---
title: 'AI in Residence, Computational Protein Design at Xaira Therapeutics'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/ai-in-residence-computational-protein-design-xaira-therapeutics-seattle-ns335n33bw1n'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# AI in Residence, Computational Protein Design at Xaira Therapeutics

- **Company:** Xaira Therapeutics
- **Location:** Seattle Washington, United States
- **Posted:** 2026-08-20
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/xairatherapeutics/jobs/5156238007

## Job description

## About Xaira Therapeutics

Xaira is an innovative biotech startup focused on leveraging AI to transform drug discovery and development. The company is leading the development of generative AI models to design protein and antibody therapeutics, enabling the creation of medicines against historically hard-to-drug molecular targets. It is also developing foundation models for biology and disease to enable better target elucidation and patient stratification. Collectively, these technologies aim to continually enable the identification of novel therapies and to improve success in drug development. Xaira is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and London.

AI in Residence

AI in Residence is a highly selective role at the intersection of frontier machine learning and drug discovery. Designed as an industry alternative to a traditional postdoctoral position, the program is for exceptional researchers and engineers who want to apply advanced AI to real biomedical problems end to end, from data to deployed systems.

Residents join a small cohort working on high-impact AI efforts across Xaira. You'll collaborate closely with AI scientists, research engineers, and drug discovery teams to design, build, and ship machine learning capabilities that directly influence therapeutic programs. This is hands-on, system-level work with real scientific consequence.

We're looking for candidates with technical depth, intellectual independence, strong research judgment, and evidence of delivering high-quality work—whether through publications, open-source, or production systems.

## What You'll Do

- Develop and advance ML models for protein and antibody design using biophysical data, affinity data, library display data, protein structure datasets, and protein sequence datasets
- Design and implement scalable pipelines for data curation, training, evaluation, and inference integrated into discovery workflows
- Own projects end-to-end: problem framing → prototyping → validation → deployment
- Evaluate robustness and reliability (generalization, uncertainty, failure modes), plus interpretability where it supports scientific decision-making
- Contribute technical leadership by proposing new directions, shaping platform capabilities, and raising engineering/research standards through collaboration

You Might Work On

Examples include (not limited to):

- Foundation / representation models for protein/antibody structure, sequence and property modeling and prediction
- Methods for small, biased, noisy datasets; distribution shift; and uncertainty estimation.
- ML systems for experimental prioritization, assay interpretation, or translational signal discovery

Evaluation frameworks and benchmarks tailored to discovery decision-making. Tooling that makes models usable by scientists (interfaces, automation, monitoring)

What Success Looks Like

- You ship one or more models or pipelines that are used in real discovery workflows.
- Your work improves decision quality (e.g., better prioritization, faster iteration, clearer uncertainty).
- You raise the bar on evaluation rigor and reproducibility (strong baselines, error analysis, reliable metrics)
- You leave behind maintainable systems (tests, documentation, monitoring) that others can build on

We Value

- Strong research judgment: choosing the right problems and knowing what “good evidence” looks like.
- Rigor: careful experimental design, ablations, error analysis, and honest reporting.
- Systems thinking: reliability, scalability, and maintainability—not just prototypes.
- Clear communication: writing, documentation, and sharing decisions/assumptions.
- Collaborative execution with scientific and engineering partners

Program Structure

Duration: 6–12 months Start Dates: First hires beginning August 2026, with rolling applications and additional intakes in Fall 2026 Cohort Size: Small, highly selective cohort to enable meaningful ownership and close collaboration

Mentorship & Support Dedicated technical mentor, plus structured feedback from senior AI, engineering, and scientific leadership

Publications & Presentations We value scientific contribution and may support publications and conference presentations when appropriate. Publication scope and timing depend on project needs and are subject to internal review (e.g., IP and confidentiality). Authorship follows standard contribution-based guidelines.

Who Should Apply

We encourage applications from candidates who meet most of the following:

- Recent MS or PhD graduates (or equivalent research experience) in ML/AI, computational biology, biomedical engineering, or related fields
- Evidence of research excellence through high-quality publications or artifacts. Top venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ACL; Nature Methods, Cell Systems) are a plus, but strong preprints, open-source contributions, or shipped systems with demonstrated impact are equally compelling
- Demonstrated ability to lead substantial technical work with originality—new modeling ideas, rigorous experiments, or production-grade systems adopted by others
- Motivation to translate rigorous research into reliable, deployable AI systems that support therapeutic discovery

Please include a brief cover letter describing your interest in this role, why you're excited about this area, and what you hope to gain from the experience.

## Compensation

The expected monthly compensation range is $10,000–$15,000, depending on experience and qualifications. We are open to higher compensation for candidates with exceptional experience or impact.

## About Xaira Therapeutics

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Xaira Therapeutics is an integrated biotechnology company applying artificial intelligence across the entire drug discovery and development process to design next-generation medicines.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: South San Francisco, California, United States (with offices in Seattle, Washington, and London, UK)
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Co-founded and incubated by ARCH Venture Partners and Foresite Labs, with foundational scientific contributions from Nobel Laureate Dr. David Baker (Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington).

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Biotechnology, Drug Discovery & Development, Artificial Intelligence
- **Target customers**: B2B (pharmaceutical partners, biotech collaborators) and ultimately patients via its own therapeutic pipeline.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Pioneering the transformative artificial intelligence that will help discover and develop the next generation of life-changing medicines." [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/)

## Products & Services
- **AI-Powered Drug Discovery Platform**: An end-to-end platform integrating advanced AI research, expansive data generation (functional genomics, proteomics, multi-omics), and robust therapeutic product development to shift drug discovery from an empirical science to a precise engineering discipline. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/our-approach)
- **Computational Protein Design**: Built on foundational work by Nobel Laureate Dr. David Baker, leveraging AI to design entirely new proteins from scratch for previously undruggable targets. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/our-approach)
- **X-Cell (Virtual Cell Model)**: An AI model trained on billions of genomic data points to simulate and understand cellular biology. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/)
- **Therapeutic Pipeline**: A pipeline of differentiated therapeutics across multiple modalities (small molecules, biologics, protein therapeutics) developed through an integrated AI-driven process.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed. The company launched in 2023 with a $1 billion Series A financing, one of the largest in biotech history.
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of $1 billion (Series A, 2023).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: ARCH Venture Partners (co-founder and lead investor), Foresite Labs (co-founder and incubator), F-Prime Capital, and other top-tier investors. Board includes leaders from ARCH, Foresite, NEA, and Johnson & Johnson. Scientific advisors include Nobel Laureates Carolyn R. Bertozzi and David Baker, and other luminaries. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/our-team)
- **Growth Signals**: Launched in 2023 with a record $1B Series A; rapidly building a world-class team across three global hubs (South San Francisco, Seattle, London); actively hiring across AI, computational biology, protein design, and drug development roles; announced X-Cell, a virtual cell model trained on billions of genomic data points. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Unprecedented Capital & Talent**: Launched with a $1B Series A, enabling aggressive hiring of top-tier AI and biology talent and long-term investment in infrastructure.
- **End-to-End AI Integration**: Uniquely positioned to apply AI across the entire drug discovery and development lifecycle, from target identification to clinical development, creating a powerful data flywheel.
- **World-Class Scientific Foundation**: Built on foundational AI protein design work from Nobel Laureate David Baker's lab, with a board and advisory board including multiple Nobel Laureates, former FDA commissioners, and industry leaders from Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, and top venture firms. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/our-team)
- **Massive Data Generation**: Investing heavily in functional genomics and proteomics to generate proprietary, multi-dimensional datasets that fuel AI model development, creating a defensible data moat.

## Strategic Focus
- **End-to-End AI Integration**: Building predictive and agentic AI models across the complete drug discovery and development spectrum to increase probability of success, reduce timelines, and lower costs. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/our-approach)
- **Data as a Core Asset**: Generating and integrating massive, multi-dimensional biological datasets (from molecular to human scales) to train and improve AI models continuously.
- **Pipeline Development**: Advancing a pipeline of differentiated therapeutics across multiple modalities (small molecules, biologics, protein therapeutics).
- **Talent Acquisition**: Aggressively hiring across AI research, engineering, computational biology, protein design, and drug development to build a world-class, interdisciplinary team.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven**: Opportunity to work at the forefront of AI and biology to fundamentally transform how medicines are discovered and developed, with the potential to impact millions of patients.
- **World-Class Team & Mentorship**: Work alongside and learn from Nobel Laureates, top AI researchers, and experienced drug developers from leading pharma and biotech companies. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/our-team)
- **Interdisciplinary Culture**: A unique blend of AI/ML engineers, protein designers, computational biologists, and drug hunters all working together in a highly collaborative environment.
- **Global Hubs & Flexibility**: Offices in South San Francisco, Seattle, and London, offering multiple locations for talent.
- **Generous Resources**: Backed by a $1B Series A, providing the resources to pursue ambitious, long-term research without short-term funding pressure.
- **Job Scam Awareness**: The company has issued a warning about fraudulent job offers; all legitimate recruitment is conducted through official channels (Greenhouse) and never via Google Chat or requests for payment. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/work-with-us)

## Sources
1. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/)
2. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/our-approach)
3. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/our-team)
4. [xaira.com](https://www.xaira.com/work-with-us)
5. [greenhouse.io](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/xairatherapeutics)

## Other roles at Xaira Therapeutics

- [Principal Scientist, Biology](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-scientist-biology-xaira-therapeutics-south-san-francisco-california-2azp7k7sb0b2) — South San Francisco California, United States
- [Lab Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lab-software-engineer-xaira-therapeutics-south-san-francisco-california-mt9p82bbxdfp) — South San Francisco California, United States
- [Principal Associate Scientist, Bioanalytical Science](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-associate-scientist-bioanalytical-science-xaira-therapeutics-south-9a4gcetj8vab) — South San Francisco California, United States
- [AI Scientist Intern, Computational Protein Design](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-scientist-intern-computational-protein-design-xaira-therapeutics-seattle-cwyf0hr1nk3c) — Seattle Washington, United States / South San Francisco California, United States
- [Senior Scientist, Biology](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-scientist-biology-xaira-therapeutics-south-san-francisco-california-am8z6cjwb0xn) — South San Francisco California, United States
- [Facilities Coordinator II  - Lab Operations (Contract)](https://feeny.ai/job/facilities-coordinator-ii-lab-operations-contract-xaira-therapeutics-south-san-z65y9vbqwcce) — South San Francisco California, United States
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- [Payroll Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/payroll-manager-xaira-therapeutics-south-san-francisco-california-cwj1ck4aywe9) — South San Francisco California, United States
- [Vice President, Business Development and Alliance Management](https://feeny.ai/job/vice-president-business-development-and-alliance-management-xaira-therapeutics-vyvtp8b00s9q) — South San Francisco California, United States
- [Senior Manager, Projects and Programs - Research](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-projects-and-programs-research-xaira-therapeutics-south-san-j0pcpkzrc2pf) — South San Francisco California, United States