Research Engineer

Advanced analytics. Intelligent insights.

IXICO plc (AIM: IXI), is a leading neuroimaging Contract Research Organization (CRO), delivering advanced Ai analytical insights in neuroscience to the global clinical trials market. Established in 2004, listed as a public company in 2013, IXICO has firmly established itself as a trusted partner to the global life sciences industry, supporting the development of new therapies for neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis.

With our focus on neuroscience, our purpose is to advance human health by turning data into clinically valuable insights; helping our clients reduce clinical development risk and improve return on investment from their clinical development programmes. We achieve this by combining Ai machine learning imaging biomarker analysis, together with centralised neuroimaging CRO services to provide an integrated service covering every stage of clinical development through to post-marketing surveillance. We are committed to invest in continuously enhancing our validated and peer reviewed disease optimised machine learning Ai analytics services and our infrastructure and technology to support our ambitious growth strategy. Our people are empowered to enable us to achieve   our company goals and their own personal development through the “4A” values at the heart of our culture: Aspiration, Ability, Agility and Accountability.

As our great team continues to grow we are looking to hire a Research Engineer in a full-time capacity.

Purpose of the Role

This role is focused on the development of innovative data analytics solution in line with IXICO’s product roadmap. Responsibilities are focused on primarily internal R&D projects that explore new opportunities for data analytics products in imaging, clinical measures, business intelligence services, and process automation. In close collaboration with the IT and technology teams, the post holder contributes to the design and maintenance of a software infrastructure to enable seamless setup and testing of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) concepts on IXICO’s growing database of clinical data. The Research Engineer is responsible for designing, setting up and validating algorithms for data analysis solutions to address identified problems through ML and AI concepts as well as more traditional data analysis concepts. This includes taking a lead role in organising and ‘contextualising’ large and noisy sets of data from different sources.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Design, set up and maintain an infrastructure for efficient application of ML / AI concepts on IXICO data
  • Design and support development and maintenance of an appropriate interface to data lake or alternative data storage concept
  • Maintain set of standard ML / AI libraries and API’s, specifically for data preparation, augmentation, and standard architectures of neural networks to support analysis of 3D images and clinical data
  • Maintain documentation of ML / AI infrastructure and provide relevant training to other Research Engineers and Imaging Scientists
  • Provide company-wide dissemination of AI capabilities in Lunch and Learn sessions and similar formats
• ‘Contextualisation’ of datasets
  • Identify suitable datasets from available sources as an input to defined analytics problem
  • Based on data storage mechanism, make relevant datasets available for pre-processing, cleaning, labelling and algorithm development / validation
  • Perform data-cleaning and labelling where necessary
  • Apply required pre-processing steps and link data to ML / AI infrastructure
• Development of novel data analysis solutions in stage-gate process from idea generation through PoC scoping and development to MVP completion. In each development stage
  • Define technical requirements and validation needs
  • Identify and aggregate suitable data sources
  • Design and set up required pre-processing pipelines
  • Design and iteratively optimize analysis algorithm and associated data models
  • Undertake algorithm evaluation and validation
  • Provide required project documentation
• Engage in planning of innovation roadmap
  • Propose technical solutions to identified clinical and workflow problems
  • Critically assess technical feasibility of proposed innovation concepts
• Engagement in external dissemination activities, specifically around IXICO AI capabilities
  • Conference submissions and attendance.
  • Preparation of relevant material for marketing brochures, website and similar.

Qualifications and skills required for the role:

Essential

• University qualification in a scientific or analytical discipline.
• Doctorate in a relevant subject or comparable research experience and a track record of relevant publications.
• Strong analytical thinking and an understanding of state-of-the-art machine learning and artificial intelligence concepts.
• Strong knowledge of algorithm design.
• Strong computer skills and good programming experience in a Linux environment.
• Strong knowledge and experience of Python.
• Good oral and written skills to enable effective communication at all levels within the company.
• Ability to prioritise requests from multi-functional stakeholders through pro-active relationship management.

Desirable

• Experience in the analysis of neuroimaging data, specifically Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET).
• Knowledge of TensorFlow, PyTorch or similar frameworks.
• Experience with object-oriented programming.
• Good knowledge of statistics.
• Experience working with large and noisy datasets.

Benefits

• Competitive remuneration package including benchmarked salaries.
• Staff Annual Bonus Plans and Annual Salary Review.
• Generous employer pension contribution of 6%.
• 25 days annual leave, increasing up to 28 days with every year at IXICO.
• Life Assurance of 4x annual salary.
• Employee Benefits Portal, Perkbox offering various discounts in retail, food & drink, and entertainment.
• Engaging and social environment, with fundraising and sporting activities and seasonal events such as Summer and Christmas parties.
• Wellbeing initiatives such as eye tests, flu jabs, and Mental Health Awareness Training.
• Employee Assistance Programme offering advice and support on a wide range of topics.
• Hybrid working model pattern split between working at our vibrant head office in the City of London and remotely.
• Reimbursement allowance to purchase equipment to support working from home.  
• Generous employee referral scheme offering £2,000 for referring a successful candidate to the company.
• Financial assistance for professional qualifications.
• A company in an industry where your work has an impact every single day.

How to Apply

IXICO is working hard to create a representative, inclusive and empowered team, because we believe different experiences, perspectives and backgrounds make a better workplace, and ultimately better services.

IXICO doesn’t discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion or belief, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital status, disability or any other protected class.

This is a great opportunity for a strong and experienced Research Engineer to thrive in an engaging and fast-paced environment, to make a difference on an every day basis.

If you think IXICO should meet you, please send us your CV and covering letter by email to careers@ixico.com or apply directly via LinkedIn. We are looking forward to your application.

Please note that our entire business is operating under a Hybrid-Working model, where employees are required to attend our London office 2 days a week. If you have got any questions about this please reach out to our careers team.

Please note that IXICO will process the data provided by you only in order to perform the outlined recruitment exercise. For more details on what data we process and on what legal basis this happens please view our Recruitment Privacy Policy or contact careers@ixico.com.