Lead Clinical Scientist

About Faro Faro aims to improve lives by helping life sciences companies design optimal clinical trials. Our AI-powered software platform optimizes and orchestrates complex clinical development by providing powerful insights into trial design and outcomes. Faro empowers researchers to design more intelligent trials, reduce development costs, and accelerate milestones with better patient experiences. Faro is a mission-driven company seeking world-class people who share our passion for improving drug availability and patient outcomes through better clinical trial design. We pride ourselves on a vibrant, inclusive, and growth mindset-oriented culture. Faro offers competitive compensation, equity, and benefits, including flexible working hours and generous time off. Remote employees work from home and visit the main office in San Diego for team events and in-person collaboration.

Position Summary We are hiring a Lead Clinical Scientist to serve as the senior scientific voice within Faro’s product, data science, and AI organization. This role will drive the clinical strategy behind our most critical product features and platform capabilities, ensuring they reflect scientific rigor, regulatory awareness, and user-centric design. You will collaborate closely with data scientists, product managers, engineers, and other cross-functional stakeholders to define and deliver solutions that clinical scientists and professionals can trust and adopt. This role is ideal for a seasoned clinical research leader who combines deep domain expertise with a strategic mindset and thrives in highly collaborative, cross-functional environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide senior-level clinical and scientific leadership across product development initiatives.
• Define the clinical frameworks, standards, and evidence models that underpin Faro’s tools and platform.
• Collaborate with product and data science teams to design and refine algorithms, decision-support features, and structured content informed by best practices in clinical research.
• Ensure the clinical accuracy, methodological soundness, and usability of features intended for clinical scientists and other healthcare professionals.
• Lead the interpretation and integration of clinical literature, trial data, and real-world evidence into product strategy and development.
• Anticipate regulatory, methodological, and operational challenges, and guide the development of compliant and scientifically credible solutions.
• Serve as the internal and external thought leader on clinical science—representing Faro in discussions with customers, advisors, and partners.
• Collaborate with customer-facing and commercial team members to ensure alignment between market needs, product features, and external communication.

Requirements

Qualifications Required:

• Advanced degree (PhD, PharmD, MD, or equivalent) in a life sciences, clinical, or healthcare-related discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in clinical research, with a proven track record of scientific leadership in biopharma, medtech, or digital health.
• Deep knowledge of clinical trial design, clinical evidence generation, and regulatory-scientific standards.
• Experience working in or closely with cross-functional product, data science, or engineering teams.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to translate complex clinical problems into scalable product solutions.
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to influence technical and executive stakeholders alike.

Preferred:

• Experience in digital health product development or clinical decision-support platforms.
• Familiarity with real-world data, medical ontologies, or clinical informatics systems (e.g., MedDRA, SNOMED, ICD).
• History of authoring protocols, regulatory submissions, publications, or scientific communications.
• Experience representing clinical function in customer, partner, or regulatory-facing engagements

Benefits

Benefits Salary

• Salary range for this position is $170,000 - $200,000 per year.
• Individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training

Equity In addition to this position’s salary (listed above), equity will be a major component of the total compensation for this position. We aim to offer higher-than-average equity compensation for a company of our size, and communicate equity amounts at the time of offer issuance.

Benefits

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401k)
• Life Insurance (Basic)
• Short Term and Long Term Disability
• Paid Time Off (Flexible Vacation Policy; Paid Sick & Public Holidays Observed)
• Training & Development Reimbursement
• Hybrid Work Environment
• Peer-to-peer bonus program
• Company/department outings and events
• Stock Option Plan
• San Diego HQ On-Premises Amenities; gym, restaurant tenant discount, Padel Nine