Senior Staff Scientist (AI for Chemistry)

InsideHigherEd; London; On-site; CAD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Toronto is seeking a Senior Staff Scientist to join the Acceleration Consortium focused on AI for Chemistry. This role requires expertise in cheminformatics and machine learning to develop self-driving laboratories for sustainable materials discovery, impacting critical global challenges. Candidates must have a Ph.D. and over 10 years of experience in related fields. You'll work with leading experts to advance research in a collaborative environment, driving innovative solutions in sustainability and healthcare.

Qualifications

• Expertise in cheminformatics and machine learning required.
• Proven experience with cheminformatics pipelines is essential.
• Strong publication record and communication skills preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop ML-driven tools for organic synthesis and material discovery.
• Manage laboratory budgets and oversee research projects.
• Collaborate with faculty and industry partners on SDL-related research.

Skills

Machine Learning

Cheminformatics

Data Mining

Education

Ph.D. in chemistry, materials science, life sciences or related discipline

Tools

RDKit

Job description

Senior Staff Scientist (AI for Chemistry)

Date Posted : 04 / 25 / 2025

Faculty / Division : Faculty of Arts & Science

Department : Acceleration Consortium

Campus : St. George (Downtown Toronto)

Description :

The Acceleration Consortium (AC) at the University of Toronto (U of T) is leading a transformative shift in scientific discovery that will accelerate technology development and commercialization. The AC is a global community of academia, industry, and government that leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, materials sciences, and high-throughput chemistry to create self-driving laboratories (SDLs), also called materials acceleration platforms (MAPs). These autonomous labs rapidly design materials and molecules needed for a sustainable, healthy, and resilient future, with applications ranging from renewable energy and consumer electronics to drugs. AC Senior Staff Scientists will advance the field of AI-driven autonomous discovery and develop the materials and molecules required to address society's largest challenges, such as climate change, water pollution, and future pandemics.

The Acceleration Consortium (AC) promotes inclusive research environment and supports the EDI priorities of the unit.

Hiring is occurring on a rolling intake. Please apply ASAP and do not wait for the listed job closing date.

The Acceleration Consortium received a $200M Canadian First Research Excellence Grant for seven years to develop self-driving labs for chemistry and materials, the largest ever grant to a Canadian University. This grant will provide the Acceleration Consortium with seven years of funding to execute its vision.

The AC is developing seven advanced SDLs. These include :

SDL1 - Inorganic solid-state compounds for advanced materials and energy

SDL2 - Organic small molecules for sustainability and health

SDL3 - Medicinal chemistry for improving small molecule drug candidates

SDL4 - Polymers for materials science and biological applications

SDL5 - Formulations for pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and coatings

SDL6 - Biocompatibility with organoids / organ-on-a-chip

SDL7 - Synthetic scale-up of materials and molecules (University of British Colombia partner lab)

A central AI and Automation lab to support all the SDLs

This posted position is for a role with SDL2 (Organic Small Molecules)

We seek a scientist to develop ML-driven tools for accelerating organic synthesis and novel material discovery. The role involves leveraging cheminformatics and generative models to design molecules, predict reaction pathways, and optimize materials for applications in sustainability, healthcare, or energy.

Expertise that is desired : Cheminformatics and Machine Learning

• Demonstrated development or application of machine learning tools to address chemical problems, including but not limited to : property prediction, reaction prediction, condition optimization, retrosynthesis, interpretable machine learning, nature language processing for data-mining and human-robot interfacing, and generative models (e.g. GANs, VAE, and diffusion models) for de novo molecular design.
• Proven experience in cheminformatics pipelines using tools such as RDKit, various molecular representation and encoding methods (SMILES, SELFIES, graph-based models), QSAR, virtual screening, or molecular docking / simulations. Knowledge in quantum chemistry calculations and molecule dynamics.

Additional expertise that is desired (but not required) : General Programming

Dataset curation, database management, and data-mining skills

Computational chemistry pipelines, and physics-informed material discovery

Additional expertise that is desired (but not required) : Organic Chemistry

Basic understanding of organic chemistry

Collaborative experience with experimental chemists on synthetic organic chemistry or catalyst development projects.

Staff Scientists will work with a diverse team of leading experts at U of T, including Faculty Prof. Alan Aspuru-Guzik, Prof. Sophie Rousseaux, and Acceleration Consortium Staff Scientists Dr. Han Hao, Dr. Xiaoman Guo, Dr. Yang Cao, and Dr. Eric Isbrandt; as well as the broader Acceleration Consortium team.

The Staff Scientists involved in the AC are highly skilled and experienced researchers who will work independently to develop the AI and automation technologies required to build robust and scalable self-driving labs, manage these SDLs, and design and implement research programs (based on the direction of the AC’s scientific leadership team) that leverage the SDL platforms to discover materials and molecules. Moreover, the Staff Scientists will work collectively, sharing knowledge among each other, and with faculty, and trainees. This role will report to the Academic Director and Executive Director of the Acceleration Consortium.

The components and duties of the work include :

SDL and Automation Development

Working with the AC community, including faculty and partners to determine the required capabilities of the SDLs to be built. Developing the plans for SDLs that will meet user requirements and designing novel instruments for automated material synthesis and characterization. Developing customized hardware and Python software packages to build SDLs. Selection, procurement, and installation of the equipment required for SDLs.

Facility Management and Operations

Working with the department of Chemistry, Facilities and Operations, and AC research staff to ensure that the AC labs are fully operational.

Overseeing the activity of the laboratory technicians servicing the labs

Supporting the selection, procurement, and installation of equipment

Managing laboratory budgets

Scheduling and coordinating lab access

Research Direction

Working as a co-investigator, in partnership with the Principal Investigator, independent management, development, and execution of research programs that leverage the AC’s SDLs and supports the research objectives of AC faculty and industry partners. Using SDLs to synthesize and characterize large quantities of candidate molecules, calibrating theoretical models with experimental data, predicting promising candidates with computational tools and machine learning algorithms, and elucidating structure-property relationships of emerging molecules, polymers, solid-state materials, formulations, etc.

Tasks include :

Managing the research and development projects of AC’s industry partners when implemented in AC labs.

Developing plans that support research collaborations and planning and estimating financial resources required for programs and / or projects.

Supervising the work of Staff Scientists, Software Engineers, Research Associates, and Post-doctoral Fellows.

Working with Product Managers to ensure research outcomes meet partner requirements.

Monitoring and reporting on relevant research activity to the Academic Director and Executive Director.

Promoting AC’s research capacity, including delivering presentations at conferences.

Collaboration in the preparation and submission of research proposals to granting agencies and progress reporting.

Preparing manuscripts for submission to peer review publications / journals and stewarding them through the process.

Other

Supporting consulting services related to the application of SDLs for materials discovery for the AC’s partners.

Support research-focused events such as the Annual Symposium.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS :

Education – Ph.D. in chemistry, materials science, life sciences, physics, engineering, robotics, computer science, or related discipline

Experience

Over 10 years of experience (inclusive of PhD and / or post-graduate work)in accelerated R&D in the area of cheminformatics and molecule design.

Experience working closely with a Principal Investigator or as a Principal Investigator, or as a Project Director with responsibilities of managing, developing and executing a major research project

Strong experience and expert knowledge of AI and automation.

Experience with the development of self-driving laboratories and overseeing the activities of a lab

Experience working with industry partners and on industry led research and development projects

Strong experience presenting research at academic conferences

Experience managing research staff

Experience managing a laboratory budget and procuring equipment

Must have a strong scholarly publication record

Skills

Strong and effective communicator in oral and written English

Collegial in working with team members and collaborators

Ability to work independently

Other

Demonstrated success in the writing and preparation of manuscripts, presentations, reports, briefs, and scientific abstracts and manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority

Closing Date : 08 / 31 / 2024, 11 : 59PM ET

Employee Group : Research Associate

Appointment Type : Grant - Continuing

Schedule : Full-Time

Pay Scale Group & Hiring Zone : 150K - 180K (salary will be assessed based on skills and experince)

Job Category : Administrative / Managerial

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All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Diversity Statement

The University of Toronto embraces Diversity and is building a culture of belonging that increases our capacity to effectively address and serve the interests of our global community. We strongly encourage applications from Indigenous Peoples, Black and racialized persons, women, persons with disabilities, and people of diverse sexual and gender identities. We value applicants who have demonstrated a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and recognize that diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise are essential to strengthening our academic mission.

As part of your application, you will be asked to complete a brief Diversity Survey. This survey is voluntary. Any information directly related to you is confidential and cannot be accessed by search committees or human resources staff. Results will be aggregated for institutional planning purposes. For more information, please see http : / / uoft.me / UP .

Accessibility Statement

The University strives to be an equitable and inclusive community, and proactively seeks to increase diversity among its community members. Our values regarding equity and diversity are linked with our unwavering commitment to excellence in the pursuit of our academic mission.

The University is committed to the principles of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). As such, we strive to make our recruitment, assessment and selection processes as accessible as possible and provide accommodations as required for applicants with disabilities.

If you require any accommodations at any point during the application and hiring process, please contact [emailprotected] .

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