Team Leader, Chemistry (Peptides), London, Lausanne in Slough

Isomorphic Labs is applying frontier AI to help unlock deeper scientific insights, faster breakthroughs, and life-changing medicines with an ambition to solve all disease. The future is coming. A future enabled and enriched by the incredible power of machine learning. A future in which diseases are curtailed or cured starting with better and faster drug discovery. Come and be part of an interdisciplinary team driving groundbreaking innovation and play a meaningful role in contributing towards us achieving our ambitious goals, while being a part of an inspiring and collaborative culture.

About Isomorphic Labs (IsoLabs) was launched in 2021 to advance human health by building on and beyond the Nobel-winning AlphaFold system. Since then, our interdisciplinary team of drug discovery experts and machine learning specialists has built powerful new predictive and generative AI models that accelerate scientific discovery at digital speed. Our name comes from the belief that there is an underlying symmetry between biology and information science. By harnessing AI’s powerful capabilities, we can use it to model complex biological phenomena to help design novel molecules, anticipate how drugs will perform and develop innovative medicines to treat and cure some of the world’s most devastating diseases.

We have built a world-leading drug design engine comprising AI models that are capable of working across multiple therapeutic areas and drug modalities. We are continually innovating on model architecture and developing cutting-edge capabilities to advance rational drug design. Every day, and with each new breakthrough, we’re getting closer to the promise of digital biology, and achieving our ambitious mission to one day solve all disease with the help of AI.

About The Exploratory Sciences Team Join our expanding Exploratory Sciences team, focused on tackling proteins which are critical for disease biology, but have been traditionally considered intractable. We are a small, multi-disciplinary team within the Drug Design and Medical Research function at Isomorphic Labs. We work at the interface of machine learning, chemical biology and drug discovery to apply our platform to some of the toughest problems in drug discovery, and we collaborate closely with multiple teams across Isomorphic Labs. We have a strong growth mindset and prioritise continued development and learning as we hope to build the next generation of drug discovery scientists.

We are expanding and investing in our multi-disciplinary Peptides team within Exploratory Sciences, looking to recruit a number of talented scientists to drive projects towards the clinic. This role is for a Team Leader, Chemistry, specialising in peptides.

Your impact As a member of the Peptides team, you will deliver the development and application of a state-of-the-art peptide design platform. This will involve applying our platform in novel ways, and critically driving portfolio projects towards the clinic. You will need to design and execute on bold strategies to tackle problems that are currently considered impossible. Working alongside world leading AI/ML and Drug Design Platform teams, you will deliver scientific expertise and strategic direction to drive both improvements in the Platform and help to solve unsolved drug design problems.

Ready to elevate your scientific career? Isomorphic Labs offers a unique environment to tackle stimulating challenges, pushing your boundaries and accelerating your personal and professional growth. If you are a skilled and ambitious scientist looking to take the next step in your career, joining Isomorphic Labs will challenge you with novel problems and provide an amazing opportunity for professional growth and development.

What You Will Do Apply your knowledge of cutting-edge peptide design and synthesis to compose novel approaches to long standing challenges in drug discovery. Utilise internal AI/ML models to solve challenging drug discovery problems. Collaborate in multidisciplinary teams to support data-driven delivery of high quality scientific solutions. This will require understanding the fundamentals of diverse disciplines including ML, Biology, Chemistry and DMPK, and communicating effectively with experts in those fields. Manage members of the growing team and CRO resource, mentoring and supporting their development. Represent the company externally, interacting with existing and prospective collaborators and contract research organisations (CROs). Prepare detailed scientific proposals and reports to support new and ongoing programs. Embrace and champion our culture of inclusion and continuous professional development.

Skills And Qualifications Essential: PhD in Chemistry, or a related technical field, or equivalent industrial experience. 5+ years’ professional experience in a Chemistry role, either operating within a biotech or pharma setting, or within a Post Doc position. Practical experience in the design and synthesis of therapeutic peptides, ideally applying these skills to active drug discovery projects. Experience of leading a high-performing team, mentoring and empowering people to thrive in their roles. Experience of coding in Python, or a willingness to learn in-role. A genuine passion and enthusiasm for applying AI/ML to drug design and how this can transform the field. Excellent communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills, with an ability to work effectively in a cross-functional, collaborative team environment. A track record of creative problem solving with a strong growth mindset, adaptability, and eagerness to learn new concepts and techniques.

Nice to have: Experience working with or managing activities at contract research organisations (CROs). Experience with peptide screening techniques. Experience of contributing to structure-based drug design (SBDD) problems. Experience of applying ML methods to drug discovery problems. Track record of authorship of relevant scientific manuscripts.

Culture and values We are guided by our shared values. It’s not about finding people who think and act in the same way. These values help to guide our work and will continue to strengthen it.

• Thoughtful: Thoughtful at Iso is about curiosity, creativity and care. It is about good people doing good, rigorous and future-making science every single day.
• Brave: Brave at Iso is about fearlessness, but it’s also about initiative and integrity. The scale of the challenge demands nothing less.
• Determined: Determined at Iso is the way we pursue our goal. It’s a confidence in our hypothesis, as well as the urgency and agility needed to deliver on it. Because disease won’t wait, so neither should we.
• Together: Together at Iso is about connection, collaboration across fields and catalytic relationships. It’s knowing that transformation is a group project, and remembering that what we’re doing will have a real impact on real people everywhere.

Creating An Extraordinary Company We believe that to be successful we need a team with a range of skills and talents. We're building an environment where collaboration is fundamental, learning is shared and every employee feels supported and able to thrive. We value unique experiences, knowledge, backgrounds, and perspectives, and harness these qualities to create extraordinary impact.

We are committed to equal employment opportunities regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis protected by applicable law. If you have a disability or additional need that requires accommodation, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Hybrid working It’s hugely important for us to share knowledge and build strong relationships with each other, and we find it easier to do this if we spend time together in person. This is why we follow a hybrid model, and would require you to be able to come into the office 3 days a week (currently Tuesday, Wednesday, and one other day depending on which team you’re in). If you have additional needs that would prevent you from following this hybrid approach, we’d be happy to talk through these if you’re selected for an initial screening call.

Please note that when you submit an application, your data will be processed in line with our privacy policy.