Scientist IV, Cheminformatics

Who is USP?
The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is an independent scientific organization that collaborates with the world’s leading health and science experts to develop rigorous quality standards for medicines, dietary supplements, and food ingredients. At USP, we believe that scientific excellence is driven by a
commitment to fairness, integrity, and global collaboration. This belief is embedded in our core value of Passion for Quality and is demonstrated through the contributions of more than 1,300 professionals across twenty global locations, working to strengthen the supply of safe, high-quality medicines
worldwide.
At USP, we value inclusive scientific collaboration and recognize that attracting diverse expertise strengthens our ability to develop trusted public health standards. We foster an organizational culture that supports equitable access to mentorship, professional development, and leadership opportunities. Our partnerships, standards, and research reflect our belief that ensuring broad participation in scientific leadership results in stronger, more impactful outcomes for global health.
USP is proud to be an equal employment opportunity employer (EEOE) and is committed to ensuring fair, merit-based selection processes that enable the best scientific minds—regardless of background—to contribute to advancing public health solutions worldwide. We provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities and uphold policies that create an inclusive and collaborative work environment.

Brief Job Overview

The USP Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) team seeks to continuously move medicine manufacturing into the future through practical applications and solutions in advanced manufacturing and analytical technologies that increase medicine quality and strengthen supply chain resiliency. The AMT team helps make drugs in new ways, test the quality of drugs in new ways, and build more efficient, sustainable, and competitive industries both in the US and around the globe. To do this work, the AMT team brings together expertise in chemistry, biologics, engineering, data science, economics,
business, and regulatory science.
The Scientist IV, Cheminformatics is a scientific professional who leverages expertise in organic chemistry, cheminformatics (including chemometrics), and process analytical technologies (PAT) to conduct research and development solutions for a range of projects in the AMT team. The incumbent is responsible for integrating chemical engineering knowledge, statistical analysis, and data-driven decision-making into pharmaceutical supply chain management, synthesis optimization, and PAT solutions in advanced manufacturing for both internal and externally sponsored projects. The role emphasizes cross-disciplinary collaboration on time-sensitive externally and internally funded projects. regulatory compliance, and the application of advanced analytical methods. The workload balance in these areas depends on external funding priorities and projects.

This is a one-year fixed term position that ends on August 30, 2026. The term may be extended based on external funding priorities and projects.

How will YOU create impact here at USP?

As part of our mission to advance scientific rigor and public health standards, you will play a vital role in increasing global access to high-quality medicines through public standards and related programs. USP prioritizes scientific integrity, regulatory excellence, and evidence-based decision-making to ensure health systems worldwide can rely on strong, tested, and globally relevant quality standards.

Additionally, USP’s People and Culture division, in partnership with the Equity Office, invests in leadership and workforce development to equip all employees with the skills to create high-performing, inclusive teams. This includes training in equitable management practices and tools to promote engaged, collaborative, and results-driven work environments.

The Scientist IV, Cheminformatics has the following responsibilities:
Create, validate, and continually refine multivariate models using principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares (PLS), and advanced machine learning (ML) algorithms for process chemistry and advanced supply chain solutions.
Use of normalization, mean-centering, and cross-validation strategies to ensure model robustness and interpretability while managing high-dimensional data sets.
Leverage cheminformatic tools to assess material flow, identify vulnerabilities, and facilitate root cause analysis across global networks.
Employ advanced model-based approaches for scenario simulation, risk prediction, and mitigation optioning.
Apply ML-enhanced retrosynthetic tools and data science platforms to accelerate the identification of cost-effective, sustainable, and scalable synthetic methods.
Use of AI-driven retrosynthetic tools (e.g., AIZynthFinder, SYNCHEM) and multi-target convergent synthesis frameworks to design efficient, cost-effective pathways for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates.
Model trade-offs and conduct scenario analysis to optimize yield, reduce waste, and cost of production.
Analyze high-dimensional data from analytical platforms such as NIR, Raman, FTIR, and HPLC employing chemometric methods to extract actionable insights.
Author and execute protocols for method design, model building, and validation for advanced manufacturing technologies such as flow chemistry and 3D printing.
Act as a subject-matter expert on cheminformatics applications, including the technical design of proposals.
Ensure all work is done on-time, meets client expectations, and exemplifies the trust, quality, and reliability expected from a USP solution.
Other duties as assigned.

Who is USP Looking For?

The successful candidate will have a demonstrated understanding of our mission, commitment to excellence through inclusive and equitable behaviors and practices, ability to quickly build credibility with stakeholders, along with the following competencies and experience:

Bachelor’s Degree and seven (7) years of relevant experience; master’s degree and five (5) years of relevant experience; or a Ph.D. and (3) years of relevant experience required.
Demonstrated experience applying statistical techniques to complex systems as well as developing or applying techniques such as pre-processing, classification, regression, clustering, dimensionality reduction and model selection.
Programming and computational abilities in data science languages and frameworks (e.g., Python—Pandas, scikit-learn, TensorFlow; R; MATLAB; Pyomo).
Strong analytical reasoning, critical thinking, and troubleshooting ability.
High attention to detail, ethical integrity, and a solutions-oriented mindset.
Demonstrates initiative to solve problems and develop solutions on a deadline.
Solid communications skills – both written and oral.
Desire to affect change and drive public health impact.

Additional Desired Preferences

Preferred degrees in organic chemistry, chemical engineering, data science, or closely related field with significant emphasis in mathematical and statistical methods to extract meaningful information from chemical data or predict chemical information using informatics.
In-depth experience with chemometrics applied to model development, retrosynthetic/synthesis process analysis, and/or spectrometric analysis.
Familiarity with PAT modeling in the pharmaceutical industry.
Working knowledge of advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing technology (e.g., flow chemistry, continuous manufacturing, 3D printing, etc.).
Experience executing on contract work

Supervisory Responsibilities

None, this is an individual contributor role.

Benefits
USP provides the benefits to protect yourself and your family today and tomorrow. From company-paid time off and comprehensive healthcare options to retirement savings, you can have peace of mind that your personal and financial well-being is protected.
Compensation
Base Salary Range: USD $101,000.00 – $127,000.00 annually.
Target Annual Bonus: % Varies based on level of role.
Individual compensation packages are based on various factors unique to each candidate’s skill set, experience, qualifications, equity, and other job-related reasons.
Note: USP does not accept unsolicited resumes from 3rd party recruitment agencies and is not responsible for fees from recruiters or other agencies except under specific written agreement with USP.