DMPK Lead - growing biotech, London

Your new company Hays Life Sciences have been exclusively retained by a VC backed biotech that has already raised tens of millions of pounds of funding and is using its novel platform technology to develop innovative medicines for areas of unmet need, allowing you to have a significant impact on patients. The company has a high-performing and innovative atmosphere, driven by the highly experienced leadership team which has an excellent track record of developing therapeutics. They are going into their next phase of growth and are looking to further build up their R&D teams within chemistry and biology with the addition of an experienced DMPK Lead to focus on leading drug discovery & development projects. This is ideally a full-time position (but could be part-time for the right candidate), with hybrid working based out of their site in London, though there is significant flexibility for remote working.

Your new role This is a permanent position, reporting into the VP of Drug Discovery, and working closely with a variety of internal colleagues and external stakeholders and vendors. The role is hybrid, requiring some time on site, and is focused on leading the company's DMPK efforts as they develop the next generation of small molecule therapeutics focused on protein degradation. Major responsibilities will include a mix of (but aren’t limited to):

• Acting as a technical lead on drug development and late-stage discovery projects, working from hit ID, through Lead Optimisation & in-vivo/IND studies to the clinic.
• Design, implement and oversee the company’s DMPK strategy, including significant input into their project portfolio and candidate progression.
• Support experimental & project design and technical troubleshooting with colleagues in other departments.
• Provide support on aspects such as PKPD modelling or compound profiling for dose prediction.
• Identify requirements from internal stakeholders and help to develop new approaches.
• Presenting results to senior leadership and other stakeholders, eg within medicinal chemistry or biology teams.
• Liaising with external CROs / vendors, eg for outsourced in-vivo work.

What you'll need to succeed As well as strong communication skills for dealing with internal collaborators and stakeholders, you should have:

• A degree (with MSc or PhD preferred) in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology or a similar Life Sciences discipline, or equivalent experience.
• A strong track record in small molecule drug metabolism, bioanalysis, pharmacokinetics gained in a Pharma, Biotech or CRO environment and familiarity with principles of PKPD modelling, eg using Phoenix or WinNonLin.
• Experience working on diverse drug discovery & development projects, delivering compounds to pre-clinical and clinical development.
• Experience of building mechanistic disease models, and / or quantitative systems pharmacology expertise, is highly desirable.
• Proven experience of using cutting edge approaches to compound profiling and prediction of human dose and PK parameters.
• An excellent knowledge of all aspects of ADMET and PK to influence experimental design and data interpretation across a range of projects.
• Experience of working on projects at all stages of drug discovery from hit to lead to the clinic.
• Worked with external partners, ie CROs, and managed the outsourcing of in-vivo (and preferably in-vitro) studies.
• Good time management skills, a proven ability to form close and effective relationships with colleagues at all levels (both internal and in partner organisations) and excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience of working on protein degradation / PROTACS / molecular glue projects would be a distinct advantage.

What you'll get in return You'll get the chance to make a significant impact on the company's drug discovery and development projects, taking on project leadership for a number of different aspects within DMPK as they develop the next generation of medicines and progress these towards the clinic. The company are relatively open on salary bands depending on the skills of the person coming in and the benefits package associated with the role is quite generous.