Associate Professor (AI/ML for Biology and Biotechnology)

About Us

Atria University desires and enables research impact beyond publications. We operate without traditional departments (HoDs). Faculty are housed within Centers of Excellence (CoE), fostering deep, cross-disciplinary collaboration. This role will primarily be affiliated with the Bio-AI Hub/CoE.

Why this role

Drive establishing the University's Bio-AI Hub as a national nexus for innovation, directly integrating research grants into our project-based student learning environment. Extend your proven, verifiable track record of securing competitive research and translational grants from leading Indian funding agencies (e.g., DBT, BIRAC, SERB, ICMR, ANRF) and managing multi-institutional consortia.

What you'll do

• Actively pursue and secure large, multi-year, complex research and translational grants from Indian government agencies (DBT, BIRAC, etc.) and international funding bodies.
• Provide intellectual and operational leadership to the Bio-AI Hub, setting the research direction in areas such as genomic foundation models, multi-omics integration, generative design for enzymes/pathways, and AI-assisted DBTL loops.
• Drive the commercial translation of research outputs, including filing patents/IP, initiating university spinouts, and establishing robust commercialization pathways supported by grants like BIRAC's programs.
• Mentor junior faculty members and research scientists within the Centers of Excellence (CoEs) on grant writing, project management, and establishing effective industry-academic partnerships.
• Teach light, high-impact: 23 project-based, 4-credit sprints/year; mentor student teams on real problems.
• Establish high-level, long-term research partnerships with leading Indian and global biotech and pharmaceutical industries, converting these relationships into sponsored research and student placement pipelines.
• Represent the University and the Bio-AI Hub on national policy bodies, advisory boards, and at major scientific conferences, enhancing the institution's visibility and reputation in the domain.

What will set you up for success (must-have)

• Ph.D. in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, or a closely related quantitative field.
• Minimum of 8 years of post-Ph.D. experience in research and/or academic roles, demonstrating a trajectory toward senior leadership.
• Grant Success (Mandatory): Demonstrated, quantifiable success as a Principal Investigator (PI) in securing and managing competitive, peer-reviewed grants from major Indian agencies (e.g., DBT, BIRAC, SERB) or equivalent international/industry sources.
• A strong and sustained record of high-impact publications (first/senior author) in top-tier journals/conferences relevant to Bio-AI.
• Deep expertise in developing and applying sequence/structure models (e.g., Protein LMs, Transformers, Graph Neural Networks, Diffusion Models) for biological applications (genomics, proteomics, drug/enzyme design).

Nice to have

• Experience leading and managing complex, multi-site consortia and large project teams.
• Established clinical or wet-lab collaborations in India.
• Experience in translating research outcomes into viable commercial products or spinouts.

What We Offer

• A highly concentrated teaching model that prioritizes research and grant execution.
• A foundational role in shaping a major institutional research thrust (Bio-AI Hub) within a flat, dynamic organizational structure (CoEs).
• The opportunity to build a research program with direct, national-level impact on biotechnology and sustainability in India.