Research Engineer

ABOUT CHAI DISCOVERY Chai is a research lab working on generative models for molecular design. We are building AI infrastructure to engineer new medicines with speed and precision. The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies—including Eli Lilly https://endpoints.news/eli-lilly-chai-discovery-sign-ai-software-deal/, Pfizer https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2026/06/04/why-pfizer-and-eli-lilly-are-betting-on-this-13-billion-ai-drug-discovery-startup/, and Novartis https://www.chaidiscovery.com/news/novartis-partnership—have started adopting our platform across their organizations. Our mission is to unlock progress towards better cures and better science, and we see countless interesting problems on the road ahead. We are known for talent density, rigorous research and pace of execution. Our founders have been at the forefront of this field from the beginning. and we are backed by Sequoia, Index, Thrive, General Catalyst, OpenAI, Dimension and others. ABOUT THE ROLE We are seeking an AI Research Engineer to help design, train, evaluate, and optimize Chai’s core models and infrastructure, working in tight loops with research scientists. Chai's models are moving beyond protein structure prediction into real-world therapeutic engineering. This is a chance to push the frontier of AI drug design, working alongside a craft-obsessed team of micro-pessimists and macro-optimists. - Develop and optimize all the infrastructure & tooling upon which our AI research depends. - Collaborate with AI researchers to understand, implement and optimize new research directions. - Integrate AI models into production systems, ensuring scalability and reliability. ABOUT YOU Ideal backgrounds include high-performance computing, custom CUDA kernels and GPU programming, AI/ML + data systems at scale. - Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field. - Strong proficiency in programming languages such as Python and deep learning frameworks like PyTorch. - Deep understanding of operating system internals. - Experience with HPC infrastructure such as Slurm and Kubernetes. - Experience with performance engineering and profiling for CPU and CPU workloads. - Experience writing, building, and maintaining large-scale ETL pipelines. WE OFFER The opportunity to work at the leading edge of AI research, with world-class people, on a mission that matters. We protect & promote a culture of high velocity and ownership. We offer highly competitive compensation.