Lila Sciences
Senior / Principal Chemist, AI Safety
$268K–$384K
Cambridge, MA USA +5 · Principal · Full-time · Posted Oct 5, 2026
- Location
- Cambridge, MA USA
London, UK
San Francisco, CA USA
Alewife, Cambridge, MA
Europe
San Francisco, CA - Education
- PhD, or comparable experience
About the job
Assess chemical dual-use risks from scientific AI and automated experimentation, then translate findings into safety policies, evaluations, and mitigations that preserve beneficial chemistry.
What you'll do
- Map and assess established and emerging chemical misuse pathways, including how AI may affect feasibility and constraints.
- Update evidence-based risk assessments and integrate findings from specialists and external research.
- Work with threat modeling, evaluation, and mitigation teams to set policy boundaries, design assessments, and test safeguards.
What they ask for
- PhD or comparable experience in synthetic chemistry or a closely related discipline, demonstrated through substantial research or applied work.
- Substantive experience assessing chemical dual-use risks.
- Strong scientific judgment about feasibility, uncertainty, and practical constraints.
- Clear scientific communication and ability to assess specialist evidence and collaborate across disciplines.
Nice to have
- Experience applying domain expertise to AI safety through threat modeling, evaluation, red-teaming, or mitigation design.
- Experience commissioning specialist research, coordinating external scientific collaborators, or working with automated chemistry or scientific modeling.
Pay
$268,000 — $384,000 USD (base salary)
Tools
scientific models, agents, automated experimentation
AI focus
Assess how scientific AI capabilities could alter chemical misuse risks; develop safety evaluations, threat models, policy boundaries, and mitigations.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative