Postdoctoral Researcher in Machine Learning for Biology (Hsu Lab) at Arc Institute
Job Description
Arc Institute’s Hsu Lab is hiring postdoctoral researchers in machine learning for biology, to advance generative AI for biological understanding and design, including Arc’s biological foundation models such as Evo, Evo 2, State, Stack and Bioreason.
At a glance
- Role: Postdoctoral Researcher, ML for Biology, Hsu Lab
- Where: Palo Alto, California, USA
- Pay: Minimum base salary US$80,000 a year, set by months of postdoctoral experience
- Level: PhD in computer science, bioinformatics, computational biology or genetics/genomics
- Apply: open until filled (re-checked 12 October 2026)
About the ML for biology postdoc
- Design, execute and analyse computational experiments, owning a research project end to end with guidance from the PI
- Develop ML models for biological understanding and design using approaches such as new architectures, post-training and agentic reasoning
- Work on current lab interests: predictive models of life (for example integrating Evo and State), AI agents and systems, genome mining, and AI-guided therapeutics
- Publish first-author papers, mentor students and research staff, and keep rigorous coding standards and shared software infrastructure
Postdocs have access to high-performance computing clusters and can collaborate with wet-lab scientists across Arc, Stanford and the Bay Area, so models can be tested experimentally.
What Arc Institute is looking for
- A Ph.D. in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology or Genetics/Genomics
- Expertise with Python, bash and standard deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch
- A record of creative, high-impact research, shown by publications, patents, tools or software
- Excellent communication, independent thinking and close collaboration with experimental scientists
Pay and location
Arc lists a minimum base salary of US$80,000 a year for this postdoc. The actual base salary depends on how many months of relevant postdoctoral experience the successful candidate has, and Arc says it is not negotiable. The role is based at Arc’s Palo Alto headquarters.
How to apply
Apply through the official Arc Institute job posting. Arc Institute’s posting does not give a closing date, so the role is open until filled; ResearchJobs.in will re-check this listing on 12 October 2026. Check the posting for location and work-authorisation details before you apply.
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Hiring institution: Arc Institute
Official advertisement: job-boards.greenhouse.io
How to prepare for this application
- Biological foundation models: read the Evo and Evo 2 papers and understand what genome language models can and cannot do.
- Post-training: be ready to discuss fine-tuning, reinforcement learning or preference optimisation applied to sequence models.
- Evaluation: how would you show a generated sequence is functional? Think about wet-lab validation.
- Agents: have a view on where AI agents could speed up biological research.
- Code: share a repository that shows clean, reproducible ML work.
About Arc Institute
Arc Institute is an independent nonprofit research organisation working at the interface of artificial intelligence and biology. Founded in 2021 and based in Palo Alto, it partners with Stanford University, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco, and gives its scientists long-term philanthropic funding with industry-like resources. Its two institute-wide initiatives are building a virtual cell model and mapping the causes of Alzheimer's disease, and more than 300 people work at its headquarters.
