Post Doc – AI Safety

Johnson & Johnson

. Lead a focused, publishable research program on governing agentic AI in pharmaceutical R&D .

Posted 10/9/2026full-timeBeerse • BelgiumMid-LevelSenior💰 €60,000 - €96,255 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in governing agentic AI within pharmaceutical R&D, focusing on developing explainable controls, conducting rigorous experiments, and translating complex requirements into actionable specifications. Proficient in evaluating AI safety and alignment, with a strong foundation in programming and communication skills.

Highest-signal resume keywords

PhD In Computer ScienceAI Safety/Alignment ResearchFoundation Models ExperienceStrong Programming SkillsReproducible Experimentation

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

PythonMachine Learning FrameworksFormal Verification ToolsData De-identificationSafety TuningPreference OptimizationSupervised Fine-tuningExperimental DesignAgent Behavior CharacterizationFailure Mode Analysis

Soft Skills

Excellent Written CommunicationVerbal Communication SkillsPresentation Skills

Tools & Technologies

Policy EnginesAuthorization LanguagesGenAI PlatformOpen-source AI Tools

Industry Keywords

Pharmaceutical R&DAI/MLCybersecurityLife SciencesHigh-stakes Domains

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Cyber SecurityPython

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead a focused, publishable research program on governing agentic AI in pharmaceutical R&D
Develop deterministic, explainable controls and methods to verify them
Advance continuous red-teaming and evaluation methods for credible failure scenarios
Investigate pre- and post-training safety alignment and defense-in-depth techniques
Formulate research questions and design rigorous, reproducible experiments with baselines, ablations, and uncertainty estimates
Evaluate pre-training data interventions and post-training methods, including supervised fine-tuning, preference optimization, and safety tuning
Prototype layered architectures that constrain agent behavior
Translate scientific, quality, privacy, and regulatory requirements into testable system specifications
Work with platform engineering to move validated methods from prototype into the GenAI Platform
Document results so they are reproducible and auditable
Present research to scientific, engineering, and leadership audiences
Represent the team at conferences, workshops, and standards activities

Requirements

What you’ll need

PhD in computer science, AI/ML, applied mathematics, or a closely related technical field, preferably completed before the start date
Record of first-author research, evidenced by peer-reviewed publications or preprints, in AI safety/alignment, AI/ML for cybersecurity, formal methods, or a closely related area
Hands-on experience with foundation models and agentic AI, such as retrieval-augmented generation, tool use, planning, or multi-agent frameworks, and their failure modes
Strong programming skills, such as Python and modern ML frameworks
Experience building reproducible experiments
Excellent written and verbal communication in English
Ability to present technically defensible arguments to scientific and engineering audiences
Scientific rigor in characterizing model and agent behavior, including uncertainty, limitations, failure conditions, and supporting evidence
Experience with policy engines, authorization languages, or formal verification tools
Experience fine-tuning or evaluating foundation models for scientific or biomedical domains
Exposure to privacy-preserving ML, data de-identification, or data provenance
Interest in life sciences or another regulated, high-stakes domain
Open-source contributions to AI safety, evaluation, or security tooling

Benefits

Comp & perks

Annual bonus with set target depending on pay grade/location
Vacation days
Parental leave for a minimum of 12 weeks
Bereavement leave
Caregiver leave
Volunteer leave
Well-being reimbursement
Programs for financial, physical and mental health
Service anniversary and recognition awards
Insurance plans for employees and, in some locations, eligible dependents