Principal AI/ML Scientist, Drug Discovery – Remote

Placements24; Noord-Kaap; Hybrid; CAD 255,000 - 340,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote‑first environment

Flexible hours

Professional development opportunities

Equity potential

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Principal Research Scientist to spearhead AI/ML efforts in drug discovery from a remote setting. You will lead development of models for target identification, hit finding, and molecule design, working with biologists, chemists and computational scientists across global teams.

You will guide scalable ML workflows, ensure data integrity, and mentor junior researchers while driving the strategic roadmap for AI/ML in preclinical research.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, AI, ML, Computational Chemistry, Bioinformatics or related quantitative field with drug discovery focus.
• 8+ years of progressive research experience applying AI/ML to pharma R&D.
• Proven track record in developing/deploying ML models (DL, GNNs, RL, Bayesian methods).
• Strong coding skills in Python and ML libraries; data manipulation and analysis expertise.

Responsibilities

• Lead R&D of AI/ML models for drug discovery including target identification and lead optimization.
• Analyze large-scale biological/chemical datasets to drive hypothesis generation.
• Design ML workflows for virtual screening, ADMET prediction, and de novo design.
• Collaborate with chemists, biologists, pharmacologists, and computational scientists to translate AI into outcomes.

Skills

Python

TensorFlow

PyTorch

scikit-learn

RDKit

Graph neural networks

Reinforcement learning

Bayesian methods

Cloud computing

Education

Ph.D. in CS/AI/related field

Tools

RDKit

AWS/GCP/Azure

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Principal Research Scientist to spearhead AI/ML efforts in drug discovery from a remote setting. You will lead development of models for target identification, hit finding, and molecule design, working with biologists, chemists and computational scientists across global teams.

You will guide scalable ML workflows, ensure data integrity, and mentor junior researchers while driving the strategic roadmap for AI/ML in preclinical research.