Pharmaceutical R&D Expert - Fully Remote | Upto $100/hr

mercor; United States; Remote; USD 83,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor, headquartered in San Francisco, seeks a Preclinical R&D Expert for remote, contracted work at ~10 hours per week. Compensation is $60–$100/hour. The role focuses on reviewing R&D data, annotating datasets, and guiding decision-making in target selection and modality optimization.

You will interact with the client team to ensure alignment and progress, contributing expert insight across discovery biology, chemistry, protein engineering, and related translational science areas.

Qualifications

• Hands-on preclinical R&D in a company developing its own drug assets.
• Experience across discovery biology, medicinal chemistry, protein engineering, computational, PK-PD, toxicology, or CMC/formulation.
• 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 data and model outputs to improve performance.
• Provide expert perspective on target selection and optimization.
• Help define structure and quality standards for the dataset pipeline.
• Participate in expert discussions, interviews, and research engagements.
• Interface with the client team to ensure alignment and progress.

Skills

Preclinical R&D

Discovery biology

Medicinal chemistry

Protein engineering

Computational biology

PK-PD

Toxicology

CMC/formulation

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.

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