{"id":29061,"url":"https://alion.io/job/sandboxaq-research-scientist-catalyst-simulation","title":"Research Scientist, Homogeneous Catalyst Simulation","company":{"id":7529,"name":"SandboxAQ","domain":"sandboxaq.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/sandboxaq","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":"middle","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_countries","remote_scope_basis":"board_field","remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":[],"countries":[],"hiring_countries":["US"],"hiring_countries_total":1,"salary":{"min":134400,"max":252000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":252000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":3,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Braintrust","optional":false},{"name":"HPC","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Agile","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-07-31T20:33:22Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-07-31","last_verified_at":"2026-10-18T05:03:38Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":78,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":78},"description":"About SandboxAQ\nSandboxAQ is a high-growth company delivering AI solutions that address some of the world's greatest challenges. The company’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) power advances in life sciences, financial services, navigation, cybersecurity, and other sectors.\nWe are a global team that is tech-focused and includes experts in AI, chemistry, cybersecurity, physics, mathematics, medicine, engineering, and other specialties. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. as an independent, growth capital-backed company in 2022, funded by leading investors and supported by a braintrust of industry leaders.\nAt SandboxAQ, we’ve cultivated an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and impact. By investing deeply in our people, we’re building a thriving, global workforce poised to tackle the world's epic challenges. Join us to advance your career in pursuit of an inspiring mission, in a community of like-minded people who value entrepreneurialism, ownership, and transformative impact.\nThe Opportunity\nAs a Research Scientist on our Computational Catalysis team, you will join a dedicated team of subject matter experts, computational scientists, software developers, and machine learning experts, leveraging an ensemble of state-of-the-art proprietary computational tools to solve real-world challenges.\nIn this role, you will be responsible for supporting one or more of the following core focus areas:\nSupporting the design and implementation of computational workflows to study reaction mechanisms, catalyst speciation, selectivity, and reactivity in molecular catalytic systems.\n\nSupporting homogeneous catalyst discovery and optimization projects with our industrial partners in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and energy sectors.\n\nDeveloping large-scale quantum chemistry datasets and machine learning models for homogeneous catalysis.\n\nKey Responsibilities\nProject & Client Leadership\nSupport client engagements focused on the research, development, discovery, and optimization of novel homogeneous catalysts, ligands, and reaction conditions.\n\nSupport business functions with technical diligence and proposal development for pre-sales customer engagements.\n\nTechnical Execution & Innovation\nDeploy and support the design and implementation of computational workflows to investigate catalytic cycles, elementary reaction steps, transition states, catalyst speciation, and structure-selectivity relationships in homogeneous catalysis.\n\nCollaborate with platform, machine learning, and software engineering teams to continuously improve the efficiency and performance of discovery workflows.\n\nDevelop large-scale datasets and machine-learned models for molecular catalyst and reaction discovery.\n\nCommunication & Mentorship\nPrepare and deliver high-impact reports, presentations, and publications to communicate research findings to internal, academic, and industry partners.\n\nMentor junior scientists and interns in catalysis, reaction engineering, and computational methods, championing best research and software practices.\n\nEssential Skills & Experience\nPhD in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or an equivalent/related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.\n\nExperience developing and utilizing modern atomistic simulation methods for homogeneous catalysis, including quantum chemistry, machine learning potentials, reaction-path analysis, kinetics, and data-driven models.\n\nExperience performing in silico catalyst discovery and/or optimization projects, with emphasis on molecular catalyst design, mechanism elucidation, and selectivity control.\n\nStrong background in software development with Python, particularly for computational chemistry and reaction analysis, and experience implementing open-source packages in an HPC environment.\n\nAbility to collaborate effectively within diverse, interdisciplinary teams.\n\nA strong publication record demonstrating interdisciplinary collaboration and the ability to adapt to new technologies and methodologies in catalysis research.\n\nHighly Desired Skills & Experience\n3+ years of proven industrial R&D experience supporting experimental groups with computational studies for homogeneous catalyst discovery, mechanism elucidation, or selectivity optimization.\n\nHands-on experience or familiarity with experimental methods for homogeneous catalysis research (e.g., organometallic synthesis, reaction screening, spectroscopy, and mechanistic studies).\n\nExperience developing software in an industrial setting as part of a software engineering team, with familiarity with software development best practices like Agile.\n\nWillingness to travel occasionally for in-person meetings with industrial partners.\n\nWhy Join Us?\nWe offer competitive compensation, a comprehensive benefits package, and opportunities for professional growth.\nCompensation: Competitive base salary, performance-based incentives or bonuses (where applicable), and equity participation.\n\nBenefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents with generous employer premium contributions, retirement savings with company matching, paid parental leave, and inclusive family-building benefits.\n\nWork-Life Balance: Fully remote, Flexible paid time off, company-wide seasonal breaks, and support for flexible work arrangements that enable sustainable performance.\n\nCareer Development: Opportunities for continuous learning and growth through on-the-job development, cross-functional collaboration, and access to internal learning and development programs.\n\nSandboxAQ Welcomes All\nWe are committed to fostering a culture of belonging and respect, where diverse perspectives are actively sought and valued. Our multidisciplinary environment provides ample opportunity for continuous growth - working alongside humble, empowered, and ambitious colleagues ready to tackle epic challenges.\nEqual Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.\nAccommodations: We provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in job application procedures for open roles. If you need such an accommodation, please let a member of our Recruiting team know.\nRead:Guidance for candidates on using AI Tools in interviews","description_format":"text","description_chars":6420,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":3,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"phd","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Continuous learning","Equity","Flexible schedule","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Quantum Science & Computing","Information Security","AI for Science"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-07-31T20:33:22Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":50,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.831,"p_room":0.6,"age_days":77,"expected_fill_days":87,"reasons":["conf:3","velocity","win:late","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":252000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/sandboxaq-research-scientist-catalyst-simulation","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/sandboxaq-research-scientist-catalyst-simulation.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-18T05:56:04Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":8877,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-19T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":7529},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=7529"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fsandboxaq-research-scientist-catalyst-simulation"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fsandboxaq-research-scientist-catalyst-simulation"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fsandboxaq-research-scientist-catalyst-simulation"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/sandboxaq-research-scientist-catalyst-simulation\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fsandboxaq-research-scientist-catalyst-simulation"}]}