Senior Director, Medicinal Chemistry Design in Cambridge

About Parabilis Medicines

Parabilis Medicines is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to creating extraordinary medicines for patients with serious diseases by unlocking biologically important targets long considered undruggable. The company has pioneered a new class of alpha-helical peptides – Helicons™ – capable of modulating intracellular proteins that have historically been beyond the reach of conventional medicines. The company’s lead investigational medicine, zolucatetide, is the first and only direct inhibitor of the β-catenin:TCF interaction, a central node in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway that has eluded drug developers for decades. Zolucatetide is being evaluated in the clinic across multiple Wnt/β-catenin-driven diseases, including desmoid tumors, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and a range of other solid tumor indications. Beyond zolucatetide, Parabilis is advancing additional Helicon-based programs focused on other challenging targets where we believe our medicines could have life-altering impact.

What’s the opportunity?

Reporting to the Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry Design, this is an exciting opportunity to advance a transformational new modality, Helicons TM, including degraders and other induced proximity approaches, with first-in-class and best-in-class programs. We are seeking a creative drug designer with a passion for advancing programs to candidate nomination.

• Lead drug design teams applying our AI design platform to facilitate rapid SAR decision-making, using state-of-the-art methods in medicinal chemistry and targeted protein degradation.
• Serve as program leader, setting strategy, coordinating cross-functional teams, and driving delivery of development candidates.
• Develop, implement and communicate an integrated medicinal chemistry strategy, working in concert with partners in Synthesis, Data Science, Platform, in vitro Biology, DMPK, Safety and Pharmacology to reach hit-to-lead and lead optimization goals.
• Use hypothesis-based drug design, incorporating in silico methods to address key optimization issues.
• Drive progression of lead molecules to pharmacological proof-of-concept studies and development candidate nomination.
• Collaborate closely with data scientists to evolve machine learning models for acceleration of the Helicon degrader platform.
• Participate in company portfolio and stage-gate reviews.
• Present to scientific advisory board.
• Collaborate with Lead IP Counsel to formulate intellectual property strategies and draft patent applications.
• Mentor colleagues across functions in medicinal chemistry principles.

What you'll need to be successful:

• Minimum education: PhD in chemistry and 12+ years of industrial experience, or Master’s degree and 15+ years of experience.
• Demonstrated experience in delivery of drug candidates both as medicinal chemistry lead and program leader.
• Experience in optimization of induced proximity modalities, such as protein degraders.
• Experience in ADCs or other drug conjugates a plus.
• Inquisitive mindset with desire to build understanding of helicons.
• Desire to deliver high-quality drug candidates, often for novel biological targets.
• Experience in structure-based data analysis and hypothesis-driven drug design.
• Collaborative team member with desire to incorporate computational techniques to increase design quality.
• Desire and ability to communicate science – from strategy to hypotheses to tactical plans.
• Demonstrated ability to utilize AI tools for day-to-day work; baseline proficiency is expected, and advanced or innovative use of AI is a strong plus.
• Able to work on-site and attend in-person meetings.

Core Values

Parabilis Medicines is a team of passionate pioneers who are trailblazing the future of precision medicine with the aim of making a meaningful difference in the lives of patients. The company is committed to promoting an inspiring and flourishing working environment for all employees across the business, in all departments, and driving innovation for patient benefit.

• Growth-Minded. We’re inventing a new class of medicines—one applicable to therapeutic targets that have been dreamt about, but always considered impossible to drug. Our work requires us to be curious, humble and adaptable.
• In(ter)dependent. We are fiercely independent as a leader in defying the limitations of current therapeutic modalities, and interdependent as a team as we work collaboratively to shift drug discovery paradigms and provide patients with better treatment options.
• Patient-focused. We are deeply focused on patient outcomes, and all energy in the company is focused on science as it translates to patient impact.
• All-In. We’re All-In on solving some of the hardest scientific challenges and delivering one of the most effective new classes of drugs in history.

The base salary range for this position is $240,000-$295,000, depending on experience, qualifications, and internal practices. Parabilis’s total compensation package also includes an annual target bonus, equity, and a comprehensive suite of competitive benefits designed to support our employees’ overall well-being. As an equal opportunity employer, Parabilis Medicines values an inclusive workplace and welcomes applicants of all backgrounds and experiences. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.