Senior Director, Head of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry

At Genmab, we’re committed to building extra[not]ordinary futures together, by developing antibody products and pioneering, knock-your-socks-off therapies that change the lives of patients and the future of cancer treatment and serious diseases. From our people who are caring, candid, and impact-driven to our business, which is innovative and rooted in science, we believe that being proudly unique, determined to be our best, and authentic is essential to fulfilling our purpose.

The role

As Senior Director, Head of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry for Antibody Drug Conjugates at Genmab, you will play a pivotal role in the Discovery Department, a crucial part of our Research and Development function. You will use your knowledge and expertise to support and bolster Genmab's discovery pipeline. You will lead a new team dedicated to synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry and analytics, shaping strategic direction, and overseeing all related activities for ADC development.

Within this role, you will provide strategic leadership and oversight of all synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry activities related to ADCs. This role will involve building up the wet lab capabilities, foster innovation and managing a high-performing team. Your role will be instrumental in ensuring the successful progression of ADC projects from discovery through clinical development.

Collaboration will be central to your role, as you engage with the various discovery departments and contribute actively to the discovery management team. You will also work closely with our business development team to strategize and motivate external collaborations in linker-payload chemistry.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic direction and leadership for the synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry team, focusing on ADC discovery and development.

• Lead the functional team of synthetic organic chemists responsible for designing, synthesizing, conjugating, and analyzing payloads, linkers, and the conjugated ADCs.

• Development and implementation of innovative synthetic methodologies and strategies to enhance efficiency, scalability, and overall project success.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including biology, pharmacology, protein engineering and manufacturing, to integrate chemistry efforts and achieve project milestones.

• Shape Genmab’s strategy for scouting and external collaborations on ADC and linker-payload synthetic chemistry, together with business development teams.

• Contribute to the preparation of patent applications, scientific publications, and regulatory submissions.

• Oversee budget planning, resource allocation, and ensure projects are completed on time and within budget, in line with strategic priorities.

• Cultivate a collaborative environment, promoting a culture of excellence and continuous improvement. Encourage scientific knowledge exchange and best practice within the team and across functions.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, or a related discipline.

• Minimum of 10-15 years of experience in early-stage biopharmaceutical or biotechnology industry or partly in academia. Prior experience (5+ years) in a leadership role overseeing cross-functional teams is crucial to manage the complexities and the scale of operations in this role.

• Proven record of accomplishment of leading successful ADC chemistry projects from discovery to clinical development.

• Comprehensive knowledge of industry standards and scientific advancements in early-stage discovery chemistry and analytics, involving ADC-, conjugation- and linker-payload chemistry.

• Expertise in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry techniques.

• Strong strategic planning skills.

• Experience with structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies.

• Familiarity with computational chemistry and molecular modeling tools is desirable.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, with the ability to clearly articulate complex research findings to diverse audiences.

• Flexibility to adapt to new organizational directions and work on multiple projects simultaneously, in accordance with evolving departmental needs.

About You

• You are passionate about our purpose and genuinely care about our mission to transform the lives of patients through innovative cancer treatment
• You bring rigor and excellence to all that you do. You are a fierce believer in our rooted-in-science approach to problem-solving
• You are a generous collaborator who can work in teams with diverse backgrounds
• You are determined to do and be your best and take pride in enabling the best work of others on the team
• You are not afraid to grapple with the unknown and be innovative
• You have experience working in a fast-growing, dynamic company (or a strong desire to)
• You work hard and are not afraid to have a little fun while you do so

Locations

Genmab leverages the effectiveness of an agile working environment, when possible, for the betterment of employee work-life balance. Our offices are designed as open, community-based spaces that work to connect employees while being immersed in our state-of-the-art laboratories. Whether you’re in one of our collaboratively designed office spaces or working remotely, we thrive on connecting with each other to innovate.

About Genmab

Genmab is an international biotechnology company with a core purpose guiding its unstoppable team to strive towards improving the lives of patients through innovative and differentiated antibody therapeutics. For more than 20 years, its passionate, innovative and collaborative team has invented next-generation antibody technology platforms and leveraged translational research and data sciences, which has resulted in a proprietary pipeline including bispecific T-cell engagers, next-generation immune checkpoint modulators, effector function enhanced antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates. To help develop and deliver novel antibody therapies to patients, Genmab has formed 20+ strategic partnerships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. By 2030, Genmab’s vision is to transform the lives of people with cancer and other serious diseases with Knock-Your-Socks-Off (KYSO™) antibody medicines.

Established in 1999, Genmab is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark with locations in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. and Tokyo, Japan.

Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

We are committed to fostering workplace diversity at all levels of the company and we believe it is essential for our continued success. No applicant shall be discriminated against or treated unfairly because of their race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. Learn more about our commitments on our website.

Genmab is committed to protecting your personal data and privacy. Please see our privacy policy for handling your data in connection with your application on our website https://www.genmab.com/privacy.

Please note that if you are applying for a position in the Netherlands, Genmab’s policy for all permanently budgeted hires in NL is initially to offer a fixed-term employment contract for a year, if the employee performs well and if the business conditions do not change, renewal for an indefinite term may be considered after the fixed-term employment contract.