Associate Director / Director, Medicinal Chemistry in Cambridge

Transition Bio is an innovative, early-stage biotechnology company with the vision of being the world leader in drug discovery targeting biological condensates. At Transition Bio, multidisciplinary teams with diverse skillsets in biology, biophysics, chemistry, engineering, and machine learning work closely together, building first-in-class technology for high-throughput screening to aid hit identification and driving drug discovery.

The Opportunity

We are seeking an outstanding and highly motivated medicinal chemist to join our scientific team at Transition Bio, where we are discovering & developing drugs that modulate biomolecular condensates. Our drug discovery engine (CONDENSOMICS™) is built on droplet microfluidics & machine learning, as we believe having the right tools is key to unlocking an exciting new field.

As a critical part of the internal drug discovery team and working closely with external providers of chemistry and ADME services, this individual will impact discovery programs across multiple indications, from target discovery & validation through hit-to-lead and lead optimization activities. The successful candidate will have strong interpersonal skills and leadership qualities, will have demonstrated leadership in delivering projects against challenging targets, and enjoy working in a truly multi-disciplinary environment.

This position will report directly to our head of chemistry, and interact closely with Transition Bio colleagues in chemistry, data sciences, biology, and protein sciences, as well as external providers of chemistry and ADME services. Experience working with CROs to drive drug discovery projects through various phases of drug discovery is essential.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead drug discovery project teams towards milestone achievements through expertise in small molecule medicinal chemistry across a broad range of targets.
• Manage resources, maintaining positive working relationships with internal team and external providers.
• Work closely and collaboratively with other disciplines (biology, DMPK, toxicology, etc.) and stakeholders in broader drug discovery to drive the programs forward.
• Secure intellectual property while driving medicinal chemistry efforts.
• Strongly contribute to drug design across all Transition Bio discovery projects, as well as continuous improvement of our workflows.
• Support target discovery and validation with medicinal chemistry perspectives.
• Contribute to establishing external scientific reputation by authoring key publications.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• PhD in Organic Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Medicinal Chemistry, or substantial relevant work experience.
• Extensive industry medicinal chemistry experience.
• Deep understanding of drug discovery process and a track record of contributing to project progression into LG, LO and DC nomination.
• Expertise in medicinal chemistry principles applied to drug design, including the optimisation of physiochemical and ADMET properties suitable for candidate nomination.
• Experience in working with external teams of chemists (CROs).
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, capable of conveying complex scientific information in a clear and scientific manner.
• Critical but respectful thinking, contribute to people’s development and company culture.
• Experience of informatics tools for data upload, retrieval, analysis and visualisation.
• Experience working on diverse range of challenging targets and therapeutics areas; in particular, oncology/neurological disorders.
• Experience and/or knowledge of key related disciplines (DMPK, cell biology, safety, formulation, etc.).
• Familiarity with tools for virtual screening and machine-learning/AI-enabled drug design.