Scientist, Antibody Engineering

Chai Discovery is re-architecting drug discovery by building frontier AI foundation models to design molecules.

The founding Chai team has brought together the leading researchers in this space, with seminal research accomplishments at top AI labs. The team has led AI-for-biology programs at premier labs, co-invented protein language modelling, built state-of-the-art folding algorithms, and sold AI adopted by top-10 pharma companies. The company is backed by top-tier investors, including OpenAI, Thrive Capital, Dimension, Conviction, Lachy Groom, Amplify, and many more.

We’re looking to add a few members to our team of scientists and engineers, who obsess over creating the most powerful AI models for antibody discovery, and turning them into products that can transform how medicines are made.

We’re hiring an Antibody Engineer to play a critical role in developing traditional and next-generation biologics at Chai. You’ll take in-silico candidates spanning monoclonals, bispecifics, TCEs, engineered cytokines, multifunctionals, and ADC/DAC formats, then design constructs, run expression and purification campaigns, and develop fit-for-purpose assays that read out affinity, specificity, and developability. The data you generate will feed directly back into our model-training loop, making your experiments the ground truth that guides every next iteration.

At Chai, we’re entering a pivotal stage. After years of foundational R&D, our models are moving beyond protein structure prediction and into real-world therapeutic engineering. We're now tasking our AI models on a broad spectrum of drug development challenges, at an exciting scale of wet-lab validation.

This is not a typical role — it’s a chance to push the boundaries of drug discovery by building some of the most advanced AI drug design models ever built.

We are seeking a scientist with a deep desire to push the limits of what’s possible in therapeutic design and a restless drive to solve real-world problems and iterate quickly.

Scientific background:

• PhD or equivalent work experience in Biological Sciences, Protein Engineering, Biochemistry, or a related field.

• Hands-on expertise with design and characterization in antibody-based biologics. Nice to have experience across at least one advanced modality (e.g., bispecifics, TCEs, ADCs).

• Proficient in molecular-biology workflows: cloning, transient/stable expression (mammalian or yeast), purification, and quality control.

• Familiar with binding and developability assays, SPR/BLI, ELISA, flow cytometry, etc.

• Comfortable inspecting structures in PyMOL or similar tools to guide mutagenesis and rational design.

Execution & collaboration:

• Proven record of designing clear experimental plans and managing CRO or vendor relationships from SOW through data review

• Able to juggle multiple projects, adapt priorities quickly, and communicate results to computational colleagues in a tight feedback loop

• Ability to manage multiple external collaborations effectively

Mindset:

• Enjoys troubleshooting the bench-to-model hand-off and pushing emerging antibody formats into new territory

• Thrives in a fast-moving, cross-disciplinary environment

• Frontier technology: work on the technologies that promises to fundamentally change how new therapeutics are created.

• World-class people: work with world-renowned leaders in the AI x Biology ecosystem.

• Velocity and ownership: we move incredibly fast and liberally distribute ownership, which means continuous learning and career growth opportunities are guaranteed.

• Strong culture and mission: we foster a supportive culture that is mission-driven and high-energy.

• Highly competitive compensation: we attract the best talent and compensate them accordingly.