Job Description

Are you passionate about applying machine learning and software development to advance enzyme research and protein engineering?

IFF is a global leader in flavors, fragrances, food ingredients and health & biosciences, delivering sustainable innovations that elevate everyday products.

Health & Biosciences: Channeling our passion for nature and bioscience into sustainable, life-enhancing technologies that power innovative solutions across healthcare, food, consumer and industrial markets.

The role is based in Leiden, onsite. Be part of a collaborative, innovative, and growth-oriented team where together we can achieve greatness and make a real impact. Your potential is our inspiration.

Where You’ll Make a Difference

• Contribute to the development and enhancement of the ProteinGym benchmarking initiative for protein and enzyme engineering.
• Develop and maintain software components within the ProteinGym codebase, following collaborative open-source development practices.
• Learn and apply software engineering principles, including version control, testing, documentation, and code reviews.
• Design, develop, and evaluate machine learning models for enzyme variant effect prediction.
• Support the creation of a multi-objective machine learning algorithm to address complex protein engineering challenges.
• Benchmark model performance using internal datasets and standardized evaluation frameworks.
• Collaborate with scientists, data scientists, and software developers to translate research goals into scalable solutions.
• Document methodologies, model results, and software contributions to ensure reproducibility and knowledge sharing.

What Makes You the Right Fit

• Currently pursuing a Master's degree in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Data Science, Computer Science, Biotechnology, or a related field.
• Strong programming skills in Python and familiarity with scientific computing libraries.
• Basic understanding of machine learning concepts and model development workflows.
• Interest in protein engineering, enzyme design, or computational biology.
• Experience working with data analysis, data processing, or predictive modeling projects.
• Familiarity with version control systems such as Git.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary team.

How Would You Stand Out?

• Experience contributing to open-source software projects.
• Knowledge of deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Familiarity with protein language models, biological sequence analysis, or enzyme engineering applications.

Why Choose Us?

• Opportunity to work on cutting-edge research at the intersection of machine learning and biosciences.
• Hands-on experience contributing to impactful real-world scientific projects.
• Mentorship from experienced scientists, software engineers, and data scientists.
• Exposure to collaborative open-source software development practices.
• Inclusive and supportive international working environment.
• Professional growth and learning opportunities throughout your internship.

We are a global leader in taste, scent, and nutrition, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy. At IFF, we believe that your uniqueness unleashes our potential. We value the diverse mosaic of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, or veteran status. We strive for an inclusive workplace that allows each of our colleagues to bring their authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.

Visit IFF.com/careers/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion to learn more