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Senior / Principal Chemist, AI Safety

Lila SciencesCambridge, MA USA; London, UK; San Francisco, CA USAAI
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Salary
$148K — $208K USD
Job type
Full-time
Experience
Senior
Posted
5 Oct 2026
Status
Open · checked 7d ago

About this role

Lila Sciences seeks a Senior or Principal Chemist for AI Safety to join their team in Cambridge, London, or San Francisco, focusing on dual-use risk assessment and chemical safety strategies. This role suits a qualified chemistry professional with national security or risk tracking experience who wants to safeguard scientific artificial intelligence developments.

Role Overview

The position centers on mapping chemical misuse risks across models, automated experimentation, and scientific agents. The professional will help the organization build and execute bespoke safety strategies, combining deep chemical knowledge with dual-use risk evaluation.

Key Responsibilities

Map chemical misuse risks across automated experimentation, scientific agents, and models to pinpoint emerging pathways.
Assess how practical complexity, scientific feasibility, and actor resources impact plausibility and misuse likelihood.
Distinguish established capabilities from future developments and hypotheses, updating assessments based on evidence and artificial intelligence evolution.
Identify coverage gaps, frame questions for external consultants, and integrate findings with team support.
Translate risk judgments into dual-use policy boundaries, mitigation requirements, and evaluation priorities.
Partner with mitigation teams, threat modelers, and evaluation researchers to design assessments and test safeguards.

Requirements

A PhD or comparable experience in synthetic chemistry or a closely related discipline, supported by substantial applied work or research.
Background in molecular design, medicinal chemistry, inorganic or organometallic chemistry, synthesis, process development, or formulations.
Substantive experience in assessing chemical dual-use risks across national security, export controls, or chemical risk tracking like the CWC.
Strong scientific judgment regarding feasibility, uncertainty, practical constraints, and expertise limits.
Ability to identify appropriate specialists, evaluate evidence critically, and combine cross-disciplinary findings into defensible assessments.
Clear communication, independent research judgment, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Nice to Have

Prior experience applying domain expertise to artificial intelligence safety through threat model analysis, red-teaming, evaluation, or mitigation design.
Experience in commissioning specialist research or coordinating external scientific collaborators.
Experience with automated chemistry, scientific modeling, or translating computational findings into physical experiments.

Skills and Tools

Synthetic chemistry
Molecular design
Medicinal chemistry
Inorganic and organometallic chemistry
Synthesis
Process development and formulations
Chemical risk tracking and dual-use assessment
Automated chemistry and scientific modeling

Salary and Benefits

The expected base salary range is $148,000 to $208,000 USD, accompanied by bonus potential and early-stage equity. United States full-time employees receive medical, dental, vision coverage, life and disability insurance, flexible time off, paid parental leave, educational assistance, commuter benefits, bike share memberships, and a subsidized lunch program. International employees receive regional benefits.

About the Company

Lila Sciences builds Scientific Superintelligence to tackle major challenges by creating systems that learn independently. The organization combines advanced artificial intelligence models with proprietary instruments to form an operating system that executes the autonomous scientific method across medicine, materials, and energy. Operating with startup speed, the company is guided by values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should visit the official Lila Sciences careers page to submit an application.

Skills and tech stack

AI Science Factory

Questions candidates ask

What locations are available for this position?

The role is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; London, United Kingdom; and San Francisco, California, USA.

What is the salary range for this role?

The U.S. base salary range is $148,000 to $208,000 USD, with bonus potential and early-stage equity.

What educational background is required?

Candidates need a PhD or comparable experience in synthetic chemistry or a closely related discipline.

What kind of experience is needed in addition to chemistry?

Candidates must have substantive experience assessing chemical dual-use risks such as those in national security, export controls, or chemical risk tracking.

What benefits are included for full-time U.S. employees?

Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage, life and disability insurance, flexible time off, paid parental leave, educational assistance, commuter benefits, and a subsidized lunch program.

Ready to apply?

The application is on the official Lila Sciences careers page.

Apply on company site