The position will be based either in the San Diego, CA area.
Role of Director of Medicinal Chemistry is to move projects from hit identification to the clinic. This requires the ability to strategically plan and tactically implement a plan through CROs to advance or terminate a program based on solid scientific data. He or she must have the highest scientific rigor. In addition, he or she must be able to co-lead a team of interdisciplinary scientist to identify critical issues and develop a plan to resolve them.
Job Responsibilities
- Be the point person as project lead who manages the medicinal chemistry resources to efficiently meet team goals
- Develop a strategic plan for the medicinal chemistry
- Tactically implement the medicinal chemist plan through external CRO collaborators
- Be able to modify chemistry plan as needed based on weekly scientific data (i.e. SAR)
- Select compounds for DM evaluation and coordinate resources for those activities
- Update the project team of any changes in the goals
- Resolve chemistry and medicinal chemistry issues
- Lead and mentor project leaders and medicinal chemists.
- Develop a compound process flow with appropriate filters
- Resolve potency, selectivity and DMPK issues
- Stay on top of all the data for specified project(s)
- Clearly articulate the needs of the team and the critical issues of the project
- Able to develop a plan to resolve critical issues and be able articulate it to the team and senior management.
- He or she must be able to motivate and inspire the team to reach the specified goal(s).
Qualifications
- Ph.D. or M.S in Organic Chemistry with 10+ years of experience in pharmaceutical or biotech companies in advancing molecules from hit identification to clinical trials
- Thorough understanding of medicinal chemistry
- Strong ability to trouble shoot DMPK issues
- Understanding of structural biology
- Proven problem solving skills, creativity, and publication record
- Experience in leading a project team to identification and proceeding to phase I clinical trials is a plus
- Experience in resolving key issues in medicinal chemistry which enable the project to proceed to IND enabling studies
- Experience in resolving process research issue to enable synthesis of API and phase I clinical trial is a plus
- Strong understanding of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics
- Ability to understand the basic biology of specified project
- Strong communication skills both oral and written
Expectations
- Honest, Ethical, Hard Working, and a team player
- Flexible, open minded, ability to listen to others
- Motivate, guide and inspire integrated teams
The Company
Our client is a small company focusing predominantly on immunology with a proven business model, a small molecule focus, and an accomplished and experienced leadership team. Everyone is a contributor. Financial backing is strong and the environment is rigorous, fast-paced and collaborative. The company itself is comprised of passionate individuals who inspire creativity and discovery by embracing an open, communicative, and silo-free culture.
To apply for this position, confidentially email us here.