Chai DiscoveryResearch Scientist
Chai Discovery is hiring a Research Scientist in San Francisco, United States. Level rates it ; you can apply on Chai Discovery.
Level's read on this job
- On Level's scale, this research scientist role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include AI research.
- Level lists 19 other open roles at Chai Discovery.
AI in this role
About Chai Discovery
Chai Discovery builds the computer-aided design suite for molecules. Eli Lilly, GSK, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, argenx and Novartis all use Chai to power drug discovery programs. AI is reinventing life sciences the same way it reinvented software engineering, and our team is building that future.
We train frontier models that learn the underlying foundations of biochemical structure and interaction. We pair this with a computational workspace to iterate on molecules from idea to medicine, helping scientists move faster and develop medicines beyond the reach of existing methods.
We value diverse perspectives and are ready to find greatness in unexpected places.
About the role
We are hiring research scientists with outlier insight who can drive new avenues for the work we pursue. From pre-training large diffusion models and architecture design, to post-training and inference time scaling, we draw upon the best ideas from within our domain and across the field.
Our models have moved beyond protein structure prediction into real-world therapeutic engineering—and we have only just begun. Our team hails from physics, math, theoretical computer science, computational biology and related disciplines. Everyone is capable and self-sufficient, and everyone helps foster a highly collaborative and collegial environment.
Our view is that executing on a long-term research program requires bringing together the right people, with access to the best resources, aligned towards common objectives. And nothing is more essential to our mission and our business than the progress of our research.
About you
We are looking for researchers driven by impact and foundational progress. We index on sustained focus, rigor and results—people who get obsessed with hard problems and don't give up easily. Folks with a nose for tackling the right questions at the right time, alongside an ample dose of grit and curiosity.
We value academic training, research track record, and proven industry accomplishments; we are also more than willing to make a bet on rising talent. We look for engineering capability as well as literature fluency.
We offer
The opportunity to work at the vanguard of AI research and frontier biology, with world-class people, on a mission that matters. We protect and promote a culture of high velocity and ownership. We compensate our team accordingly.
How we rate this
Research Scientist at Chai Discovery rates 87 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in research scientist jobs at this level
Pay
- Typical research scientist job
- $191k
This posting doesn't list pay. Use the typical research scientist figure when pay comes up. See research scientist jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a research question you investigated. What did you find?
- How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?
- Tell me about a time a model underperformed in production. How did you find out, and what did you change?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: AI Research. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
- Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.
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