[Hiring] Forward-Deployed Cheminformatician @Apheris

Role Description

We are looking for a Forward-Deployed Cheminformatician to own how binding data is prepared across our co-folding focused networks and initiatives. Binding data is the input that decides whether our co-folding and binding-affinity models perform in real drug programs. It arrives from pharma partners in heterogeneous shapes:

• Different assay registries
• Different metadata
• Different chemical-representation standards
• Different choices on qualifiers, replicates, and censoring

We need someone who turns this into a repeatable, well-documented preparation pipeline that pharma representatives can run alongside us, and that scales to the public-data corpus we build for our own model training. This is half engineering, half forward-deployed work. You will:

• Define the protocol, harden it with validators and scripts, integrate it into the Apheris products, run it with each new partner, and own the equivalent pipeline for the public binding-data corpus.

Qualifications

• BSc, MSc, PhD or equivalent in cheminformatics, computational chemistry, or a related field
• 3+ years preparing biological assay data in a discovery setting
• Fluency in Python and RDKit
• Hands-on experience curating quantitative binding assay data (KD, Ki, IC50, pIC50) and HTS data
• Good engineering code writing skills (version control, tested modular scripts, validators)
• Comfortable forward-deployed with pharma medicinal chemists and biologists
• Enjoy turning a messy ad-hoc cleaning job into a repeatable protocol

Requirements

• SMILES normalization, tautomer/ionization/stereochemistry handling, and scaffold extraction are second nature
• Understanding of activity cliffs and model training
• Ability to sit in a sense-check meeting and pull out what is actually meant by a column label

Benefits

• Industry-competitive compensation, including early-stage virtual share options
• Remote-first work — work where you work best
• Wellbeing budget, mental health support, work-from-home budget, co-working stipend, and learning budget
• Generous holiday allowance
• Office Days at our Berlin HQ or a different European location (3x per year)
• A high-calibre, execution-focused team with experience from leading organizations