Software Engineer, AI Platform
Chai Discovery is hiring a Software Engineer, AI Platform in San Francisco, United States. Level rates it ; you can apply on Level.
AI in this role
About Chai Discovery
Chai builds the design suite for molecules. We train frontier models that learn the underlying foundations of biochemical structure and interaction, so scientists can move faster and pursue targets that other methods cannot reach.
AI is reinventing life sciences the same way it reinvented software engineering, and Chai is at the forefront of this shift. Leading pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Novartis are adopting our platform to power their drug discovery programs.
We value diverse perspectives and are ready to find greatness in unexpected places.
About the role
Build the AI platform that lets scientists direct research programs with agents. As agents become more capable, they will increasingly use Chai’s foundation models to design molecules and guide experiments. We believe scientists should be able to work at the level of the questions they want answered and delegate more of the work required to answer them; you will build the platform that makes this possible.
Work with scientists and researchers to define how people, agents, and models work together throughout a therapeutic research program.
Build products that shorten the cycle from an idea to an experiment to the next decision, while keeping scientists able to understand and direct the work.
Build the core abstractions for agent execution, model inference, and scientific tools so new capabilities can work together across the workspace.
About you
We look for strong software architecture and product judgment, with depth in complex applications or agent systems. You can find clear abstractions in a messy domain and build systems that hold up as their scope grows. We value a practical understanding of where agents fail and how to tell whether they’re doing useful work.
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 & promote a culture of high velocity and ownership. We compensate our team accordingly.
How we rate this
Software Engineer, AI Platform at Chai Discovery rates 88 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. Open the description and count.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Pay
- Typical software engineer job
- $168k
This posting doesn't list pay. Use the typical software engineer figure when pay comes up. See software engineer 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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