Principal Data Scientist - Agentic AI Discovery & Prototyping

Why Genentech

We're passionate about delivering on Our Promise to improve the lives of patients and create healthier communities for all. We foster a culture of inclusivity, integrity and creativity while boldly pursuing answers to the world's most complex health challenges and transforming society.

Who We Are

Genentech's Data, Digital, and Analytics (DDA) team is dedicated to solving complex healthcare challenges and improving patient outcomes. DDA empowers business partners across Commercial, Medical, and Government Affairs (CMG) to make impactful decisions by leveraging data, analytics, and AI/ML to enable fast, targeted actions in rapidly evolving business contexts.

DDA fosters a unified understanding of customers, actions, and outcomes by transforming the business insight supply chain from the traditional reactive service model to a modern proactive product model, which integrates analytics and insights seamlessly into CMG's evolving digital, data, and automation platforms, creating scalable solutions and eliminating silos. In DDA, you will work as a trusted, objective advisor and expert, recommending critical decisions and actions to be taken with credibility and a focus on driving measurable impact. You will be part of a diverse, inclusive team that reflects the world we serve, thriving in a welcoming culture built on collaboration and innovation.

Job Summary

The Principal Data Scientist - Agentic AI Discovery & Prototyping will play a foundational role in building and advancing Genentech’s AI Innovation capabilities within the AI Management, Governance, and Research (MGR) team. This role is responsible for exploring frontier AI capabilities, rapidly translating research breakthroughs into experimental prototypes, and systematically advancing validated innovations into the enterprise AI product ecosystem.

Operating at the intersection of AI research discovery, advanced experimentation, and applied product development, this role will explore emerging techniques across Generative AI, predictive modeling, and causal inference, with particular emphasis on large language models, multi-agentic human-in-the-loop systems, and advanced AI tooling ecosystems.

The role will focus on identifying high-potential innovations through structured opportunity sensing, designing innovation sprint cycles, and building experimental AI systems that test new architectures, models, and frameworks. This includes evaluating emerging approaches such as agentic orchestration, model fine-tuning, tracing-auditing, alignment strategies, AI measurement strategies, multimodal AI workflows, and advanced model evaluation frameworks.

Through a formal R&D operating model, the Principal Data Scientist will lead experimentation initiatives defined by structured research briefs outlining hypotheses, system architectures, evaluation methodologies, and scalability pathways. Successful prototypes will inform and accelerate downstream product development in partnership with AI Product Management, Data Science, and ML Engineering teams.

In parallel, this role contributes to shaping the organization’s AI research and innovation ecosystem, including producing internal AI Signals Briefs, evaluating emerging technologies, and identifying opportunities for technical publications, patents, and reusable AI capabilities that strengthen Genentech’s long-term AI leadership.

This role requires a strong blend of technical depth, hands-on prototyping ability, and systems thinking, enabling Genentech to responsibly explore emerging AI capabilities while maintaining strong alignment with enterprise priorities, governance frameworks, and real-world product impact.

Key Responsibilities

AI Frontier Research Opportunity Sensing

• Continuously monitor and synthesize advancements across academic research, open-source innovation, and industry developments in areas such as Generative AI, Causal Inference, Predictive Modeling, and AI System Architectures.

• Translate emerging research signals into practical experimentation hypotheses and innovation opportunities aligned with Genentech’s strategic AI priorities.

• Contribute to recurring AI Signals Briefs that summarize key research papers, technical blogs, open-source Github repositories, and emerging tools that may influence the enterprise AI roadmap.

Rapid