Summer Intern, AI & Computational Chemistry; Discovery Chemistry

Position: Summer Intern, AI & Computational Chemistry (Discovery Chemistry)
The Position

The AI & Computational Chemistry Intern will support discovery research at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by contributing to an AI-driven virtual compound library initiative. This internship offers hands-on experience working at the intersection of computational chemistry, cheminformatics, and machine learning to support early-stage drug discovery. The intern will play a meaningful role by executing focused technical tasks, improving computational workflows, and supporting model development, helping accelerate project timelines and enhance data quality across the discovery organization.

This is an 11-week Summer Internship Program paying $24.00 per hour and requires full-time, onsite work five days per week at the designated location.

Responsibilities

* Curate, clean, and preprocess molecular and structural datasets to support AI model development and evaluation.

* Contribute to algorithm prototyping, benchmarking, and computational experiments related to virtual compound library generation.

* Help automate repetitive computational tasks using Python or related scripting tools to improve workflow efficiency.

* Assist in development and evaluation of machine learning or deep learning models supporting virtual compound libraries.

* Collaborate with scientists and engineers to test new ideas, troubleshoot issues, and iterate on computational designs.

* Document workflows, results, and methodologies to support reproducibility and knowledge sharing.

Requirements

* Currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computational Chemistry, Chemistry, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related technical field.

* Basic proficiency in Python and familiarity with scientific or data-processing libraries (e.g., Num Py, pandas, RDKit, PyTorch, Tensor Flow).

* Fundamental understanding of molecular structures, chemical representations, or machine learning concepts.

* Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work independently within established computational workflows.

* Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Preferred:

* Hands-on experience with Linux environments, shell scripting, or GPU computing.

* Prior research or project experience in AI, drug discovery, computational modeling, or molecular biology.

* Familiarity with deep learning frameworks or cheminformatics toolkits.

* Strong curiosity and motivation to learn at the interface of AI, chemistry, and biology.

* Interest in pursuing a career in computational drug discovery or data-driven research.