Director, Medicinal Chemistry
Location
Oxford, Oxfordshire | United Kingdom
Job description
About Us
Exscientia is an AI-driven pharmatech company committed to discovering, designing and developing the best possible drugs in the fastest and most effective manner. Exscientia developed the first-ever functional precision oncology platform to successfully guide treatment selection and improve patient outcomes in a prospective interventional clinical study, as well as to progress AI-designed small molecules into the clinical setting.
Our pipeline demonstrates our ability to rapidly translate scientific concepts into precision-designed therapeutic candidates, with more than 15 projects underway. By designing better drugs, faster, we believe the best ideas of science can rapidly become the best medicines for patients.
The Role
Play an integral part in building and delivering the Company’s drug discovery pipeline as it executes the next phase of its life cycle. As a senior member of our scientific community, you will influence and drive impact across projects. You will work closely with the Head of Medicinal Chemistry to continuously look for ways to improve the effectiveness of project delivery. Moreover, you will work closely with Computational Designers to set overall medicinal chemistry strategy and be responsible for the delivery of project milestones.
The influence of this position extends beyond Exscientia’s project portfolio as you will also proactively influence the evolution of our technology platform to identify and define improvements and areas of opportunity and innovation. In addition, you will provide input into the selection of potential new targets to support decisions on their inclusion in the Exscientia portfolio (e.g. tractability assessments, hit-finding strategies).
As a seasoned drug hunter, we're seeking someone who is passionate about providing mentorship to the next generation of medicinal chemists as they build their careers within Exscientia.
Please note this is a hybrid role and regular travel is required to our offices in Oxford, UK (minimum 2-3 days per month, ideally more), with flexibility to work from home the remaining time. We are a flexible working organisation and we’re willing to consider various options which would provide similar contact time with the team.
You will have the opportunity to:
- Work collaboratively with small molecule drug design teams to apply our AI design platform to complex drug discovery challenges.
- Develop the medicinal chemistry strategy and engage with colleagues from across our small molecule discovery team to progress molecules that deliver on project goals towards the clinic.
- Lead drug discovery projects, influence and implement project strategy to deliver upon the agreed objectives.
- Take a leading role in representing projects to senior leadership in Exscientia and to our external collaborators.
- Help to advance Exscientia’s computational design platforms, working with our technology and data teams to accelerate the development of computational tools and algorithms.
- Mentor and develop a team of talented scientific experts.
Essential skills:
- PhD in Chemistry or a related field and 10+ years’ experience in a drug discovery environment with a proven track record of delivering drug candidates.
- Experience guiding cross functional small molecule drug discovery programs from hit selection through lead optimisation and into in vivo safety and efficacy studies.
- Experience managing external chemistry resource to support delivery of novel small molecule designs from mg scale to >100g.
- Expert-level knowledge of modern aspects of small molecule optimisation including: quality metrics, computer-aided drug design, the role of physiochemical properties in compound quality, interpretation of in vitro and in vivo PK studies and the key aspects that drive human dose.
- Experience in defining IP strategy for small molecule discovery projects.
- Fluency in English (spoken and written) and ability to communicate effectively with colleagues and potentially external collaborators.
Desirable skills:
- Experience with modern hit identification approaches and data analysis tools.
- Experience in the field of fragment-based lead generation.
- Experience in multiple target classes (e.g. GPCRs, proteases, NHR, kinases).
- Experience of drug discovery within the oncology therapeutic area.
- Work together to make a positive contribution to patients by revolutionising the pharmaceutical industry through AI-driven discovery.
- Opportunity to join an inclusive, collaborative and intellectually stimulating culture
- We will work with you to provide a highly competitive compensation as we continue to grow and thrive.
- Our team’s health and well-being is important to us we offer a generous holiday allowance, provide flexible working and remote working to encourage all of our team to manage their own work, time and life along with wellbeing and mindfulness support.
- When you are in the office, you will have access to a kitchen stocked with an endless supply of food for all employees. Along with access plenty of break out areas so you can get to know the people you are working with. Some of the best ideas start with a coffee break!
- Hear from our team why they enjoy working here
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