Skip to content
Level

Chai Discovery

Research Scientist, Pre-training Research

Chai Discovery is hiring a Research Scientist, Pre-training Research in San Francisco, United States. Level rates it ; you can apply on Chai Discovery.

Level's read on this job

  • Builds AI ●●●● is how Level rates this research scientist role: the job is building AI systems.
  • The posting mentions AI research among its tools and skills.
  • Chai Discovery has 20 other open roles on Level.
  • Posted in the last few days.

AI in this role

ai-research

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 to work on foundation model pre-training. Our models learn the foundations of molecular structure and interaction, and their success depends on carefully designed architectural components, training objectives, and data mixes.

At Chai, pre-training research is largely domain-agnostic: understanding model architecture, reading training curves, and knowing when to move between phases of a recipe. We are biased toward simplification, generality, and scale. We adapt the best ideas from frontier language, image, and video models into our domain.

Our models have moved beyond protein structure prediction into real-world therapeutic engineering, and you will have the compute and the team to push that further.

About you

We look for researchers with a strong track record, which can take many forms: getting a model to work, developing impactful theory, or making a substantial contribution to the field. In particular we look for:

  • Depth in generative modelling, model architecture, or scaling laws.

  • Hands-on experience designing and training large models.

  • Theoretical grounding in CS, ML, math, or physics.

We are happy to bet on rising talent.

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, Pre-training Research at Chai Discovery rates 89 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.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ 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

AI Research

Also common in research scientist jobs at this level

Pay

Typical research scientist job
$192k

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

  1. Tell me about a research question you investigated. What did you find?
  2. How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?
  3. 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.

Want an expert to read your CV for this job?

Free. Send your CV and the role you want next. You get your review by email within 24 hours.

Get new research scientist jobs (Builds AI ●●●●) by email

One email a week with the new research scientist jobs (Builds AI ●●●●), each rated for how much AI is in the work. No recruiter spam, unsubscribe in one click.

Free. One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click.

Similar roles

Research roles that build AI, at other companies.

What kind of AI work fits you?

Answer 12 practical questions in about three minutes. Get a simple profile, the work it points to, and live roles to explore next.

Find my next step

More jobs at Chai Discovery

More research scientist jobs

Related searches

Same AI level

Jobs by city