Principal Scientist / Associate Director, Medicinal Chemistry

The Company:
With deep expertise in chemistry, Nuvalent is working to create selective medicines designed with the goal to address the needs of patients with cancer. Nuvalent is an exciting early-stage company, bringing together experienced scientists and industry veterans with a proven track record in drug discovery, oncology drug development, and company building.

The Role:

We are seeking an entrepreneurial Medicinal Chemist with strong technical and problem-solving skills in organic and medicinal chemistry. The scientist in this position will work with the Nuvalent team, including the scientific founder, and will be responsible for leading medicinal chemistry efforts on at least one early-stage project operating under a virtual/CRO model. As a member of a small team, the Principal Scientist is expected to execute across all aspects of medicinal chemistry. Key initial responsibilities will include data analysis, SAR hypothesis generation, empirical and structure-based target design, and synthetic design and troubleshooting. Further, the scientist will be responsible for external CRO team management and interfacing with Nuvalent’s internal biology, computational chemistry, and DMPK teams.

The ideal candidate is well-versed and experienced in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry; has experience managing chemistry outsourcing; and has exceptional written and oral communication skills, interpersonal skills, and critical thinking skills. The candidate will have experience applying structure-based drug design to hits and leads in the kinase space, including optimization of potency, selectivity and ADMET properties (including CNS exposure). Experience participating in and possibly leading programs from hit identification to candidate nomination is highly desirable.

Responsibilities:

• Drive medicinal chemistry efforts and structure-based drug discovery on kinase projects: designing high quality small molecules to enable and progress projects, from hit identification to candidate
• Drive exploratory chemistry efforts to enable new target
• Manage outsourced chemistry resources: establishing and maintaining working relationships with external providers.
• Creatively solve project issues (synthetic routes, logistics ) to ensure on-track delivery of project objectives.
• Opportunity to lead drug discovery

Competencies:

• Highly self-motivated, strong in execution, with a track record of advancing programs forward
• Excellent team player with a collaborative mindset and ability to work independently.
• Strong organization skills, attention to details, with strong critical thinking, analytical thinking and trouble shooting skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and is able to communicate and present in a succinct manner.

Requirements:

• D. in organic chemistry with 7 years of hands-on Medicinal Chemistry experience in the (bio)pharmaceutical industry
• Deep knowledge and demonstrated problem-solving skills in organic and medicinal
• Significant experience applying structural information and molecular modeling to drug design in the kinase inhibitor space.
• Understanding of the drug discovery process and a proven track record of contributing to the identification of lead compounds and clinical candidates
• Excellent communication and presentation skills: capable of conveying scientific information in a clear and thorough manner.
• Experience in managing outsourced chemistry teams (CRO teams)
• Ability to think critically with strong attention to
• Ability to work independently and determine appropriate resources to overcome
• Sound knowledge of related disciplines (DMPK, biology, tox, )
• Cheminformatics experience is a plus

Nuvalent provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to religion, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, alienage or citizenship status, national origin, age, marital status, pregnancy, disability, veteran or military status, predisposing genetic characteristics or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.

Nuvalent is aware that many companies are dealing with fraudulent job postings on third-party employment search sites and/or individual(s) or entities claiming to be employees of such companies. Those involved are offering fraudulent employment opportunities to applicants, often asking for sensitive personal and financial information, and using such information for criminal activities.

Please be advised that all legitimate correspondence from a Nuvalent employee will come from "@nuvalent.com" email accounts. Automated system response emails from our Greenhouse applicant tracking system come from a “[email protected]” email address. There are no variations of these email addresses and Nuvalent would not request personal and/or financial information via email. Job opportunities would only be extended after a completed job application is submitted by a candidate and a thorough interview process including 1:1 and/or group interviews via phone, video conferencing and/or in-person.

If you believe you have been contacted by anyone misrepresenting themselves as an employee of Nuvalent, please contact Nuvalent at 857-357-7000. Thank you.