Realising its immense potential, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries are now going in for qualified and trained staff in cheminformatics. The career opportunities are available for IT as well as computer proficient science graduates for acquiring, managing, or utilising chemical information with the help of computer software or hardware. These professionals are also required to develop and maintain program for specific scientific applications. Depending upon the size of company, the nature of job and remunerations vary for these professionals.

In cheminformatics, scientific information is generated and collected with the help of computer simulation and visualisation techniques. It includes creating, searching and maintaining databases of chemical structures with the help of computers. The vast amount of data so generated creates an excellent opportunity for cheminformatic professionals to manage and utilise whenever required for analysis or product development. The specialised software helps in retrieving of only those data, which are specifically required for the purpose.

Cheminformatics is a fast growing field and there are few qualified scientific professionals who can use computers databases for chemical compound or drug development. These specialists are also required to keep track of computed and measured data associated with each compound and thus require extensive training in chemistry or in computer science to work on the database development. The professionals are involved in computational chemistry-using mathematical models to calculate molecular properties, or to simulate molecular behaviour.

Cheminformatics is included in curriculum of several universities abroad mainly the USA and UK. However, the actual learning is mostly acquired through on job training provided by the employer. Degree or diploma courses in cheminformatics are provided by institutions like Indiana University, University of Sheffield and University of Manchester. The Masters' course in Cheminformatics is designed to provide training for those working in chemical and biochemical industries. The course curriculum includes lectures, seminars, practical training, research project, etc. in a specialist area relevant to the industry. In addition, the course develops scientists with the broad computational skills.

Most of the job opening for cheminformatics specialists exits in large pharmaceutical and drug companies like Bayer, Pfizer, etc. where professionals are employed in different area of operations. Support specialists are those who provide technical and scientific support to scientists on software installation and testing. The candidate should have a degree in chemistry, biology or related fields with relevant experience in chemical databases and computer systems. They have to be familiar with the Oracle, SQL, Java and Unix and are involved in software development, testing and installation validation.

Several IT consulting companies also employ professionals having background in life sciences or chemistry for providing professional services for the rapid implementation and customisation of chemical products for the clients. Trained consultants assist customers, both on and offsite in the installation and customisation of the software systems, implementation of public domain, internal and in-licensed databases, integration of internal data visualisation, etc. Here professionals also conduct training for users and administrators to provide skills for installation and maintenance of software provided by them.

Cheminformatics programmer design and implement code to create and maintain chemical structure databases. They also develop Web tools to increase the availability of chemical data, tools to facilitate inter-application communication, etc. The candidate must have sufficient knowledge Unix operating system and scripting tools. They must have experience working with Perl+, C, Java, Python, HTML development and Scientific Vector Language (SVL).

The Cheminformatic scientists develop and apply software solutions for classification, identification and quantification of biological, chemical and pharmaceutical data. The candidate must possess sufficient experience in database, programming, client/server or Web development. Experience in the pharmaceutical industry, strong interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively in a team-based environment is an added advantage. Cheminformatics product manager in a consulting company should be capable of accessing and analysing data in disparate formats and locations. They provide technical content, coordinate business development and monitor competitor activities. This position requires industrial experience of working in cheminformatics, understanding of software tools and solutions applied to drug research, excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills.

With the exponentially growing and highly competitive drug and pharmaceutical market, demand for IT chemical professionals is also growing substantially. These professionals are required to bring new products to the market quickly and economically. Cheminformatic professionals thus have immense importance in the drug development process as they implement IT tools to replace traditional processes.

Cheminformatics software developer experienced in Java/JDBC/JSP work on chemical laboratory information management system (LIMS). They require strong Java, Oracle, experience. Some of the most commonly applied chemical software are ArgusLab, CASTEP, Crystallography Programs like Frodo-TOM, SIR92, Databases like Cambridge Structural Database System, RS3, Chemical Information Systems like CrossFire, Accord Internet Chemistry Viewer, etc. A person opting for a career in cheminformatics must be aware of some of these software tools and applications.

In years to come, cheminformatics shall play a vital role in new drug discovery and those with sufficient background in chemistry and proficiency in computer programming or database technologies, are bound to get lucrative career opening both within and abroad.