Research Scientist, Pre-training Research
Join Chai Discovery as a Research Scientist to advance AI in drug discovery through foundation model pre-training.
Posted by employer 4 days ago
First seen on Joblaze 4 days ago
Last verified on the company career page 1 hour ago
Skills & Technologies
Must have
- 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.
AI in the day-to-day
We train frontier models that learn the underlying foundations of biochemical structure and interaction.
Requirements
- Education
- PhD
Not disclosed in this posting: compensation, years of experience, visa sponsorship.
Joblaze summary
In this role, the research scientist focuses on pre-training foundational models that analyze molecular structures and interactions, contributing to advancements in therapeutic engineering. Key skills include expertise in generative modeling, model architecture, and hands-on experience with large-scale model training, supported by a strong theoretical background in computer science, machine learning, mathematics, or physics. This position is ideal for experienced researchers or rising talents eager to make significant contributions in a fast-paced, innovative environment.
Joblaze insights
- Listed 4 days ago — first seen on Joblaze November 4, 2026. Last confirmed on Chai Discovery's careers page November 8, 2026.
- AI/ML appears in 53.2% of 470 comparable mid ai/ml roles in United States.
Quick facts
- Is the Research Scientist, Pre-training 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: AI/ML, generative modelling, model architecture, scaling laws.
- 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, Pre-training Research role at Chai Discovery.
From the original posting
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.
Standard company text repeated across Chai Discovery's postings is omitted here.