Principal Biostatistics Data Scientist

About Character Biosciences

Character Biosciences is a precision medicine company pioneering targeted therapies for polygenic diseases, with an initial focus on ophthalmology. Our patient data platform integrates genomics with deep, longitudinal clinical and imaging data, enabling us to uncover genetic drivers of disease progression, advance novel therapeutics, and define patient stratification strategies that improve clinical success.

Our interdisciplinary team, comprising experts in clinical science, data science, statistical genetics, computer vision, and drug discovery, utilizes this platform to determine genetic drivers of disease progression, advance novel therapeutics and define genetics-based patient stratification. Powered by our data platform, Character Bio is currently advancing two programs in Dry Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) with additional programs for other disease areas (e.g. Glaucoma) in earlier stages of discovery research.

Founded in 2018, Character has raised capital from leading investors at the intersection of healthcare and technology, including an oversubscribed $110+ million Series B in 2025 co-led by aMoon and Luma Group, with participation from Bausch + Lomb, Sanofi Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Catalio Capital Management, S32, KdT Ventures, and Jefferson Life Sciences. We also maintain a multi-target drug discovery collaboration with Bausch + Lomb to develop innovative precision medicines for AMD.

The Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced data scientist (immediately available for work) with strong biostatistics expertise to join us as a contractor, with potential to convert to full time.

You will support high-priority projects where Character’s data is used to inform drug discovery and early-stage clinical research. You’ll apply your biostatistics and data science expertise to design and execute analyses, guide methodology, and help interpret findings. You will collaborate closely with the internal team, providing subject matter expertise and mentoring as needed, while contributing to data strategy and sharing results with key stakeholders. This role is ideal for an experienced scientist who can quickly step into a lean, fast-moving environment and deliver immediate impact and who enjoys tackling scientifically interesting problems using unique multimodality data.

This role may be fully remote or hybrid, based at our Jersey City, NJ or Brisbane, CA office.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and implementation of models and analyses to support Character Bio’s drug discovery and development activities, which include quantitative biomarker and phenotype development, disease progression predictive modeling, and analyses related to clinical trial design.
• Collaborative cross-functional analyses with members of the genomics, clinical research, and biology teams.
• Providing guidance and leadership to members of the Data Science team with respect to statistical and analytics methods and best practices.
• Contribute to Character’s data and analytics strategic planning and roadmap.
• Contribute to scientific publications and the communication of Character’s data science work to internal and external stakeholders.

Skills and Qualifications:

• PhD in Biostatistics, Data Science, Computer Science, or related technical field
• 7+ years professional experience focused on applying statistical analyses to life science or healthcare data.
• Proven track record of owning and leading projects through the data science life cycle from initial problem through data processing to analysis and modeling and finally operationalizing your solution
• Deep knowledge of statistical methods (survival analysis, mixed-effects modeling, and Bayesian methods) as well as machine learning models
• Strong proficiency in python/R and modern data science frameworks
• Experience developing longitudinal models on biomedical data, particularly real world data including electronic medical records (EMRs)
• Strong problem-solving skills, with a focus on using data to drive action and decision making
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to work cross-functionally in a team-oriented environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with clinical trial design and biomarker development
• Experience with ophthalmology data, particularly clinical data related to AMD or Glaucoma
• Experience with genetics data and analyses (association testing, functional genomics, etc.)
• Experience leveraging medical image data for analysis or biomarker quantification (e.g. retinal fundus images or OCT)