Scientist I/II, Process Chemistry

Location: Cambridge, MA USA

Department: Autonomous Science Platform

Your Impact at Lila

The Scientist I/II, Process Chemistry will develop and apply modern process chemistry approaches to support Discovery Chemistry efforts across Lila’s platform, with a focus on reaction/reactor engineering, process design, high-throughput experimentation, and digitalized chemistry workflows for small molecules and related molecular matter. This role is intended for a hands-on scientist who combines strong foundations in synthetic and process chemistry with an engineering mindset and experience building practical, scalable, and data-rich experimental workflows.

Working closely with Discovery Chemistry, analytical chemistry, automation, platform engineering, and AI/computational teams, this scientist will design, execute, and optimize reaction and process workflows that improve the speed, robustness, and scalability of chemical transformations. The Scientist I/II will help bridge early discovery chemistry and modern process development by establishing experimentally efficient, digitally enabled, and automation-compatible approaches to reaction screening, process optimization, and chemistry execution.

This role is ideal for a scientist excited by the intersection of chemistry, engineering, high-throughput platforms, process intensification, and digital experimentation, and who wants to help shape next-generation process chemistry capabilities beyond traditional bench development.

What You'll Be Building

• Design, execute, and optimize process-relevant chemical transformations that support Discovery Chemistry programs and the generation of small molecules.
• Develop reaction and process workflows with emphasis on engineering rigor, scalability, reproducibility, throughput, and data quality.
• Apply high-throughput experimentation (HTE) to reaction screening, process optimization, condition scouting, and evaluation of process-relevant variables.
• Build and execute workflows that connect reaction setup, process screening, workup, analytical readout, and data capture into efficient experimental cycles.
• Contribute to the design of digitally enabled process chemistry workflows, including structured experimental data generation, electronic documentation, and integration of chemistry data into computational and AI-ready systems.
• Collaborate with automation and platform teams to develop and adapt reaction and process workflows for robotics-enabled experimentation.
• Work closely with analytical chemistry teams to ensure rapid and informative analytical support for reaction monitoring, impurity assessment, and process decision-making.
• Evaluate reaction performance through both chemistry and engineering lenses, including yield, selectivity, impurity formation, mass balance, robustness, throughput, and operational simplicity.
• Establish best practices for AI-enhanced process design in early discovery settings, balancing speed and molecular access with process understanding and future scalability.
• Stay current with advances in modern process chemistry, reaction engineering, HTE, digitalization, automation, and enabling technologies relevant to next-generation discovery chemistry.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• PhD in Process Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Medicinal Chemistry, or a related discipline with relevant postdoctoral and/or industry experience.
• Strong hands-on experience in process chemistry, reaction development, or scale-relevant synthetic chemistry.
• Demonstrated experience applying engineering principles to chemical process design, optimization, and troubleshooting.
• Experience with HTE for reaction or process screening, optimization, and data-rich experimentation.
• Strong understanding of key process variables in discovery chemistry.
• Experience with reaction workup, sample handling, purification, and analytical interpretation in fast-paced chemistry environments.
• Hands-on familiarity with analytical tools commonly used to support process chemistry.
• Experience generating well-structured experimental data to support reproducibility and digital workflows.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex experimental problems and independently drive practical, technically sound solutions.
• Strong collaborative skills and ability to work effectively across chemistry, analytics, automation, engineering, and computational teams.

Bonus Points For

• Experience supporting Discovery Chemistry or small molecule R&D in biotech, pharma, or advanced platform environments.
• Familiarity with modern process chemistry in early discovery settings, including rapid route improvement, robustness assessment, impurity understanding, and scalable reaction design.
• Experience with miniaturized process screening, parallel reactors, or robotics-enabled chemistry platforms.
• Experience contributing to the digitalization of process chemistry, including structured data capture, ELNs, workflow automation, or AI/ML-enabled experimental environments.
• Ability to connect chemistry execution with broader platform goals such as throughput, automation compatibility, and data generation.
• Strong scientific curiosity and enthusiasm for building next-generation process chemistry capabilities that go beyond traditional development paradigms.

About Lila

Lila Sciences is the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous lab for life, chemistry, and materials science.  We are pioneering a new age of boundless discovery by building the capabilities to apply AI to every aspect of the scientific method.  We are introducing scientific superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges, enabling scientists to bring forth solutions in human health, climate, and sustainability at a pace and scale never experienced before. Learn more about this mission at  www.lila.ai

If this sounds like an environment you’d love to work in, even if you only have some of the experience listed above, we encourage you to apply.

We’re All In

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.

A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.