Drug Discovery Scientist - PhD

mercor; Deutschland; Remote; EUR 74,000 - 111,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a Drug Discovery Scientist for a contract, remote role. The position targets experts capable of designing AI-driven research problems in drug discovery and delivering well-documented, source-grounded analyses.

The successful candidate will work independently, manage data rooms with traceability, and produce rigorous verifications and calibrations for submissions. Commitment ranges 20–40 hours per week.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent industry track record.
• Ability to pose a defensible problem with rigorous reasoning.
• Comfortable judging reasoning quality, not just final answers.
• Experience in mechanistic enzymology or related design disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Design realistic research problems for AI models in drug discovery.
• Build a data room from real, source-grounded data with traceability.
• Write a grading document that scores a memo on substance.
• Validate and run verification and calibration before submission.
• Revise and own rework if a reviewer requests changes.
• Work independently and asynchronously to ensure high-quality deliverables.

Skills

Enzymology

Peptide Design

Antibody Design

Fragment-based Discovery

Medicinal Chemistry

Education

PhD or equivalent

Job description

About the job

Mercor connects elite creative and technical talent with leading AI research labs. Headquartered in San Francisco, our investors include Benchmark, General Catalyst, Peter Thiel, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, and Jack Dorsey.

Position Details

Position: Drug Discovery Scientist
Type: Contract
Compensation: $60–$90/hour
Location: Remote
Commitment: 20–40 hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Design realistic research problems for AI models in drug research and development.
• Build a data room from real, source-grounded data with every decisive value tracing to a real source.
• Write a grading document that scores a submitted memo on substance, not style or method.
• Validate and run verification and calibration before submission.
• Revise and own the rework if a reviewer requests changes.
• Work independently and asynchronously to ensure high-quality deliverables.

Qualifications

• Working expertise in mechanistic enzymology, structure-guided peptide or antibody design, fragment-based discovery, or structure-based medicinal chemistry.
• PhD or equivalent industry track record.
• Ability to pose a problem whose answer can be defended rigorously.
• Comfortable judging reasoning quality, not just final answers.

Compensation & Legal

• Hourly contractor