Scientific Director - Medicinal Chemistry

Company: Initial Therapeutics, Inc.
Location: Indianapolis
Posted on: April 22, 2025

Job Description:

At Lilly, we unite caring with discovery to make life better for people around the world. We are a global healthcare leader headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Our employees around the world work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to our communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. We give our best effort to our work, and we put people first. We're looking for people who are determined to make life better for people around the world.Actual compensation will depend on a candidate's education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is $144,000 - $250,800.The Discovery Chemistry & Technologies organization within Lilly Research Laboratories is seeking a highly skilled and experienced scientist, enterprise thinker, and team player to join the Medicinal Chemistry group located at the Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, IN.SUMMARY OF THE POSITION

• Keep safety as your top priority at any time, striving to maintain a strong safety culture.
• Formulate innovative Medicinal Chemistry hypotheses, design and synthesize novel small molecules to engage disease modifying targets and contribute decisively to the advancement of drug discovery programs from early lead generation to submission of candidate drugs to the clinic.
• Deep subject-matter expertise leveraging Computational Chemistry in structure-based drug design technologies and partner with expert colleagues in computational chemistry and biophysics to characterize protein-ligand interactions and gain key insights supporting de-novo molecular design.
• Optimize lead compounds to improve potency, selectivity, physicochemical properties and DMPK to meet the desired target product profiles required to invent high-quality medicines, including in beyond rule-of-5 chemical space.
• Deliver high laboratory synthetic productivity to inform fast-paced SAR iterations through proposal and execution of synthetic routes.
• Team up with colleagues specialized in high-throughput automated synthesis, route optimization and scale-up to maximize the overall efficiency and productivity of the group.
• Reach out across disciplines to build, interact and collaborate with scientists in areas like pharmacology, translational science, ADME and toxicology to address specific program needs, increase your overall business acumen and provide them with Medicinal Chemistry perspectives.QUALIFICATIONSRequired:
  • PhD in Organic or Medicinal Chemistry with > 5 years post-graduation experience in small molecule organic synthesis and synthetic methodology, either in pharmaceutical industry or including postdoctoral experience or MS in Organic or Medicinal Chemistry with > 15 years experience.Desired:
    • Exceptional Synthetic Organic Chemistry skills with deep and extensive working knowledge of modern synthetic chemistry methodologies, experimental work, isolation/purification techniques and structural analysis of synthetic organic molecules. Ability to maintain awareness of latest literature of chemical transformations.
    • Scientific creativity and ability to work independently solving problems through careful experimental design, analysis of complex data sets and mechanistic insight.
    • Robust track record of scientific contributions including peer reviewed publications, patents and presentations.
    • Excellent English language oral and written communication skills, ability to engage highly effectively as team player in a multidisciplinary and international environment.
    • Proficient use of Microsoft Office applications as well as Scifinder, Reaxys or other scientific data tools to identify relevant scientific literature.
    • Strong work ethic. Scientific curiosity. Can do, will do attitude.
    • Medicinal Chemistry and Computational Chemistry expertise in pharmaceutical, biotechnology or academic environments, with strong knowledge of the following areas of Drug Discovery will be necessary:
      • Structure-based drug design.
      • Lead optimization to improve potency, selectivity and properties of compounds.
      • Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics problem solving.
      • Computational chemistry tools and methods.
      • Biophysical techniques such as X-ray crystallography.
      • Command of scientific informatics and data visualization tools (e.g. StarDrop, TIBCO Spotfire, KNIME) to undertake computationally enabled multi-property optimization approaches will be advantageous.
      • Example(s) of leading projects and/or initiatives, coordinating multiple scientific activities and team members simultaneously across various geographies or disciplines.Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions. If you require accommodation to submit a resume for a position at Lilly, please complete the accommodation request form () for further assistance. Please note this is for individuals to request an accommodation as part of the application process and any other correspondence will not receive a response.Lilly is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.Our employee resource groups (ERGs) offer strong support networks for their members and help our company develop talented individuals for future leadership roles. Our current groups include: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia Network, African American Network, Chinese Culture Network, Early Career Professionals, Japanese International Leadership Network (JILN), Lilly India Network, Organization of Latinos at Lilly, PRIDE (LGBTQ + Allies), Veterans Leadership Network, Women's Network, Working and Living with Disabilities. Learn more about all of our groups.Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance). In addition, Lilly offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees, including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts); life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities). Lilly reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion and Lilly's compensation practices and guidelines will apply regarding the details of any promotion or transfer of Lilly employees.#WeAreLilly
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Keywords: Initial Therapeutics, Inc., Bloomington , Scientific Director - Medicinal Chemistry, Executive , Indianapolis, Indiana