Forward-Deployed Scientist

present of AI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Chai Discovery seeks a role bridging pharma partners with our research and engineering teams. You bring deep knowledge of antibody engineering, protein design, or computational methods to understand a therapeutic problem and apply the platform effectively.

A strong candidate turns a hard scientific request into a scoped project, explains results clearly, and stays steady when timelines are tight. Hands-on with frontier AI models is encouraged.

Qualifications

• Deep knowledge of antibody engineering, protein design or computational methods.

Responsibilities

• Turn hard scientific requests into scoped projects for the platform.
• Explain results clearly to partner scientists.
• Stay steady and deliver on timelines when pressured.

Skills

Antibody engineering

Protein design

Computational methods

Communication with partners

Project scoping

Fast learning

Job description

The role sits between pharma partners and Chai's own research and engineering teams. It asks for deep knowledge of antibody engineering, protein design or computational methods, enough to understand a partner's therapeutic problem and use the platform well on it. A strong candidate can turn a hard scientific request into a scoped project, explain results clearly, and stay steady when timelines are tight.

How it fits the AI era

AI models now do much of the heavy lifting in proposing and screening molecules, so the work shifts toward knowing how to point those tools at the right problem and judge what comes back. The human side stays central: understanding what a drug program truly needs, deciding which results are worth trusting, and building trust with partner scientists.

How it builds AI experience

The job puts someone in daily contact with frontier models that predict and design biochemical structures, used on live drug programs at large pharma companies. Hands‑on practice comes from working as a power user of the platform and feeding partner findings back to the research team. To prepare, a candidate can get practical with protein structure prediction and design tools and work through real antibody or protein design problems end to end.

Worth showing

• Computational biology methods
• Explaining science to partners
• Scoping and driving projects
• Fast learning on new problems

This is our own read, written from the employer's posting and the company's Spotlight. The employer's posting is the source of truth for the role.

About Chai Discovery

Frontier AI foundation models and computer-aided design suite to predict and reprogram biochemical molecules, per the company.