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Artificial Intelligence

Software Engineer, AI Platform

San Francisco, CAFull TimePosted 26 days ago

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Required skills

  • AI Platform
  • agents
  • molecule design
  • experiment guidance
  • model inference
  • scientific tools
  • computational workspace
  • iterating on molecules
  • drug discovery

Nice to have

  • frontier models
  • biological hypotheses
  • subtasks

Role summary

Chai Discovery is seeking a Software Engineer to build the AI platform for drug discovery. This role involves working with scientists and model researchers to define how agents utilize AI foundation models for molecule design and experiment guidance. The engineer will develop products that accelerate the research cycle and create core abstractions for agent execution, model inference, and scientific tools. The ideal candidate possesses technical depth, strong software architecture skills, product judgment, and experience building complex applications or agent systems, with a practical understanding of agent capabilities and limitations.

About Chai Discovery

Chai Discovery builds the computer-aided design suite for molecules. Eli Lilly, GSK, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, argenx and Novartis all use Chai to power drug discovery programs. AI is reinventing life sciences the same way it reinvented software engineering, and our team is building that future.

We train frontier models that learn the underlying foundations of biochemical structure and interaction. We pair this with a computational workspace to iterate on molecules from idea to medicine, helping scientists move faster and develop medicines beyond the reach of existing methods.

We value diverse perspectives and are ready to find greatness in unexpected places.

About the role

Build the AI platform that lets scientists direct research programs with agents. We believe that as Chai's models get more powerful, scientists will focus more on fundamental problems and biological hypotheses, and delegate more of the subtasks to answer them to agents. Making this possible requires inventing the abstractions through which people, agents, and Chai’s models collaborate.

  • Work with scientists and model researchers to define how agents use Chai’s foundation models to design molecules and guide experiments.

  • Build products that shorten the cycle from idea ➝ to experiment ➝ to the next decision, while scientists monitor and direct the work.

  • Build the core abstractions for agent execution, model inference, and scientific tools so new capabilities come together fluidly across the workspace.

About you

We look for technical depth, strong software architecture, and product judgment, with experience building complex applications or agent systems. You can find clear abstractions in a messy domain and build systems that hold up as their scope grows. We value a practical understanding of where agents fail and how to tell whether they’re doing useful work.

We offer

The opportunity to work at the vanguard of AI research and frontier biology, with world-class people, on a mission that matters. We protect and promote a culture of high velocity and ownership. We compensate our team accordingly.

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