Pharmaceutical R&D AI Training Expert

OpenTrain AI; California, Northern (MO, KY); Hybrid; USD 103,000 - 158,000; Part time

Job summary

OpenTrain AI in the Bay Area, California seeks a senior Pharmaceutical R&D AI Training Expert for a hybrid, contractor role. On-site collaboration is required several days per week. The engagement lasts six months with a 40-hour week schedule and pay ranging from $75 to $115 per hour.

The ideal candidate has substantial pharma R&D expertise, hands-on use of large language models, and excellent written communication to define evaluation standards for drug discovery and development tasks.

Qualifications

• PhD or PharmD in a pharmaceutically relevant discipline such as medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutical sciences, or toxicology; an MD with substantive drug development experience also qualifies
• At least four years of substantive pharmaceutical or biotechnology R&D experience in industry, a CRO, or translational research
• Genuine specialization in at least one pipeline stage, such as target identification, medicinal chemistry, preclinical, clinical, or regulatory work
• Hands-on professional use of large language models
• Ability to distinguish well-reasoned answers from plausible-sounding incorrect answers
• Excellent written communication and precise, structured feedback
• Bay Area, California residence and ability to work on-site as needed
• Ability to commit to the required weekly schedule for the initial six-month engagement

Responsibilities

• Review pharmaceutical tasks and model outputs for quality, reasoning errors, and unsupported claims
• Write instruction specifications and golden solutions for drug discovery and development problems
• Design challenging pharmaceutical evaluation sets and benchmarks
• Measure model improvement through structured evaluations
• Calibrate standards with researchers and adjacent domain specialists
• Translate tacit pharmaceutical judgment into precise evaluation criteria

Skills

Pharmaceutical R&D expertise

Large language models experience

Written communication

Critical evaluation

English proficiency

Education

PhD or PharmD

MD with drug development experience

Job description

About OpenTrain

OpenTrain AI is the #1 platform for finding and building careers in AI training and data labeling. We connect qualified contributors with cutting-edge projects, help them build a professional AI training profile, and make it possible to apply in minutes through a free account.

For this contract, OpenTrain AI is recruiting a Pharmaceutical R&D AI Training Expert to help improve how advanced AI systems handle real pharmaceutical research and development work.

About AI Training Work

AI training is the human side of building artificial intelligence. Subject-matter experts review model responses, identify unsupported reasoning, write examples of excellent answers, and create evaluation criteria that help models become more accurate and useful.

This work places pharmaceutical expertise at the center of model development. Your judgment can help define how AI reasons about drug discovery, development, and related scientific decisions.

• Contribute to the development of advanced AI models
• Apply professional pharmaceutical judgment to complex evaluation tasks
• Help turn expert reasoning into clear, measurable standards

The Role

OpenTrain AI is seeking a senior Pharmaceutical R&D AI Training Expert to work with research and program management teams on pharmaceutical knowledge-work tasks and model evaluations. The engagement is hybrid, based in the Bay Area, California, and requires on-site collaboration multiple days per week.

This contractor role pays $75 to $115 per hour. The initial engagement is six months, with a stated commitment of 40 hours per week; the associated project information lists a minimum time requirement of 20 or more hours per week.

• Role: Pharmaceutical R&D AI Training Expert
• Work type: Contractor and part-time
• Pay: $75 to $115 per hour
• Location: Bay Area, California, with on-site work as needed
• Initial engagement: Six months
• Language: English
• Country: United States

What You'll Do

You will assess whether AI-generated pharmaceutical knowledge work is accurate, well-reasoned, and supported by appropriate claims. You will also make expert standards explicit so that research teams can consistently measure and improve model performance.

• Review pharmaceutical tasks and model outputs for quality, reasoning errors, and unsupported claims
• Write instruction specifications and golden solutions for drug discovery and development problems
• Design challenging pharmaceutical evaluation sets and benchmarks
• Measure model improvement through structured evaluations
• Calibrate standards with researchers and adjacent domain specialists
• Translate tacit pharmaceutical judgment into precise evaluation criteria

Required Qualifications

This role requires substantial pharmaceutical or biotechnology R&D expertise, strong written communication, and the ability to recognize answers that sound plausible but are scientifically wrong. Candidates must also have hands-on experience using large language models in professional work.

• PhD or PharmD in a pharmaceutically relevant discipline such as medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutical sciences, or toxicology; an MD with substantive drug development experience also qualifies
• At least four years of substantive pharmaceutical or biotechnology R&D experience in industry, a CRO, or translational research
• Genuine specialization in at least one pipeline stage, such as target identification, medicinal chemistry, preclinical, clinical, or regulatory work
• Hands-on professional use of large language models
• Ability to distinguish well-reasoned answers from plausible-sounding incorrect answers
• Excellent written communication and precise, structured feedback
• Bay Area, California residence and ability to work on-site as needed
• Ability to commit to the required weekly schedule for the initial six-month engagement

Helpful Background

The strongest candidates will bring a clear record of senior-level pharmaceutical R&D responsibility and evidence that their work has influenced meaningful research or development outcomes.

• Progression to Senior Scientist, Principal Scientist, Director, or VP
• Ownership of a discovery project or development program
• Peer-reviewed publications or granted patents
• Contributions to pharmaceutical programs that reached the clinic

Build the Future of AI With OpenTrain

AI training is a fast-growing field spanning model evaluation, text generation, scientific review, and human feedback. OpenTrain helps people find and grow careers in this work, whether they contribute part time or pursue deeper specialist opportunities.

Create a free OpenTrain account to build your profile and apply in minutes. Your pharmaceutical expertise can help shape how state-of-the-art AI systems reason about complex research and development questions.

• Apply through OpenTrain
• Build a profile around your AI training and subject-matter expertise
• Use specialized knowledge to influence the quality of advanced AI systems