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Phd Vision Science Jobs in Tennessee (NOW HIRING)

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Phd Vision Science information

What are some typical research collaborations for someone in a PhD Vision Science role?

PhD Vision Science professionals often work closely with interdisciplinary teams that include optometrists, ophthalmologists, neuroscientists, and engineers. Collaborations frequently involve designing and conducting experiments, sharing data, and co-authoring publications to advance understanding of visual processes and eye diseases. These partnerships can extend to industry settings—such as developing vision correction technologies or diagnostic tools—offering diverse opportunities to broaden your research impact and professional network.

What is a PhD in Vision Science?

A PhD in Vision Science is an advanced research degree focused on the study of visual systems, including how vision works and how visual disorders are diagnosed and treated. Students in these programs explore topics such as ocular anatomy, visual perception, neuroscience, and eye diseases. Graduates often pursue careers in academia, clinical research, optometry, or the development of new vision technologies. The program typically involves both coursework and original research leading to a dissertation.

What can I do with a Phd vision science degree?

A PhD in vision science prepares individuals for research, academia, and advanced roles in vision-related industries such as ophthalmology, optometry, and biomedical device development. Graduates often work as university professors, research scientists, or in industry roles involving vision technology, requiring skills in data analysis, experimental design, and scientific communication.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a PhD in Vision Science?

To thrive as a PhD in Vision Science, you need advanced knowledge of ocular anatomy, physiology, optics, research methodology, and often experience in clinical or laboratory settings. Proficiency with data analysis tools (such as MATLAB or Python), imaging systems, and scientific publishing platforms is typically required. Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication skills distinguish successful professionals in this field. These skills are essential for conducting high-quality research, driving innovation, and effectively sharing findings with both scientific and clinical communities.

What is the difference between Phd Vision Science vs Optometrist?

AspectPhd Vision ScienceOptometrist
Required CredentialsPhD in Vision Science or related fieldDoctor of Optometry (OD) license
Work EnvironmentResearch labs, academia, industryClinical settings, private practices, clinics
Industry UsageResearch, product development, academiaPatient eye care, vision testing, prescriptions

While both roles focus on vision, a Phd Vision Science primarily involves research and development in vision-related fields, whereas an Optometrist provides clinical eye care and prescriptions. The PhD is research-oriented, often in labs or academia, while optometrists work directly with patients in clinical settings.

What cities in Tennessee are hiring for Phd Vision Science jobs? Cities in Tennessee with the most Phd Vision Science job openings:
Infographic showing various Phd Vision Science job openings in Tennessee as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 89% Full Time, 7% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 95% In-person, 3% Hybrid, and 2% Remote job distribution.

Agentic AI Scientist - Office of Data Science

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Memphis, TN • On-site

Full-time

Posted 27 days ago


St. Jude Children's Research Hospital rating

8.6

Company rating: 8.6 out of 10

Based on 12 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

40th of 1,055 rated hospitals


Job description

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is where those with a passion for making a difference come to break new ground. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, St. Jude leads the way the world understands, treats, and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases through groundbreaking research and compassionate care.
The Office of Data Science (ODS; www.stjude.org/ods) at St. Jude institutionalizes and expands data science capabilities to unlock the vast potential of St. Jude's biological data repositories. With a vision for St. Jude to become a global leader in applying data science to biological discovery, the ODS is creating a seamless ecosystem where experimental, clinical, and data scientists collaborate to accelerate discoveries, support scientific initiatives, and advance the understanding and treatment of pediatric catastrophic diseases.
The ODS is seeking a skilled and collaborative Agentic AI Scientist to lead the design, development, and evaluation of agentic AI systems that support research and operational workflows across the Office of Data Science. This role will focus on building and orchestrating advanced LLM-based agents, developing secure and interoperable infrastructure, and translating emerging AI capabilities into practical, high-impact solutions. The successful candidate will also contribute to technical reporting, results evaluation, and staff guidance to promote responsible and effective adoption of agentic AI. The position reports to the Chief of Artificial Intelligence.
Responsibilities
  • Lead computationally focused agentic-AI research and engineering projects with moderate supervision from the manager; provide inputs on analytical approaches, set up experiments, and develop new agentic methods with manager input.
  • Design and orchestrate agent systems (agent hierarchies, tool use, handoffs, checkpointing, and human-in-the-loop control) over ODS data and tools.
  • Stand up and maintain MCP servers/clients and A2A-interoperable agents that connect ODS assets (e.g., St. Jude Cloud, internal warehouses, planning systems) under secure, auditable, HIPAA-aligned patterns.
  • Identify, process, organize, summarize, review, and report results; instrument every agent with tracing, evaluations, and cost/latency budgets.
  • Draft manuscripts and technical reports and work through submission and internal review with manager input; instruct and guide other staff in agentic-AI techniques.
  • Mentor others in agentic AI best practices and standards

Qualifications
  • Minimum: Bachelor's in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Biomedical Engineering, or a related field with 6+ years of relevant experience (OR) Master's with 4+ years (OR) entry-level PhD with no work experience. (PhD requirement waived, given an extraordinarily unusual level of scientific contribution.)
  • Publication benchmark: 1 to 2 first-author papers with a journal impact factor > 5 (or equivalent contribution to other research / open-source outputs).
  • Preferred: prior applied-ML or agentic-AI research; demonstrated shipping of LLM-integrated systems; healthcare, biomedical, or other research-intensive domain experience.
  • Experience in project coordination, maintenance, and other research support activities preferred.

Preferred Technical / Functional Requirements (Agentic AI specialization):
Depth in at least one item per row; working awareness across the row. (Named technologies are illustrative examples, not a required stack.)
  • Agent frameworks. Production depth in at least one framework (e.g., LangGraph, OpenAI Agents SDK, Google ADK, CrewAI, Microsoft Agent Framework, Pydantic AI, LlamaIndex, Strands, Haystack, DSPy, Agno).
  • Interoperability protocols. Author and operate MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers, clients, and tools, including its core primitives (prompts, tools, resources) over JSON-RPC with OAuth 2.1 authorization; build A2A (Agent2Agent) interoperable agents; awareness of emerging agent standards (e.g., AG-UI, AGNTCY/OASF, MIT NANDA registry/discovery).
  • Orchestration & control loop. The agent harness: model-output parsing, tool dispatch, context-window management, and enforcement of stop conditions, budgets, and safety boundaries; multi-agent topologies (e.g., hierarchy, swarm, graph); checkpointing and human-in-the-loop; composable, loadable agent capabilities (e.g., Agent Skills).
  • Evaluation & observability. Tracing (e.g., OpenTelemetry), offline and online evaluation (e.g., LLM-as-judge), guardrails, and red-teaming, with observability tooling (e.g., LangSmith, Langfuse, Arize Phoenix, Microsoft Foundry Observability).
  • Identity, security & deployment. Agent identity and authorization (e.g., Microsoft Entra Agent ID, Okta / Auth0 for AI Agents, On-Behalf-Of token exchange), RBAC/SSO, sandboxed execution (e.g., E2B, Modal, Firecracker microVM), and private/secure LLM deployment patterns (HIPAA-aligned, auditable, on-prem/VPC; cf. the GPT4DFCI pattern).
  • Engineering hygiene. Strong Python; version control, tests, CI, reproducible eval harnesses; retrieval and context engineering (e.g., embeddings and vector search with pgvector or Pinecone, RAG, GraphRAG, cache-augmented generation / CAG, agentic RAG, recursive language models / RLM).

Compensation
In recognition of certain U.S. state and municipal pay transparency laws, St. Jude is including a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role. This is an estimate offered in good faith and a specific salary offer takes into account factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the salary range and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current salary range is $86,320 - $154,960 per year for the role of Agentic AI Scientist - Office of Data Science.
Explore our exceptional benefits!
St. Jude is an Equal Opportunity Employer
No Search Firms
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. Please do not call or email. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee or other representative at St. Jude via email, the internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place and approved by HR will result in no fee being paid in the event the candidate is hired by St. Jude.

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