Research Scientist, Applied Research
Join Chai Discovery as a Research Scientist to enhance AI models for real drug discovery challenges.
Posted by employer 5 days ago
First seen on Joblaze 5 days ago
Last verified on the company career page 1 day ago
Skills & Technologies
What you'll build
- Improve real-world performance of foundation models
- Plan targeted data generation campaigns
- Design evaluations to measure model performance
- Formulate post-training recipes for drug discovery
- Collaborate with pre-training researchers and science team
Must have
- Published research in machine learning for protein, antibody, or small-molecule modelling
- Fluency in protein language, structure prediction, and design models
- Strong quantitative background in probability, statistics, and machine learning
- Deep software engineering expertise
AI in the day-to-day
We train frontier models that learn the underlying foundations of biochemical structure and interaction.
Not disclosed in this posting: compensation, years of experience, visa sponsorship.
Joblaze summary
In this role, the research scientist focuses on enhancing the performance of foundational models for drug discovery by planning data generation campaigns and designing evaluations to measure model efficacy. Key skills include a strong background in machine learning, particularly in protein and small-molecule modeling, along with deep software engineering expertise. This position is well-suited for individuals with a quantitative background in fields like computer science or physics, and a keen interest in applying their skills to biological challenges. The team emphasizes rapid iteration and collaboration, ensuring that research translates into real-world therapeutic applications.
Joblaze insights
- Listed 5 days ago — first seen on Joblaze November 4, 2026. Last confirmed on Chai Discovery's careers page November 8, 2026.
- Machine Learning appears in 10.4% of 472 comparable mid ai/ml roles in United States.
Quick facts
- Is the Research Scientist, Applied Research role remote?
- No — this is an on-site role in San Francisco office.
- Where is the role based?
- Chai Discovery is hiring for this position in San Francisco office.
- What's the tech stack?
- Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: AlphaFold, ESM, Machine Learning, ProteinMPNN, RFDiffusion, antibody modelling.
- What seniority level is this role?
- Chai Discovery targets mid-level candidates for this position.
- Is this full-time or contract?
- Full-time for this Research Scientist, Applied Research role at Chai Discovery.
From the original posting
About the role
We are hiring research scientists to improve the real-world performance of our foundation models. The work involves planning targeted data generation campaigns, designing evals that accurately measure model performance, and formulating post-training recipes aimed at making models useful for real drug discovery problems.
We prioritize simple, robust methods over intricate solutions built for narrow problems. We particularly value researchers who can formalize messy biological problems using methods from other fields.
You will work in tight loops with our pre-training researchers, research engineers and science team. Your work will ship fast and you'll see your results reach real therapeutic programs across industry.
About you
We look for technical depth paired with interest in the underlying biology. Biological background is not required. All of the following are positive signals:
Published research in machine learning for protein, antibody, or small-molecule modelling.
Fluency in the technical details of protein language, structure prediction, and design models (AlphaFold, RFDiffusion, ProteinMPNN, ESM, etc).
Strong quantitative background (CS, math, or physics), particularly in probability, statistics, and machine learning.
Deep software engineering expertise, with experience working in large codebases.
We are happy to bet on rising talent.
Standard company text repeated across Chai Discovery's postings is omitted here.