Scientist, Organic Chemistry (Night Shift)

Capable Lab

$100K — $120K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Willingness to reliably work designated night shifts
  • Hands-on experience in synthetic chemistry with strong experimental discipline
  • Interest in overseeing all aspects of overnight chemistry work
  • Creative and safety-conscious approach to laboratory problem-solving
  • Sound judgment in troubleshooting reactions and instrument issues
  • Ability to maintain accurate records and clear communication during handoffs

Responsibilities

  • Execute overnight synthesis workflows from planning to sample preparation
  • Run and troubleshoot diverse organic reactions
  • Utilize solution-phase and solid-phase chemistry methods efficiently
  • Resolve issues related to reaction failures and instrument downtime
  • Purify and characterize using a range of analytical methods
  • Prepare samples for biological testing and maintain quality records
  • Conduct thorough morning handoffs to the daytime team

Benefits

  • Generous equity options
  • $500+ monthly wellness budget for health-related expenses
  • Comprehensive healthcare coverage with 100% base policy covered
  • Access to HSA, FSA, and 401K plans
  • Healthy dinners provided daily
  • Visa sponsorship available for various employment-based pathways
Full Job Description
About the Role

You will run organic-chemistry workflows on a dedicated night-shift schedule so compounds are ready for characterization, biological testing, or handoff the next day. You will execute solution- and solid-phase chemistry, solve experimental problems independently, maintain complete records, and give the day team a clear account of every result and open issue.

Responsibilities
  • Execute overnight synthesis workflows, including route planning, reaction setup, workup, purification, characterization, and sample preparation.
  • Run and troubleshoot organic reactions involving functional-group transformations, coupling chemistry, protecting-group strategies, late-stage diversification, and parallel synthesis.
  • Use solution-phase and solid-phase methods where appropriate, including cleavage, deprotection, crude analysis, purification, and final quality control.
  • Resolve overnight issues involving low conversion, poor selectivity, side products, decomposition, solubility, purification, recovery, and instrument downtime.
  • Purify and characterize compounds using analytical HPLC, prep HPLC, LC-MS, NMR, flash chromatography, SFC, and related methods as appropriate.
  • Prepare compounds for in vitro and in vivo testing and maintain accurate experimental and batch-level quality-control records.
  • Provide clear morning handoffs covering completed work, results, failures, sample locations, risks, and follow-up actions.


Ideal Qualifications
  • Able and willing to work the designated night-shift schedule reliably and operate independently when needed.
  • Hands-on synthetic chemistry experience and strong experimental discipline.
  • Interest in owning overnight chemistry from reaction execution through purification, characterization, documentation, and sample handoff.
  • A creative, fast, rigorous, and safety-conscious approach to laboratory problem-solving.
  • Sound judgment when a reaction fails, an instrument is down, data look unusual, or the usual day-team contact is unavailable.
  • The ability to maintain excellent records and create clean, useful handoffs across night and day teams.


Pay & Benefits
  • In addition to the posted salary range, we offer generous equity options.
  • Compensation will depend on the skills, experience, and scope of impact you bring. If your background, experience, or compensation needs fall outside this range, we are still open to a conversation based on the scope and impact you could bring.
  • $500+ monthly wellness budget for training, supplements, coaching, recovery, or other tools that help you perform at your best.
  • Healthcare: We offer a broad range of medical, dental, and vision coverage options, with Capable covering 100% of the base policy.
  • You will also have access to HSA, FSA, and 401K plans.
  • Healthy dinners with the team are provided daily.
  • We support visa sponsorship where appropriate, including O-1, H-1B, J-1, TN, and other employment-based pathways. Our team is already international, with members from Canada, Pakistan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, China, India, and the United States.


Application Process

Our process is fast, transparent, and personal. We care about getting to know the person behind the application.
  • Initial application
  • First phone screen
  • Second phone screen
  • In-person work trial in San Francisco: designed to give both sides a realistic sense of working together. Get to know the founding team!


Apply Today

Curious but not sure? Apply anyway. It takes 5 minutes, and you do not need to be actively job searching to start a conversation.

Some of the best people do not map perfectly to a job description. If this sounds like a place where you could do important work, we would like to hear from you.

And if someone exceptional comes to mind, send them our way here. We read every referral carefully, and if your referral joins Capable, we'll send you a thank-you bonus.

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Capable Lab

More Pharmaceuticals & Biotech Jobs

Find similar Scientist, Organic Chemistry (Night Shift) jobs: