Preclinical R&D Scientist - Drug Development - AI Trainer

Obsidian; New York (NY); On-site; USD 69,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a hands-on preclinical R&D expert to guide AI-driven drug discovery initiatives. You will blend wet-lab translational experience with AI-driven data insights to shape platform development and dataset standards.

The role focuses on integration of experimental and computational perspectives across multiple drug modalities, contributing to the client’s pipeline from bench to clinic.

Qualifications

• Hands-on, non-administrative preclinical R&D experience at a company that develops its own drug assets and has taken programs to the clinic.
• 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, antibodies, peptides, etc.).
• 5+ years of relevant industry R&D experience (flexible based on depth).
• Experience taking a program through lead optimization or IND-enabling/preclinical development.
• Experience at mid-sized, emerging biotech (outside top-20 pharma) is a plus.

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 (target/modality selection, optimization, trade-offs, risk).
• Help define structure and quality standards for the client’s dataset pipeline.
• Participate in expert discussions, interviews, and research engagements.

Skills

Hands-on preclinical R&D experience

Data labeling & annotation

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Critical thinking in target/modality

Job description

Mercor is partnering with a venture-backed AI lab building frontier AI platforms and physics-based foundation models for chemistry, materials science, and drug discovery. They're extending their platform into new areas of pharmaceutical development and are looking for hands-on preclinical R&D experts across drug modalities to help guide what they build.

Are you a preclinical R&D scientist who has taken drug programs from the bench toward the clinic - and curious how AI is reshaping drug discovery? This is a hands-on role that blends your wet-lab and translational experience with a growing understanding of how scientific data trains the next generation of AI models.

In this role, you'll:

• 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 (target/modality selection, optimization, trade-offs, risk)
• Help define structure and quality standards for the client's dataset pipeline
• Participate in expert discussions, interviews, and research engagements

You're a strong fit if you:

• Have hands-on, non-administrative preclinical R&D experience at a company that develops its own drug assets in-house and has taken programs to the clinic - Must Have
• 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 - Must Have
• Have 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.) - Must Have
• Have 5+ years of relevant industry R&D experience (flexible based on depth)
• Have taken a program through lead optimization or IND-enabling/preclinical development (nice to have)
• Have experience at mid-sized, emerging, or resource-constrained biotech - ideally currently outside the top-20 pharmaceutical companies (nice to have)

This is a hands-on preclinical R&D role - likely not the right fit if your work is mainly CRO/CDMO services, academic-only, QC/analytical-only, clinical-development-only, diagnostics, or regulatory/medical-writing.

Your work will directly feed into the models reshaping how medicines are discovered, helping intelligent systems reason about real-world pharmaceutical R&D.

Here are more details about the role:

• You will interface directly with the client team.
• This is an ongoing, part-time engagement of roughly 10 hours per week.
• Seniority welcome from individual contributor through Director.