate the journey of life-saving therapies from development to the patients who need them most? Imagine acting as the bridge between cutting-edge machine learning and critical business strategy. We are looking for a visionary Principal Data Scientist to serve as a premier technical consultant to our business, providing critical advisory support to high-priority use cases across our Pharma Commercial and Product Research & Development (R&D) team. Rather than owning the day-to-day delivery of a single project, you will operate in a highly dynamic, cross-departmental landscape—acting as a strategic consultant across a broad portfolio of initiatives to guide multiple teams in transforming complex data into the predictive and generative engines that power our next generation of healthcare innovations.
The Opportunity
The Principal Data Scientist - RDT Applied AI is a high-impact consulting role where advanced technical expertise meets business strategy in a highly regulated environment. Acting as an embedded consultant and strategic partner to our Pharma Commercial and Product R&D teams, you will guide the design and architecture of complex data science and AI solutions. You will evaluate commercial challenges, product development pipelines, and market dynamics to advise on sophisticated AI frameworks that drive measurable business value. Crucially, you will act as a champion for Roche’s existing AI and data platforms. You will promote their re-use across the enterprise while simultaneously gathering insights from top-priority use cases to influence the strategic roadmap of these platforms, identifying tech gaps and new requirements. This role requires deep expertise in advanced machine learning, generative AI, experimental design, and healthcare compliance. You will balance technical advisory with strategic leadership—shaping technical roadmaps, optimizing deployment strategies, and mentoring talent, all while advising senior business leaders on the art of the possible with AI in a regulated pharma environment.
Job Responsibilities
Strategic Internal Consulting : Act as a dedicated advisor to Pharma Commercial and Product R&D teams on their highest-priority AI initiatives. Translate ambiguous business and product challenges into robust AI/ML strategies, consulting with the project owners to ensure technical solutions directly advance commercial goals and development timelines. Platform Advocacy & Roadmap Influence : Actively promote and propose the use of Roche's current AI platform capabilities to project teams to maximize re-use and efficiency. Simultaneously, use your vantage point across key projects to identify technological gaps and feed new requirements back to the platform engineering teams, directly influencing the overarching AI platform roadmap. Healthcare Context & Compliance : Apply a deep understanding of the pharmaceutical and healthcare environment to all consultative work. Ensure all proposed AI architectures and machine learning solutions are designed with a thorough understanding of the compliance, data privacy, and regulatory implications (e.g., GxP) inherent in healthcare data. Stakeholder Management : Partner closely with senior leadership across Commercial and R&D to inform high-level strategic decisions. Act as a trusted translator who can explain complex algorithmic generative processes and compliance requirements to non-technical business partners. Advisory Leadership : Oversee the architectural and strategic direction of multiple end-to-end data science projects by guiding the data scientists executing the work. Innovate and advise on cutting-edge AI initiatives that push the boundaries of the organization's technical capabilities. Impact & Strategy : Lead the consultative phase of high-impact projects that significantly influence overarching business strategy. Play a key role in shaping the AI vision,