Principal Ontologist - R&D DDSAI - Preclinical Sciences & Translational Safety

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Job Function:
Data Analytics & Computational Sciences

Job Sub Function:
Data Science

Job Category:
Scientific/Technology

All Job Posting Locations:
Beerse, Antwerp, Belgium, Cornellà de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, Madrid, Spain, Spring House, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Job Description:

We are seeking a Principal Scientist/Ontologist to join our R&D DDSAI team, dedicated to developing and supporting ontologies, controlled vocabularies, and semantic data standards for PSTS.

This hands-on scientific and technical role will establish consistent terminology across PSTS projects, translate scientific knowledge into reusable semantic models, and strengthen connections between PSTS and other departments across the R&D pipeline.

Working closely with scientific subject matter experts, data scientists, data engineers, and technology partners, you will help make scientific data easier to find, understand, integrate, and reuse.

The successful candidate combines expertise in ontology engineering with an understanding of pharmaceutical research and a collaborative approach to solving complex scientific data challenges.

Key Responsibilities

Ontology Creation & Terminology Standardization


* Design, develop, test, and maintain ontology modules and controlled vocabularies supporting PSTS scientific workflows, including toxicology, safety assessment, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, and translational research.


* Partner with PSTS scientists to capture scientific concepts, definitions, relationships, and experimental context, translating these into well-structured semantic models.


* Harmonize terminology across projects, studies, assays, and data sources while preserving scientifically meaningful distinctions.


* Develop mappings between project-specific terminology, shared R&D ontologies, and relevant external standards, prioritizing reuse over unnecessary duplication.

Project Support & Adoption


* Serve as a primary ontology and terminology resource for PSTS project teams, supporting requirements gathering, semantic annotation, data mapping, and issue resolution.


* Partner with data engineers and platform t...