Director/Sr. Director, Medicinal Chemistry

About Superluminal Medicines:

Superluminal Medicines (Superluminal) is a generative biology and chemistry company revolutionizing the speed and accuracy of how small molecule medicines are created. The Company’s platform aims to create candidate-ready compounds with unprecedented speed using a combination of deep biology, computational and medicinal chemistry, machine learning, and proprietary big data infrastructure. We are expanding the team of talented scientists who seek to build the future of small molecule drug discovery with creativity and innovation.

About the role:

Superluminal is searching for a creative, resourceful, strategic thinking and passionate drug hunter for an important role that is responsible for providing strategic direction and collaboration in our Medicinal Chemistry department, focusing on small molecule drug discovery of membrane receptors. The role requires an individual with a proven track record of delivering quality development candidates and an exceptional grasp of the entire interdisciplinary drug discovery process from lead generation to development candidate / IND nomination. Additionally, the candidate will have demonstrated highly tuned analytical, organizational, and decision-making skills along with a track record of advancing drug-like molecules into the clinic. This role will report to the Head of Medicinal Chemistry and will be a member of the Superluminal Medicinal Chemistry Team.

Responsibilities:

• Contribute to the overall portfolio strategy of the company
• Partner with members of the Medicinal chemistry department
• Oversee the design, implementation, and execution of drug discovery strategies
• Establish partnering strategies to leverage external knowledge and capabilities and effectively plan resource allocation to achieve team goals
• Provide strategic, scientific, and cohesive contributions across all disciplines in an outsourced medicinal chemistry environment
• Provide timely and well-organized presentations to leadership team forums
• Collaborate effectively with other discovery colleagues from AI/ML, computational chemistry, computational biology and biology teams to synthesize all input and help move the programs into developing effective medications

Basic Qualifications:

• Doctoral degree (PhD) or equivalent in Synthetic Organic Chemistry or Medicinal Chemistry
• 12+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry with a strong track record of scientific innovation, project leadership, delivery of clinical candidates, and INDs
• In-depth knowledge of the entire drug R&D process and expertise in organic/medicinal chemistry, ADMET/PK, pharmacology, CMC, computer-assisted drug design, and fragment-based Hit to Lead optimization to achieve covalent or non-covalent drug-like molecules.
• Demonstrated technical proficiency, scientific creativity, independent thought, and ability to effectively collaborate with others
• Excellent written and oral communication skills are required, as is the desire and ability to excel in a multidisciplinary environment as an integral leader and member across multiple project teams
• Ability to foster positive working relationships across the organization, in particular with functional leads, program leads, and senior leadership
• Thrives working in a fast-paced, innovative environment while remaining flexible, proactive, resourceful, and efficient.
• Excels in a multidisciplinary environment as an integral leader and team member across several project teams.
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into action while employing strong consensus-building skills and an ability to communicate complex issues in a simple way and to orchestrate plans to resolve issues and mitigate risks.