AI Contractor
Company: Santen, Inc.
Location: Emeryville
Posted on: January 25, 2026
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Job Description:
Company Description Santen is a specialized pharmaceutical
company with a 130-year heritage focused exclusively on eye health.
As a Japan-originated, global company with our footprint in over 60
countries and regions, our mission is to provide essential and
significant value to patients and society through our products and
services created from our expertise in ophthalmology and from the
patient’s perspective. Santen Inc., located in Emeryville, CA
(North America HQ), serves as an important global research and
development hub for the organization which includes global
manufacturing sites in Miami, Fl and Goleta, CA. Job Description
The Contractor in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be responsible
for developing and implementing advanced AI platforms and
algorithms to support Data Science and R&D initiatives in Drug
Discovery and Development. The role will focus on enhancing
existing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Large Language
Model (LLM) frameworks to create state-of-the-art AI solutions that
streamline, augment, and automate research and development
workflows. The AI Contractor will collaborate closely with
cross-functional teams, including Data Science and Global Digital
Innovation, to ensure the successful and effective integration of
AI technologies into R&D processes. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND KEY
DELIVERABLES: Design and Develop AI Solutions: Serve as an Applied
AI Engineer to build and optimize AI platforms and algorithms that
leverage foundation LLMs, RAG architectures, and other advanced
techniques for augmenting and automating R&D tasks.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with the Associate Director
of Biostatistics, Head of Global Data Sciences, technical leaders
in Global Digital Innovation, and other project managers to deploy,
validate, and refine AI solutions in real-world R&D
environments. Performance Evaluation and Iteration: Conduct
rigorous testing, benchmarking, and continuous improvement of AI
models and platforms to ensure scalability, accuracy, and
compliance with regulatory and scientific standards. Maintain
Scalable Codebases: Develop, maintain, and document robust,
modular, and scalable codebases to support large datasets and high
user concurrency, ensuring performance, security, and ease of
future enhancements. Tackle research questions in Drug Discovery,
Clinical Development, and other areas of R&D that leverage AI
models and solutions Knowledge Dissemination: Maintain an active
external presence through presentations, publications, and
contributions to conferences in AI and related R&D domains,
demonstrating thought leadership and advancing organizational
visibility in the field. Qualifications Ph.D. in Statistics,
Biostatistics, Computer Science, Bioinformatics or related field
preferred; MS degree with preferably two plus years of experience
in AI research and applications Understanding of clinical trial
data and extremely hands-on in analysis and reporting of clinical
trial data. Strong Python programming skills. Proficiency in R and
SAS is a plus but not required Basic knowledge/experience in
pharmaceutical/biotech industry Excellent verbal, written and
organizational skills. Additional Information What we offer: The
pay rate for the AI Contractor position is $80/hour and is expected
to be 40 hours per week . On-site in Emeryville, CA is preferred;
remote may be considered for exceptional candidates. Grow your
career at Santen A career at Santen is an opportunity to make a
difference. We aspire to contribute to the realization of
“Happiness with Vision” by providing eye health products and
services to patients, consumers, and medical professionals around
the world. Guided by our CORE PRINCIPLE, “Tenki ni sanyo suru”,
Santen is engaged in the global research & development,
manufacturing, and sales and marketing of pharmaceutical products
in ophthalmology. We have team members around the world using their
diverse talents to unlock new modalities and drive innovations for
patient outcomes, education and treatment. At Santen, we believe in
empowering all our team members with flexible ways of working and a
highly inclusive work environment. The Santen Group is an Equal
Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building diverse teams
and ensuring a safe and inclusive physical and virtual workplace
for every one of our team members. All employment decisions are
based on business needs, role requirements and individual
qualifications regardless of race, color, ethnicity, national
origin/ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender
identity/ expression, age, disability, medical condition, marital
status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by
law. If you require any kind of accommodation during our
recruitment process, please let the recruiter from our team
know.
Keywords: Santen, Inc., Concord , AI Contractor, IT / Software / Systems , Emeryville, California
