Scientist I, Chemistry (Contract)

About the role

At Pliant, we believe differentiated science can make a meaningful impact. We see our success as a direct result of the central role that each team member plays in advancing our mission to develop therapies that target the disease at its source. We are seeking creative, curious and collaborative individuals who dare to succeed, are committed to making an important impact on patient's lives and will help us build one Pliant!

About the role

We are seeking a PhD organic chemist for a 9-month contract to write the experimental sections of our patent applications. Working from electronic lab notebook (ELN) records and analytical data, you will turn completed synthetic work into accurate, consistent, patent-ready procedures and characterization data. This is a desk-based role with no laboratory work. You will work closely with our medicinal chemists and patent counsel.

This is a 9-month contract role (40 hours per week) reporting to the SVP, Research. This is a hybrid position, requiring 3 days/week at Pliant (South San Francisco).

Responsibilities

• Write clear, reproducible experimental procedures for intermediates and final compounds, in patent format, from ELN entries and the original chemists' notes.
• Draft general procedures and synthetic schemes, and map each example to the correct general method.
• Compile and verify characterization data (¹H/¹³C NMR, LCMS, HRMS, chiral HPLC) and write data strings in a consistent format.
• Check every structure against its data: confirm that NMR assignments, masses and stereochemistry match the drawn compound, and flag any discrepancies.
• Generate and check chemical names (e.g., IUPAC names using ChemDraw), and keep compound, example and intermediate numbering consistent throughout each application.
• Build and maintain compound tables, cross-referenced to internal compound IDs, ELN references and biological data tables.
• Track every example's status (data complete, under review, final) across multiple applications, and keep an audit trail of changes.
• Work with medicinal chemists to resolve gaps or inconsistencies in the records, and with patent counsel to meet drafting and filing deadlines.
• Handle all compound and invention information under strict confidentiality.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, abilities, and prior experience required.

• PhD in Organic Chemistry or a closely related field, with 0-2 years of postdoctoral or industry experience.
• Demonstrated experience writing experimental procedures and characterization data, for example in a dissertation, supporting information for publications, or patent applications.
• Strong ability to interpret ¹H and ¹³C NMR, LCMS and HRMS data and confirm that it is consistent with a proposed structure, including stereochemistry.
• Working knowledge of multistep synthesis and common reaction types, sufficient to spot errors in reagents, equivalents, yields or workups.
• Proficiency with ChemDraw (structures, schemes and naming), Microsoft Word and Excel.
• Exceptional attention to detail: able to check large volumes of data for consistency without losing accuracy.
• Strong organizational skills: able to track hundreds of compounds across several documents and deadlines.
• Proactive communicator who raises gaps early and asks chemists precise, easy-to-answer questions.

Required Qualifications

• Prior experience preparing experimental sections or examples for composition-of-matter patent applications.
• Medicinal chemistry experience, ideally with heterocyclic, peptidomimetic or other drug-like small molecules.
• Familiarity with patent structure and terms (examples, general procedures, Markush structures, claims) and the importance of written description and enablement.
• Experience with ELN and chemistry informatics tools (e.g., Scilligence, D360, ChemDraw/ChemOffice).
• Experience organizing large data sets in Excel, including lookups and data validation.

Pay and benefits

The hourly rate for this role is $68/hr - $75/hr. Individual pay may vary based on additional factors, including, and without limitation job-related skills, experience, work location and relevant education or training.