Director, Research Informatics and Computational Chemistry
Organisation Name: Circle Pharma
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Job Description:
Circle Pharma is a pre-clinical stage, life sciences company discovering and developing macrocycle therapeutics, with an initial focus in oncology. Our discovery platform allows us to address challenging therapeutic targets such as intracellular protein-protein interactions. Our structure-based drug discovery platform encompasses target affinity, cell permeability, medicinal chemistry and macrocycle synthesis, tightly integrated with biochemistry and cellular biology. We have recently closed a $45M Series B round of funding, with investments from premier life science investors, The Column Group and Nextech Invest, and we are looking to expand our team. We seek candidates who desire to make key contributions to help drive our growth. For more information about Circle Pharma, please see our website, www.circlepharma.com We are looking to add a Director of Research Informatics and Computational Chemistry to our growing team. Reporting to our CSO, you will be responsible for managing our computational chemistry team and expanding our chemical/biological information systems (compound registration and inventory, integration with chemical synthesis, biology automation and data capture), as well as our computational chemistry platforms/tools and our company’s shared information infrastructure. This individual will be a key contributor to Circle Pharma’s success and will be collaborating closely with senior leaders including our CEO and SAB. This is an opportunity to join and work with a highly collaborative and energetic team in a startup environment with short communication lines across functions and departments. What You'll Do: Manage and grow Circle’s research informatics and computational chemistry team Manage and expand our chemical registration system, platforms for assay configuration and data capture, synthesis planning, inventory and experimental tracking Serve as lead computational chemist on one or more therapeutic teams with an emphasis on structure-based and ligand-based designs, permeability predictions, developing predictive SAR, and in vitro and in vivo PK modeling Manage and extend Circle's cloud-based high-performance computing platforms Define and implement data analysis and visualization methods supporting our synthetic medicinal chemists and research biologists Stay on top of the latest developments in the field of computer aided drug discovery and oversee the internalization of promising approaches Manage research IT function and software budgets supporting a heterogeneous laboratory and research environment About You: Ph.D. in computational chemistry, chemical informatics or related discipline Minimum 12 years of industry experience, with some experience managing an integrated team of research informatics and computational chemistry Significant contributor to therapeutic discovery teams Expert using one or more computational chemistry suites is required (Schrodinger preferred) Practical experience in the following areas: structure-based drug design; ligand-based drug design; QSAR model development; target-focused library construction; matched pairs analysis; DMPK and ADME modeling; biophysical simulations (e.g., permeability predictions, molecular dynamics, FEP); conformational analysis of macrocycles Strong working knowledge of chemical informatics software (RDKit) and pipeline managers (Knime) Expertise in machine learning, classifier/model building and validation, exploratory data analysis, data visualization Experience in managing and integrating web- and cloud-based solutions (AWS preferred) and vendor SaaS solutions Expert in scientific programming (e.g., Python, Java, C++, SVL) with practical application of these skills is a strong plus Excellent written and verbal skills are required Circle Pharma is a dynamic start-up company, and our successful candidate must have the ability and desire to work in a fast-paced environment. Circle offers a comprehensive compensation package, as well as generous paid time off, in addition to Company observed holidays. The Company provides Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance, along with a retirement savings plan which includes employer contributions. We promote a culture in which employees are respected and rewarded for hard work, innovation, personal initiative, and teamwork. Circle Pharma is an equal opportunity employer and committed to a diverse workplace. All applicants will be considered equally without regard to race, color, ethnicity, veteran status, religion, national origin, marital status, political affiliation, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, membership in an organization or any other non-merit factors. While COVID-19 has affected the way we operate, we are still hiring, and look forward to receiving your application! Here at Circle Pharma, the health of our team members is a top priority. Currently we have modified work arrangements, including both on-site and remote working. Our application process for prospective new team members will include initial virtual video interviews and may also include limited in-person interviews during which we will pay special attention to the distance and hygiene rules recommended by the CDC. New employees who do not start on site in our laboratory facilities are provided with IT supplies to work remotely and will be on-boarded virtually whenever possible. We recognize that these are difficult times, and are we doing everything possible to keep our employees safe while also conducting our work to bring new cancer therapies to patients.
