Software Engineer, Developer & Research Platform
Chai Discovery is hiring a Software Engineer, Developer & Research Platform in San Francisco, United States. Level rates it ; you can apply on Level.
AI in this role
About Chai Discovery
Chai Discovery builds the computer-aided design suite for molecules. Eli Lilly, GSK, Pfizer, Bristol Meyers, 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
Build the platform that shortens the time it takes researchers and engineers to test ideas, ship software, and learn from experiments. We believe the software factory is just as important as the software itself, and you will build that factory for people and agents, including:
Shipping the research platform where people and agents launch experiments, compare results, and decide what to try next.
Designing systems that let coding agents take on more development, testing, and code review.
Setting up better development environments, faster tests, and reliable deploys.
About you
We look for strong systems engineering, developer taste, and a record of making other technical people more effective. You understand how researchers and engineers work, can go deep into the systems they depend on, and build tools they want to use.
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, Developer & Research Platform at Chai Discovery rates 83 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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