Role Overview
Anthropic is hiring a Research Scientist for their Life Sciences team in San Francisco, California. This on-site role is designed for a skilled chemist who wants to unite artificial intelligence with practical biological research to accelerate discoveries in the field.
Key Responsibilities
Create multi-step synthetic routes for small molecules and manage their execution from start to finish, including optimization, purification, and data interpretation from NMR, LC-MS, and HPLC.
Collaborate with academic partners and external contract research organizations to coordinate biological evaluation and synthesis.
Assess artificial intelligence-designed molecules and proposed synthetic routes, leading them to experimental readouts and sharing insights with research teams.
Utilize medicinal chemistry concepts like physicochemical property optimization and structure-activity relationship analysis for compound prioritization and design.
Maintain high standards for experimental documentation, procedures, spectra, and failure mode tracking across all programs.
Articulate research discoveries effectively to audiences specializing in chemistry, life sciences, and artificial intelligence research.
Requirements
Hold a PhD in chemistry.
Possess proven medicinal chemistry expertise, featuring structure-activity relationship-driven design and optimization of small molecules alongside continuous hands-on synthetic experience.
Demonstrate the capability to handle ambiguity and outline problems within a fast-paced research setting.
Exhibit independent working habits paired with cross-functional teamwork abilities and strong verbal and written communication skills.
Nice to Have
Accumulation of 5 or more years of medicinal chemistry experience past the doctoral degree.
A proven track record of moving programs forward from initial hit identification to lead optimization.
Background in directing synthetic chemistry tasks at contract research organizations.
Competency in computational chemistry, cheminformatics, or coding using tools like Python with pandas or RDKit for automation and data analysis.
Practical background using machine learning or artificial intelligence applications within life sciences.
Published papers or patents highlighting scientific contributions.
Skills and Tools
Python
Medicinal chemistry principles and small molecule synthesis
Analytical characterization techniques (NMR, LC-MS, HPLC)
Structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis
Salary and Benefits
Annual salary ranging from $300,000 to $320,000 USD.
Competitive compensation and benefits package.
Optional equity donation matching.
Generous parental leave and vacation time.
Flexible working hours.
Access to an office space in San Francisco.
About the Company
Anthropic operates as a public benefit corporation centered on building reliable, interpretable, and steerable artificial intelligence systems that benefit society. The organization approaches AI research as an empirical science, valuing large-scale collaborative efforts and broad long-term impact.
How to Apply
Interested candidates should visit the official Anthropic careers page to submit an application for this position.
