Preclinical R&D Scientist - Drug Expert

mercor; Deutschland; Remote; EUR 105,000 - 175,000; Part time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a Preclinical R&D Expert for in-house drug development on a remote contract basis. You will apply deep experience in preclinical science to guide AI-driven R&D efforts and data interpretation.

You will review materials, annotate data, and support target and modality decisions, while helping define data standards for the client’s pipeline. This role suits senior scientists with diverse modality experience and a track record in biotech R&D.

Qualifications

• Hands-on preclinical R&D experience at a company that develops its own drug assets.
• Experience across discovery biology, medicinal chemistry, protein/antibody engineering, or computational biology.
• Experience with multiple drug modalities (small molecules, antibodies, peptides, ADCs, etc.).
• 5+ years in industry R&D.

Responsibilities

• Review technical materials and real-world R&D data to improve AI model performance.
• Label, classify, and annotate scientific data and model outputs to enhance model accuracy.
• Provide expert perspective on scientific decisions, including target and modality selection.
• Help define structure and quality standards for the client’s dataset pipeline.
• Participate in expert discussions, interviews, and research engagements to guide AI platform development.

Skills

Preclinical R&D

Drug development

Medicinal chemistry

Protein engineering

Pharmacology

Computational biology

Job description

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: $85–$142/hour Location: Remote

Role Responsibilities

• Review technical materials and real-world R&D data in your area of expertise to improve AI model performance .
• Label, classify, and annotate scientific data and model outputs to enhance model accuracy.
• Provide expert perspective on key scientific and development decisions, including target and modality selection.
• Help define structure and quality standards for the client's dataset pipeline.
• Participate in expert discussions, interviews, and research engagements to guide AI platform development .

Qualifications Must-Have

• Hands-on, non-administrative preclinical R&D experience at a company that develops its own drug assets.
• Work in a core R&D function: 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.