Do you want to use your Machine Learning skills to help discover treatments for rare disease patients?
The role
Healx is looking for a talented Machine Learning Engineer to join our Tech team to help develop our drug discovery platform and discover new treatments for rare diseases.
This role will report to our Director of Tech Strategy and will contribute to developing and applying cutting edge machine learning approaches, knowledge graph reasoning and agentic workflows that underpin our Drug Discovery workflows to find novel treatments for rare diseases.
You will be part of a highly cross-functional and collaborative team that brings together machine learning engineers, software engineers, bioinformaticians and drug discovery scientists. You will work closely with domain experts to translate complex biological questions into robust, scalable machine learning solutions, and your work will have a direct and meaningful impact on our drug discovery programmes.
We encourage you to provide a covering letter to explain why you think you'd be successful in this role.
About Healx
Healx is an AI-powered tech bio company that is redesigning drug discovery. With 10,000 rare diseases affecting 400 million people globally, 90% of which have no approved treatment, Healx is on a mission to pioneer the next generation of drug discovery to help rare disease patients in need. We combine data, artificial intelligence and deep pharmacology expertise to develop treatments more quickly and cheaply than traditional drug discovery. Diversity and inclusion sits at the heart of our mission to help people with rare diseases, and we believe that attracting and empowering a diverse team is critical to achieving this goal. We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and walks of life. Below we have included the qualities that we feel are required for you to excel in this role; however we appreciate that people can apply transferable skills and experience. If you think you have what it takes, love our mission and resonate with our values but are worried you don't tick every box – we still want to hear from you and encourage you to apply!
Our values
Care for Rare – Rare disease patients are at the heart of what we do
Grow as individuals – We are learners always seeking to enhance our expertise
Win as a team – We strive to remain inclusive and diverse and we celebrate successes and lessons together
Innovate and deliver – Our mission requires rapid innovation and calculated risks that won’t compromise our high standards
Key responsibilities
Build automated reasoning over large knowledge graphs and proprietary methods for efficient generation of experimentally testable therapeutic hypothesesContribute to building, maintaining and improving our rare-disease knowledge graphs used to identify and reason over novel therapeutic hypothesesDevelop agentic tools and workflows to enable our teams to unlock insight from proprietary data and large datasetsContribute and advocate for best engineering practices across our tech teams
What success will look like in 6 months
You’ve built a strong understanding of Healx’s drug discovery workflows, our rare-disease knowledge graphs and the key users of our platformYou’ve delivered at least one meaningful improvement to our knowledge graph reasoning or hypothesis-generation stack (from prototype through to production), with appropriate evaluation, testing and documentationYou’re operating effectively in our hybrid, cross-functional environment—communicating progress and trade-offs clearly, partnering well with scientists and engineers, and demonstrating ownership from discovery through deliveryYou’re consistently applying and advocating for strong engineering practices (e.g., code quality, reviews, reproducibility, experiment tracking, monitoring/observability where relevant), helping raise the bar across the team
What we're looking for
You have 2-5 years professional (in academia or industry) experience in machine learning, artificial intelligence or related field You are excited about taking on new challenges and responsibilities in a mission-driven startup aiming at improving patient outcomesYou have an advanced degree (masters, PhD) in machine learning, biochemistry or related field with a focus on applied research or equivalent industry experience applying machine learning to complex real-world problemsYou have a strong software development experience in Python and a good appreciation of the principles of software engineeringYou thrive in a highly cross-functional environment and you appreciate the opportunity to step up and leave your mark by taking ownership of meaningful technical challenges, contributing ideas that shape the direction of our platform and driving solutions from concept through to deploymentYou are able to work independently to scope, plan and deliver end-to-end machine learning solutions, managing your own priorities effectively and communicating progress and blockers proactivelyYou are comfortable navigating a degree of ambiguity, making pragmatic decisions when needed, and you know when to seek input from the broader team to ensure quality and alignment
Working at Healx
Healx works from a modern accessible office in the centre of Cambridge within easy reach of the train station. We offer a flexible, diverse and inclusive working environment that considers your individual needs and believes in maintaining a sustainable work-life balance and we are open to discussing flexible working arrangements.
We are a hybrid team operating on a highly collaborative model that values synchronization and pair programming.
You will be welcomed by a team of colleagues with decades of accumulated experience in their areas of expertise, happy to help you develop your own skills in a highly collaborative environment and who are keen to provide guidance and support in your personal and career development plans.
Healx will provide you with support and guidance to help you do your best work and make an impact. We offer flexible working and believe in maintaining a sustainable work-life balance. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know — we’re happy to accommodate.
What’s on offer:
Financial – Competitive salary, share options, 7% employer pension contributions, life insurance of 4x base
salary Health and Wellbeing – Private medical insurance, 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) with the option to purchase additional days to support a healthy work-life balance, wellbeing support via Spill and our Employee Assistance Programme
Hybrid Working – We will only consider UK-based applicants for this position. We offer flexible and remote working options, home office set-up allowance, periodic in-person team days for company-wide collaboration and celebration
Family Friendly – Enhanced family leave policies, miscarriage and fertility leave, flexible working practices
Personal Development and Growth – Personal learning and development budgets, regular personal development conversations and career support
Community Engagement and Support – One paid day off per year to volunteer for a cause aligned with our mission of supporting patients living with rare diseases; the opportunity to hear from and engage with patient groups and communities who offer us valuable insights into the experiences of those affected by rare diseases.