Senior Knowledge Expert, Scientific AI Full-time

Your Growth

You will work as a member of McKinsey’s global scientific AI team to transform the way our clients do research and development in industries where scientific innovation is core to value creation: Life Sciences, Specialty Chemicals, Global Energy and Materials, Agriculture, Advanced Industries, and Sustainability. With your expertise at the intersection of a core scientific discipline or disciplines (i.e., chemistry, medicine, computational biology, protein engineering, materials, biostatistics, physics) and artificial intelligence / machine learning (i.e., deep learning, causal inference, Bayesian modelling, and foundation models), you will help build and lead McKinsey’s forward-looking capabilities to transform clients’ innovation engines.

Your core responsibilities will entail:

• Delivery of distinctive capabilities, knowledge, and insights through your work with client service teams and clients
• Technical and scientific leadership in the creation & dissemination of cutting-edge knowledge and proprietary assets
• Elevation of the firm’s reputation in your area of expertise

Your Impact

Your role will be split between supporting client service teams of scientific & technical colleagues, developing new internal knowledge & technology assets and building the firm’s external network. You will be expected to bring distinctive knowledge to complex client/CST problems through part-time staffing on client studies with a multi-disciplinary team.

You will drive proposal processes and participate in client negotiations by identifying end-to-end opportunities to transform R&D and architecting solutions that address specific client needs. You will also advance the latest thinking in scientific AI and generate a steady stream of whitepapers, scientific publications and keynote speeches in top scientific and AI conferences and journals.

Your role will also include establishing an external network & playing a lead role in external reputation building and attracting and retaining junior colleagues by mentoring them to expand their scientific AI knowledge and impact. You will lead firm and cell-level initiatives to scale our service in scientific AI and continuously improve the productivity & impact of our service line.

Your qualifications and skills

• Proven mastery of fundamental concepts in one or multiple branches of a specific science (chemistry, medicine, computational biology, protein engineering, materials, biostatistics, physics) as well as being up-to-date on latest ideas and publications
• Deep understanding of the data sources, AI methods and related analytical technologies, e.g., AI principles, deep learning, machine learning (supervised learning or unsupervised), causal inference, large language models, foundation models, computer vision, diffusion models, reinforcement learning, knowledge graphs, or computer vision
• Ability to develop new-to-world solution architecture blueprints based on industry/client needs, and decompose the end-state solution into incremental releases to prove feasibility and deliver value
• Track record of innovation at the intersection of AI and a scientific discipline
• Compelling communicator with track record of translating technical methods to non-technical executive stakeholders as well as counselling non-technical stakeholders on the opportunity, the specific solution, and the technical and organizational requirements required for sustainable change and value capture
• Track record of recent leadership and engagement in the external ecosystem via publications, conference participation, keynote speeches, connectedness with academia and/or industry
• Experience managing direct reports, or a complex network of internal & external stakeholders