Postdoctoral Fellow (m/f/d), Machine Learning Research

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A career at Pfizer offers opportunity, ownership and impact.

All over the world, Pfizer colleagues work together to positively impact health for everyone, everywhere. Our colleagues have the opportunity to grow and develop a career that offers both individual and company success; be part of an ownership culture that values diversity and where all colleagues are energized and engaged; and the ability to impact the health and lives of millions of people. Pfizer, a global leader in the biopharmaceutical industry, is continuously seeking top talent who are inspired by our purpose to innovate to bring therapies to patients that significantly improve their lives.

Right now, we are seeking highly qualified candidates to fill the position:

Postdoctoral Fellow (m/f/d), Machine Learning Research

Join Pfizer's Machine Learning Research group as a Postdoctoral Researcher on LIGAND-AI, a €60M, five-year IHI consortium of 18 partners across nine countries. You will develop and deploy ML methods on unprecedented protein–ligand datasets comprising trillion-scale experimental readouts from billion-scale DNA‑encoded library (DEL) screens across thousands of proteins. Your models will predict drug-like binders for diverse disease-relevant targets to generate testable hypotheses throughout the discovery continuum. Ideal candidates have a strong track record in ligand-based drug design, QSAR modeling, representation learning, interaction modeling, with creativity and rigor applied to drug discovery.

Primary application domains include binder prediction, hit identification & expansion, structure-activity insight, partnering with experimental and computational teams across the LIGAND-AI consortium to advance the state-of-the-art.

• Develop advanced ML methods for next‑generation binding prediction using open protein–ligand datasets comprising trillion‑scale readouts from billion‑scale DEL screens across thousands of proteins.
• Build and validate learning methods to integrate multimodal data (protein structures, ligand libraries, DEL and ASMS assays) for binder prediction and target selection.
• Research, design, and implement algorithms for large-scale protein-ligand interaction modeling, active learning, and benchmarking on consortium datasets.
• Contribute to a seamless experiment-to-prediction pipeline by collaborating closely with high-throughput screening labs, data engineering, and medicinal chemistry.
• Be an active member of a highly interdisciplinary team
• Conceive, execute and evaluate studies and experiments, interpret the results and present them to scientist in academia and industry
• Strengthen external visibility and scientific excellence through publishing / presenting work in reputed journals and conference/workshop venues and engaging with the scientific community by open-sourcing models, benchmarks, and tools aligned with consortium goals.

„Breakthroughsthatchangepatients ' lives“- Unser klares Unternehmensziel ist es, Durchbrüche zu erreichen, die das Leben vonPatienInnenverändern. Sie sind der Sinn unseres Tuns. Wenn Sie Teil dieser Vision sein wollen und die gleiche Leidenschaft teilen, ist Pfizer der ideale Ort, um eine Karriere zu beginnen oder um eine erfolgreich fortzusetzen.

• Formal training in Physics, Chemistry, Computational Chemistry, Statistics, related technical discipline.
• PhD and relevant research experience in developing machine/deep learning-based solutions and a sincere interest for computational chemistry.
• Hands-on experience in handling, processing, integrating, and analyzing large heterogenous data sets related to industrial drug discovery research with of one or more scientific data modalities
• Proven expertise in developing machine learning for chemistry, molecular representation learning
• Highly creative person with outstanding problem-solving skills to tackle complex analysis tasks in a timely fashion.
• Strong publication record and demonstrated contributions to the field
• Solid expertise with libraries such as PyTorch, Lightning, RDKit is mandatory! Programming skills in Python must be top-notch. Experience with relevant libraries of the Python scientific stack is a big plus.
• Familiarity with GPU computing both on-premises and on cloud platforms
• Passion and curiosity for data and proven ability to take ideas from prototype to production.
• Strong interpersonal skills, distinct collaborative attitude, excellent written and verbal communication

Location: Berlin

fixed term contract of 3 years with the option to extension

About the role:

We offer:

Together we stand for: Breakthroughs that change patients' lives –In order to fulfill our corporate purpose, a value-oriented corporate culture guides our actions. Pfizer's values are: Courage, Excellence, Equity & Joy .

Courage: One bold way we are achieving our goals is our company-wide digital transformation strategy. Our flat hierarchies enable short decision-making paths.

Excellence: We focus on what is really important, take responsibility, measure progress and work together in a spirit of trust. Together we rely on an agile way of working that encourages our employees to balance their private and work lives and to promote personal development.

Equity: We believe that different experiences are valuable, which is why every opinion is heard and valued. These experiences and opinions enrich the entire company. In this way, we promote a diverse and inclusive working environment in which colleagues in various Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) working groups such as, e.g. Engage Empowered Women, LGBT*IQ , DisAbility, X-Gen.

Joy: If we experience our work as meaningful, we get a lot in return. We achieve this by being proud of the contribution we make, appreciating each other and sharing this with joy and recognition. Our BRAVO Award program gives us an appreciative opportunity to do so. Our employees benefit from a comprehensive company health management "Pfizer in Balance" also during working hours.

Process Information: The selection process will start Mid/end of January 2026

Pfizer garantiert Chancengleichheit während des gesamten Bewerbungsprozesses sowie die Einhaltung der lokalen Gesetzgebungen in den jeweiligen Ländern, in denen Pfizer agiert. Pfizer schließt jegliche diskriminierende Faktoren aus, die u. a. das Geschlecht und Alter, die ethnische Zugehörigkeit, Religion oder Weltanschauung, sexuelle Orientierung oder Behinderung betreffen.

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