Director/ Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry

Role: Director/ Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry

Life Science People has partnered with a leader in the biotech space with a simple purpose: to relieve suffering for people with great needs, but few options. The company is dedicated to discovering and developing life-changing treatments for patients with under-addressed neurological, endocrine, and psychiatric disorders. Its diverse portfolio includes multiple FDA-approved treatments.

The team is seeking a talented and highly motivated individual with significant industry experience to join their multidisciplinary team. The successful candidate will lead a group of medicinal chemists and engage in rational structure-based drug discovery, which is enabled by our computational and structural chemistry group. In addition, the work will include aspects of managing CRO collaborators in the preparation of target molecules and leading drug discovery projects. As a member of a dynamic multidisciplinary team, this person will collaborate with a broad group of internal scientists as well as external collaborators.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement medicinal chemistry strategies to support drug discovery programs
• Co-lead interdisciplinary project teams and work with a team of scientists to progress projects from target selection and validation through candidate selection
• Build, critically interpret, and respond to structure-activity relationships incorporating multiple optimization parameters such as pharmacological, DMPK, and physicochemical properties
• Apply advanced medicinal chemistry principles to design high-quality compounds
• Contribute to the execution of IP strategy in collaboration with intellectual property attorneys
• Clearly and effectively communicate medicinal chemistry strategy and provide progress updates to cross-functional project teams and scientific leadership
• Build and maintain productive relationships with colleagues in chemistry, computational, biomolecular sciences, ADME, biology, and pharmacology
• Contribute to developing our innovative drug discovery platform for modulating RNA processing with small molecules
• Promote a team culture that values continuous improvement, ownership, professional growth, and inclusion

Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry or a related field
• 8+ years of experience in Medicinal Chemistry
• Strong ability to Lead a team of PhD colleagues and CRO collaborators
• Strong background in synthetic organic chemistry and drug discovery
• Experience with structure-activity relationships and medicinal chemistry optimization
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

If you are a highly motivated and experienced medicinal

chemist with a passion for drug discovery, we encourage you to apply for this

exciting opportunity.

We are looking for highly qualified candidates for this position. If you believe that you have the skills and essential experience that we are seeking, please apply directly through LinkedIn or send us your CV/resume along with 5 concise points that make you a great fit for this role.

@saul@lifescience-people.com