Toxicology Scientist – Drug Discovery $100/hr

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: https://talent.docs.mercor.com/welcome/welcome 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.