Patent-Ready Organic Chemistry Writer (PhD)

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc.; South San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 94,000 - 103,000; Full time

Job summary

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. is seeking a PhD organic chemist for a 9-month contract to write experimental sections of patent applications. The role is desk-based with collaboration with medicinal chemists and patent counsel. Hybrid position requiring 3 days per week at Pliant (South San Francisco).

You will translate ELN records into patent-ready procedures, verify data, build compound tables, and ensure consistency across applications while maintaining strict confidentiality.

Qualifications

• PhD in Organic Chemistry or closely related field.
• Experience writing experimental procedures and characterization data.
• Strong ability to interpret 1H/13C NMR, LCMS and HRMS data, including stereochemistry.
• Working knowledge of multistep synthesis and common reaction types.
• Proficiency with ChemDraw (structures, schemes and naming), Word and Excel.
• Experience with patent-related writing or applications.
• Medicinal chemistry experience, ideally with heterocyclic, peptidomimetic or drug-like small molecules.

Responsibilities

• Write clear, reproducible experimental procedures for intermediates and final compounds, in patent format.
• Draft general procedures and synthetic schemes, and map each example to the correct general method.
• Compile and verify characterization data (1H/13C NMR, LCMS, HRMS, chiral HPLC).
• Check every structure against its data: confirm NMR, masses and stereochemistry match.
• Generate and check chemical names (IUPAC) and keep numbering consistent.
• Build and maintain compound tables, cross-referenced to IDs and data tables.
• Track each example's status across applications and maintain an audit trail.
• Collaborate with medicinal chemists and patent counsel to meet deadlines.
• Handle all compound and invention information under strict confidentiality.

Skills

Experience writing experimentalProced

NMR interpretation

Data consistency and attention to -

Education

PhD in Organic Chemistry or related field

Tools

ChemDraw

ChemOffice

Scilligence

D360

Job description

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. is seeking a PhD organic chemist for a 9-month contract to write experimental sections of patent applications. The role is desk-based with collaboration with medicinal chemists and patent counsel. Hybrid position requiring 3 days per week at Pliant (South San Francisco).

You will translate ELN records into patent-ready procedures, verify data, build compound tables, and ensure consistency across applications while maintaining strict confidentiality.