Bristol Myers Squibb is at the forefront of helping patients prevail over serious diseases through our diverse pipeline and new scientific platforms. Some of those ever-evolving and leading-edge platforms involve data science and AI predictive solutions — providing incredibly interesting work along with career growth opportunities.
Business Insights & Analytics (BIA) leader, Mike Sobotka, is promoting these careers as they become more crucial to the BMS mission, and more appealing to qualified candidates who might not have previously considered a career in biopharma. As Senior Director and head of Commercialization Data Science and AI Predictive Science, Mike and his team have a number of data science and AI roles available across a variety of experience levels.
Transforming Patients’ Lives, Disrupting the Expected
“Data science and machine learning are disruptive in the sense that they uncover new insights, make us question the status quo, and predictively enable us to be better in every aspect of our business,” Mike said. “Consider, too, that these roles are appealing due to a unique situation in which our team receives growing investments, gains trust as business partners, fuels applied innovation at scale, and provides the opportunity to collaborate with top professionals in the industry.”
In his role as lead recruiter for BMS Drug Development, Brian Marx, Sr. Manager and Talent Acquisition Partner, shared reasons why certain roles — including several associate directors, biostatistics and one senior manager, data science — are attractive as well as why they deserve serious consideration among candidates inside and outside of pharma.
Opportunities Both Personal and Professional
“It’s the visibility of this group — Global Biometrics and Data Sciences (GBDS) in R&D — within BMS as a whole,” said Brian. “They’ve proven that professionals are given opportunities for growth, exposure to new ideas and perspectives, and enhanced reputation and overall job security as the team continues to grow.”
Proof of Brian’s claims are hardly unfounded. After recruiting for and supporting the group for the last four years, he’s seen their importance — and the parallel opportunities that come with that importance — grow exponentially. “I’ve seen the global team triple in size,” he said. “That is tremendous growth.”
Mike and Brian both agreed and elaborated on the fact that roles in each of their respective groups were absolutely suitable for someone who had yet to consider the pharmaceutical vertical, or even the commercial aspect of that industry. Finding candidates from different fields adds to the diversity of thought and experience that keeps BMS at the forefront of technologies that is evolving at a rapid pace.
Transferrable Skill Sets That Open New Doors
“The vast majority of the Data Science and AI Predictive Solutions organization had no prior knowledge on the commercial aspect within the pharmaceutical industry,” said Mike. “Some even had no pharmaceutical background. We firmly believe that the diversity of our backgrounds and experiences bring unique perspectives, skill sets and technologies needed to be able to challenge the existing status quos and design innovative solutions.”
Mike’s Data Science and AI Predictive Solutions team is looking for individuals with a BA in the quantitative area; a master’s degree or PhD is a plus. Familiarity in Python / R, SQL, MLOps, data engineering, data analytics and machine learning with models such as Scikit-Learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, etc. is preferred. And Mike is quick to add that, “If someone is willing to bring their advanced skill sets and growth mindset, we are willing to take the time to teach and mentor individuals on the commercial side of the pharmaceutical industry.”
Remote Roles That Evolve into Hybrid Roles
Brian’s Associate Director of Biostatistics positions are remote by design, with the understanding that promotion to director comes with a 50% commitment to being on-site. Master’s degree candidates are welcome, and PhDs with about six years of experience are preferred. Proficiency in computing and programming will be very important in this role.
As a recruiter, Brian emphasized the opportunities available for someone outside the industry. “As far as transferrable skills, should the candidate not have pharma experience for the data science roles, that’s completely fine,” he said. “The focus is on being a data scientist, understanding the technologies, and making a contribution to BMS’ core mission where we work every day to transform patients’ lives through science.”
The Strength That Comes from a Diverse Team
Brian added that the VP of Data Science within GBDS, Mariann Micsinai-Balan, “likes to build her team through different quantitative backgrounds, bringing in leading expertise from various disciplines in order to inspire new and innovative ideas in a rapidly changing environment within the group.”
If you’re interested in challenging, rewarding roles within data science, AI predictive solutions, analytics engineering, biostatistics or imaging AI, learn more about the transformational work available within BMS as well as the growth opportunities in these growing departments today. Here are the current data science and AI open roles in the Business Insights & Analytics and the Research and Development organizations.
