Drug Discovery Scientist / Toxicologist at Mercor

Drug Discovery Scientist / Toxicologist | $70–100/hr | Worldwide Remote

Mercor is seeking experienced Drug Discovery Scientists (Drug Hunters) and Toxicology Experts to support an AI-driven life sciences partner building advanced scientific reasoning systems for drug discovery, safety assessment, and translational pharmacology. In this role, you will apply deep domain expertise to annotate, review, and validate scientific datasets used to train next-generation biomedical AI models.

Key Responsibilities

Scientific Data Annotation

• 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
• Distinguish meaningful biological signal from experimental artifacts, assay interference, or model limitations

Quality Review & Validation

• Audit annotated datasets for biological, pharmacological, and safety accuracy
• Validate structure–activity relationships (SAR), target engagement logic, and pharmacokinetic interpretations
• Evaluate AI-generated reasoning on drug mechanism, toxicity risk, and safety margins
• Ensure correct interpretation of dose-response relationships, exposure margins, and translational relevance

Methodology & Knowledge Contribution

• Contribute to annotation guidelines covering drug discovery workflows, SAR, ADME/PK reasoning, toxicity mechanisms, and translational biology
• Advise on classification of toxicity findings, safety signals, and risk assessment frameworks
• Provide expertise on how discovery teams balance potency, selectivity, safety, and developability

Model Evaluation & Feedback

• Review AI-generated reasoning traces involving drug mechanism of action, target biology, toxicity risk, and PK/exposure modeling
• Assess whether conclusions logically follow from experimental evidence and biological context
• Provide structured feedback to improve scientific rigor, causal reasoning, and translational relevance

Requirements

• PhD, PharmD, DVM, MD, or MS with significant industry experience in Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, Chemical Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or Biochemistry
• 3–5+ years of hands-on experience in drug discovery or safety assessment
• Strong expertise in SAR analysis, ADME/PK interpretation, toxicology, and safety pharmacology
• Experience interpreting in vitro and in vivo experimental data from primary study reports
• Deep knowledge of toxicity mechanisms including hepatotoxicity, cardiovascular liabilities, genotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity

Preferred Qualifications

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