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: Drug Discovery Scientist / Toxicology Expert

Type: Contract

Compensation: $70–$100/hour

Location: Remote

Role Responsibilities

• Review and annotate datasets related to drug discovery, pharmacology, and safety biology . Interpret experimental outputs from target biology studies, biochemical assays, cellular models, and safety screens .
• Analyze relationships between compound structure, potency, selectivity, exposure, and toxicity signals . Identify mechanistic explanations behind efficacy or toxicity findings across discovery experiments .
• Audit annotated scientific datasets for biological, pharmacological, and safety accuracy . Validate structure–activity relationships (SAR), target engagement logic, and pharmacokinetic interpretations .
• Contribute to annotation guidelines for drug discovery workflows, SAR, pharmacokinetics and ADME reasoning, toxicity mechanisms, and safety pharmacology .
• Review AI-generated reasoning traces involving drug mechanism of action, target biology interpretation, toxicity mechanisms, and risk assessment . Provide structured feedback to improve scientific rigor, causal reasoning, and translational relevance in model outputs.
• Contribute to scientific standards documentation and training materials for model development. Help define gold-standard examples of drug discovery reasoning and toxicity interpretation .

Qualifications

Must-Have

• PhD , PharmD , DVM , MD , or MS with significant industry experience in Medicinal Chemistry , Pharmacology , Toxicology , Chemical Biology , Molecular Biology , Pharmaceutical Sciences , or Biochemistry .
• 3–5+ years of hands-on experience in drug discovery or safety assessment , including drug discovery programs from target validation through lead optimization , SAR analysis , pharmacokinetics (PK) and ADME interpretation , and toxicology and safety pharmacology studies .
• Strong expertise in target biology and mechanism-of-action reasoning , dose-response relationships and exposure margins , and translational interpretation between preclinical and clinical findings .
• Experience reviewing primary experimental data and study reports .
• Exceptional attention to scientific accuracy and mechanistic reasoning .

Preferred

• Experience in pharmaceutical or biotechnology drug discovery teams .
• Background in lead optimization, translational biology, or nonclinical safety .
• Familiarity with DMPK workflows, safety biomarkers, and regulatory toxicology considerations .
• Experience contributing to cross-functional discovery teams .
• Exposure to AI/ML tools applied to biomedical research .

Application Process (Takes 20–30 mins to complete)

• Upload resume
• AI interview based on your resume
• Submit form

Resources & Support

• For details about the interview process and platform information, please check:
• For any help or support, reach out to: support@mercor.com

PS: Our team reviews applications daily. Please complete your AI interview and application steps to be considered for this opportunity.

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