Data Scientist

Norstella is a group of prominent pharmaceutical solutions providers – Evaluate, MMIT, Panalgo, The Dedham Group, Citeline – that help clients navigate complexities at each step of the drug development life cycle, from pipeline to patient. For more information, please visit Norstella.com.
Evaluate is a global company providing outstanding market intelligence services for the Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, Financial and Consulting sectors, through the Evaluate Pharma®, Evaluate Medtech®, Evaluate Omnium and Evaluate Vantage® online brands. Our international clients in Pharma and Biotech, Medtech, Banking and Consultancy regard Evaluate Pharma® as the industry’s gold standard for timely and accurate analysis of reported drug sales, consensus sales forecasts, R&D pipeline, markets and comprehensive company financials.

The Role

In this role as a Data Scientist you will report into the Lead Data Scientist for Strategic Intelligence and Market Access, within the Data Science Department. You will design and deploy cutting-edge models to support the creation of new products. We have small multi-functional teams consisting of pharmaceutical industry experts, R&D, data engineering and data scientists to rapidly prototype new visualisations and interactive reports using both our existing and newly acquired datasets.

 

In this role as a Data Scientist you will:

• Apply your fundamental knowledge of machine learning, generative AI, and other DS techniques to identify opportunities and help shape product development
• Use Python and AWS SageMaker to create knowledge generation algorithms applied to pharmaceutical products
• Visualise and analyse the performance of your models with common python libraries
• Work with data engineers and DevOps to deploy your models into production environments
• Contribute to our growing in-house data science library of useful functions, data handlers, APIs and other modules

Key duties and responsibilities

Ultimately our goal is to smooth patient access to life-saving therapies. You will work with R&D pharma specialists to understand a problem which is hindering developing and releasing effective new pharma products which we believe we can help with. After understanding the problem you will conceptualise potential solutions; in the past our solutions have involved classical machine learning, fine-tuning large language models, or simply well-designed data transformations and business logic – we’re about elegant solutions to problems rather than the technology used.
After conceiving potential solution(s), you will work with data engineering to collate data from a wide variety of sources and develop your algorithm as a proof-of-concept. You will deliver indicative results from your PoC into datasets for visualisation and exploration by the broader multi-functional team. You will also perform code reviews with the data science team to explain your approach and its strengths and weaknesses.
After iterating the design with the multi-functional team as part of customer-led product development, you might convert your prototype into a full product. This will involve productionising your code to a high standard, containerisation, and deployment of your algorithm, usually as an API in AWS SageMaker. Over time you may revisit this product, re-evaluate its performance, and retrain/improve as required.

Key Requirements

• Degree at Masters level or better in a STEM field such as Maths, Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• Excellent knowledge of python and core data science libraries including pandas, numpy, sklearn, scipy, CatBoost, XGBoost and other similar libraries
• Ability to design and iterate creative solutions in Jupyter notebooks
• Ability to convert successful code into well-engineered packages with appropriate use of in-built classes, modules, high/mid/low level functions, and other python best practice
• Excellent statistical knowledge especially in relation to training dataset weaknesses and DS model scoring
• Ability to work with stakeholders to manage your projects independently
• Ability to explain your technical decisions on a project to non-data scientists

Nice to have

• Experience with AWS especially in relation to ML workflows with SageMaker, serverless compute and storage such as S3 and Snowflake
• Exposure to building products that leverage large language models and generative AI
• Knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry, in particular the stages of pharmaceutical product development
• Data visualisation skills with Matplotlib, Bokeh, Seaborn, Plotly or similar libraries

Our Guiding Principles for success at Norstella:

01: Bold, Passionate, and Mission-First
02: Integrity, Truth, and Reality
03: Kindness, Empathy, and Grace
04: Resilience, Mettle, and Perseverance
05: Humility, Gratitude, and Learning

Benefits:

• 25 days annual leave, 4 days for volunteering and a personal day
• 5% pension match
• Group Life Assurance (100% employer funded)
• Group Income Protection (100% employer funded)
• Other voluntary benefits such as: Dental, Cash Plan, PMI Excess Cover, Health Screening & Critical Illness

Norstella is an equal opportunity employer. All job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability or handicap, medical condition, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), marital or domestic partner status, military or veteran status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, reproductive health decision making, or any other protected characteristic as established by federal, state, or local law.
Sometimes the best opportunities are hidden by self-doubt. We disqualify ourselves before we have the opportunity to be considered. Regardless of where you came from, how you identify, or the path that led you here- you are welcome. If you read this job description and feel passion and excitement, we’re just as excited about you.
All legitimate roles with Norstella will be posted on Norstella’s job board which is located at norstella.com/careers. If a role is not posted on this job board, a candidate should assume the role is not a legitimate role with Norstella. Norstella is not responsible for an application that may be submitted by or through a third-party and candidates should proceed with extreme caution if a third-party approaches them about an open role with Norstella. Norstella will never ask for anything of value or any type of payment during or as part of any recruitment, interview, or pre-hire onboarding process. If you are aware of or have reason to believe a job posting purportedly for a role with Norstella is fraudulent or otherwise not authorized by Norstella, please contact the Company using the following email address: ApplicationHelp@norstella.com.