Preclinical R&D Scientist - Drug Development

mercor; Deutschland; Remote; EUR 74,000 - 123,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a Preclinical R&D Expert to join on a remote, contract basis, for a commitment of about 10 hours per week. You will review R&D data, annotate datasets, and provide expert input on target selection and development decisions.

The ideal candidate has hands-on preclinical R&D experience across discovery biology, medicinal chemistry, protein engineering, and related fields, with 5+ years in industry and familiarity with multiple drug modalities.

Qualifications

• Hands‑on, non‑administrative preclinical R&D experience at a company developing its own drug assets.
• Experience in core R&D functions: discovery biology, medicinal chemistry, protein/antibody engineering, computational, in vivo/translational, pharmacology/PK‑PD, toxicology, or CMC/formulation.
• Hands‑on experience with one or more drug modalities: small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, peptides, ADCs, bispecifics, mRNA, siRNA, ASOs, PROTACs, molecular glues, cell therapies, gene therapies, radioligand therapies, etc.
• 5+ years of relevant industry R&D experience.

Responsibilities

• Review technical materials and real‑world R&D data in your area of expertise.
• Label, classify, and annotate scientific data and model outputs to improve model performance.
• Provide expert perspective on key scientific and development decisions, including target/modality selection and optimization.
• Help define structure and quality standards for the client's dataset pipeline .
• Participate in expert discussions, interviews, and research engagements.
• Interface directly with the client team to ensure alignment and progress.

Skills

Preclinical R&D

Discovery biology

Medicinal chemistry

Protein engineering

Computational

In vivo / translational

Pharmacology / PK-PD

Toxicology

CMC / formulation

Drug modalities

5+ years experience

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: Preclinical R&D Expert – In-house Drug Development

Type: Contract

Compensation: $60–$100/hour

Location: Remote

Commitment: 10 hours/week

Role Responsibilities

• Review technical materials and real‑world R&D data in your area of expertise.
• Label, classify, and annotate scientific data and model outputs to improve model performance.
• Provide expert perspective on key scientific and development decisions, including target/modality selection and optimization.
• Help define structure and quality standards for the client's dataset pipeline .
• Participate in expert discussions, interviews, and research engagements.
• Interface directly with the client team to ensure alignment and progress.

Qualifications

Must-Have

• Hands‑on, non‑administrative preclinical R&D experience at a company developing its own drug assets.
• Experience in core R&D functions : discovery biology, medicinal chemistry, protein/antibody engineering, computational, in vivo/translational, pharmacology/PK‑PD, toxicology, or CMC/formulation.
• Hands‑on experience with one or more drug modalities: small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, peptides, ADCs, bispecifics, mRNA, siRNA, ASOs, PROTACs, molecular glues, cell therapies, gene therapies, radioligand therapies, etc.
• 5+ years of relevant industry R&D experience .

Preferred

• Experience taking a program through lead optimization or IND‑enabling/preclinical development.
• Experience at mid‑sized, emerging, or resource‑constrained biotech, ideally outside the top‑20 pharmaceutical companies.

Resources & Support

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