For chemists

Chemistry is one of the domains where the wrong answer is not just wrong but potentially dangerous. A model that generates a plausible-sounding synthesis route can still be badly wrong on stoichiometry, on solvent choice, on reaction conditions, or on a specific safety concern that any trained chemist would spot. Frontier AI labs are investing heavily in getting chemistry right, and they are doing so by contracting practicing chemists across organic, inorganic, physical, analytical, and computational sub-fields.

The work is technical, precise, and increasingly well-paid. The catalog of open roles in chemistry expands as labs push their models further into pharmaceutical, materials, and industrial-chemistry domains.

What the work looks like

• Response evaluation. You review model outputs on prompts across organic mechanisms, retrosynthesis, spectroscopic interpretation, computational chemistry, kinetics, thermodynamics, or a specific applied sub-field. You correct errors and flag anything unsafe or non-standard.
• Problem authoring. You write chemistry problems at the level of a graduate qualifying exam, dense enough for training use.
• Safety review. You flag any generated content that would be unsafe if followed, and document why.
• Adversarial testing. You construct prompts where the model is likely to hallucinate a plausible mechanism or misapply a reactivity trend.
• Rubric design. You author the criteria a chemist would use to grade an output, and audit the criteria the lab is currently using.

The work is asynchronous. Two to four hour blocks. Structured deliverables.

What labs actually look for

Graduate training in chemistry or a closely related field. Active engagement, whether through research, teaching, or industry practice. Written English at the level of a JACS paper. Region and institution matter less than recent, active work.

Where the pay lands

Rates are in USD. For chemists in emerging markets, this typically exceeds local academic or industry salaries on a per-hour basis by a meaningful multiple. For chemists in higher-cost markets, it is competitive with consulting or advisory work.

How to enter

Sign up, upload a recent CV that shows your sub-field and current work, and let the platform surface open roles in chemistry annotation, evaluation, and safety review.