Job Details

About Chai Discovery

Chai Discovery is re-architecting drug discovery by building frontier AI foundation models to design molecules.

The founding Chai team has brought together the leading researchers in this space, with seminal research accomplishments at top AI labs. The team has led AI-for-biology programs at premier labs, co-invented protein language modelling, built state-of-the-art folding algorithms, and sold AI adopted by top-10 pharma companies. The company is backed by top-tier investors, including OpenAI, Thrive Capital, Dimension, Conviction, Lachy Groom, Amplify, and many more.

We're looking to add a few members to our team of scientists and engineers, who obsess over creating the most powerful AI models for antibody discovery, and turning them into products that can transform how medicines are made.

About the role

We're looking for a highly driven leader in business development. This role is responsible for identifying and securing strategic partnerships. You will be the first point of contact between Chai's platform and the external world of pharma, biotech, and AI-drug-discovery partners. Your mandate is to spot high-leverage collaboration opportunities, cultivate executive-level relationships, and negotiate agreements that accelerate both Chai's science and its traction. The ideal candidate will leverage industry connections to build relationships, negotiate deals, and drive Chai Discovery's commercial growth.

At Chai, we're entering a pivotal stage. After years of foundational R&D, our models are moving beyond protein structure prediction and into real-world therapeutic engineering. We're now tasking our AI models on a broad spectrum of drug development challenges, at an exciting scale of wet-lab validation.

This is not a typical role — it's a chance to push the boundaries of drug discovery by building some of the most advanced AI drug design models ever built.

About you

We're seeking a proven leader with a deep desire to bring this frontier technology into the pharma landscape. You should have:

Significant industry experience:

• Advanced degree in Business, Life Sciences, or a related field (MBA, MS, or PhD preferred)

• 7 + years in business development, corporate strategy, or alliance management inside biopharma or tech-bio start-ups

Partnership & deal-making expertise:

• Extensive network across pharma, biotech, CDMOs, and venture investors

• Proven record sourcing, structuring, and closing multi-year research or co-development partnerships

• Exceptional interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills.

• Skilled in term-sheet creation, IP/royalty negotiations, and alliance governance

Execution & collaboration:

• Comfortable translating scientific value propositions to financial terms and vice-versa

• Able to manage cross-functional deal teams (legal, finance, science) under tight timelines

• Experience tracking KPIs and reporting pipeline status to leadership and board stakeholders

Mindset:

• Entrepreneurial, data-driven, and persistent in the face of long enterprise sales cycles

• Thrives on building from a blank slate and iterating GTM playbooks as the market evolves

What we offer

• Frontier technology: we're developing the next frontier of AI-driven drug discovery that will fundamentally change how new therapeutics are created.

• World-class team: opportunity to work with world-renowned leaders in the AI x biology and technology ecosystem who have created some of the most impactful advancements.

• Highly competitive compensation: we offer highly competitive salary, equity package, and healthcare and wellness benefits.

• Velocity and ownership: we move incredibly fast, which means continuous learning and career growth opportunities are a guarantee. Every team member owns a significant slice of the roadmap.

Strong team culture: Collaborative and supportive startup culture in a small and high-energy team who are guided by our mission to increase the efficiency of creating new medicines and positively impact millions of lives.