Remote | STEM Expert – Chemistry & Computational Chemistry (PhD) — $45–$90/hour

24-Mag•New York, NY

7d•Remote

About The Position

24-MAG LLC is offering a fully remote freelance consulting opportunity for experienced Chemistry and Computational Chemistry experts with a completed PhD in a relevant scientific discipline. The work supports AI training and benchmarking initiatives by applying advanced chemical research, molecular modelling, scientific analysis, computational methods, and structured evaluation. Experts will design, solve, review, and evaluate complex chemistry problems, scientific workflows, and technical reasoning tasks to improve the scientific accuracy and reasoning capabilities of AI systems. Assignments may involve advanced experimental or simulation-based research across organic, inorganic, physical, theoretical, analytical, and computational chemistry, as well as cheminformatics and materials science. Work includes scientific problem development, chemistry workflow evaluation, computational analysis, AI-generated solution review, technical feedback, research documentation, and scientific quality assessment. Collaboration may involve scientific researchers, technical specialists, and multidisciplinary project contributors. Work must be completed without using confidential or proprietary information belonging to any employer, client, institution, or other third party.

Requirements

Completed PhD in Chemistry, Computational Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Materials Science, or a closely related scientific discipline.
Hands-on laboratory research experience for experimental chemistry specialisations, or extensive simulation-based research experience for computational specialisations.
Deep expertise in at least one relevant field of chemistry or computational chemistry.
Strong understanding of chemical principles, scientific research methodologies, and quantitative analysis.
Practical proficiency in Python and/or established scientific software appropriate to the candidate's specialisation.
Ability to analyse chemical datasets, evaluate scientific workflows, and validate research findings.
Excellent quantitative reasoning, scientific problem-solving, and analytical evaluation capabilities.
Professional written and spoken English proficiency at C1 level or higher.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain advanced scientific concepts clearly.
Strong attention to detail and commitment to rigorous, reproducible, well-documented scientific work.
Do not use confidential or proprietary information belonging to any employer, client, institution, or other third party.

Nice To Haves

Academic research experience as a postdoctoral researcher, research scientist, faculty member, or equivalent.
Peer-reviewed publications, patents, or contributions to open-source scientific software.
Experience with AI/ML-assisted chemistry workflows, scientific benchmarking, or model evaluation.
Background in drug discovery, reaction prediction, retrosynthesis, or computational molecular research.
Expertise in organic synthesis, reaction mechanisms, inorganic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, or related areas.
Advanced expertise in physical chemistry, theoretical chemistry, analytical chemistry, spectroscopy, or molecular simulation.
Experience in cheminformatics, drug discovery, materials science, or polymer chemistry.
Familiarity with Gaussian, ORCA, Psi4, GROMACS, LAMMPS, RDKit, or comparable scientific applications.

Responsibilities

Develop technically rigorous chemistry problems based on realistic research and industry scenarios.
Analyse complex questions across organic, inorganic, physical, theoretical, and analytical chemistry.
Apply chemical principles to reaction mechanisms, synthesis planning, molecular behaviour, and material properties.
Evaluate scientific assumptions, chemical reasoning, and methodological approaches for accuracy and consistency.
Design specialised scientific challenges for AI training and benchmarking.
Develop and evaluate computational chemistry workflows involving molecular modelling and simulation.
Apply electronic structure theory, molecular dynamics, and computational analysis methods as appropriate.
Assess simulation parameters, model configurations, and numerical methods for scientific accuracy.
Use scientific software to investigate molecular properties, chemical interactions, and structural behaviour.
Validate computational results using established scientific principles and reproducible analytical procedures.
Analyse chemical, spectroscopic, molecular, and simulation datasets.
Evaluate experimental protocols, analytical procedures, and computational methodologies.
Review spectroscopy results, reaction pathways, chemical structures, and quantitative measurements.
Identify inaccuracies, inconsistent assumptions, and methodological limitations in scientific analyses, and recommend justified improvements.
Design and critique chemistry questions, reasoning chains, and computational tasks for AI benchmarking.
Review AI-generated solutions for chemical accuracy, scientific completeness, and methodological consistency.
Identify errors in reaction mechanisms, molecular interpretation, numerical calculations, and simulation assumptions.
Develop clear reference solutions supported by rigorous chemical reasoning and appropriate scientific methods.
Provide structured expert feedback to improve AI performance in chemistry and computational research applications.
Produce technical documentation describing research methods, computational procedures, and analytical findings.
Communicate complex chemical concepts to scientific, technical, and interdisciplinary collaborators.
Collaborate with specialists to evaluate chemistry-focused AI systems and scientific workflows.
Document methodological decisions, simulation configurations, and recommended improvements.
Support consistent scientific quality standards and knowledge sharing across research and evaluation activities.