Pharma/Biotech Expert - Drug Discovery

Job Summary

Join our customer's team as a Pharma/Biotech Expert - Drug Discovery and play a pivotal role in advancing transformative therapeutics. As a scientific thought partner, you will critically analyze early-stage discovery programs, evaluate experimental designs, and interpret complex preclinical datasets. This position offers the opportunity to leverage your deep domain expertise in medicinal chemistry, structural biology, or biologics engineering while shaping the future of innovative drug discovery strategies.

Key Responsibilities

Critically assess target validation approaches, assay design parameters, and high-throughput screening data quality. Interpret structure–activity relationship (SAR) trends and provide guidance on hit-to-lead and lead optimization strategies. Evaluate mechanistic hypotheses, protein–ligand interactions, and assess potency/selectivity trade-offs. Analyze developability risks, including drugability, liability assessment, and safety considerations. Review preclinical pharmacology, ADME profiles, and suggest key follow-up experiments to address data gaps. Summarize scientific findings and deliver structured, evidence-based evaluations for AI training and cross-functional review. Communicate scientific insights with clarity, demonstrating strong written and verbal skills to support effective collaboration.

Required Skills and Qualifications

PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Chemical Biology, or a related discipline; OR MS/BS with 8+ years of relevant pharma/biotech discovery experience. Minimum 3 years industry experience in drug discovery, lead optimization, biologics engineering, or assay development. Expertise in preclinical evaluation, mechanistic analysis, lead optimization, and target validation. Proficiency with small molecule or biologics discovery workflows and experimental design analysis. Strong ability to critically evaluate scientific literature, mechanism-of-action studies, and preclinical datasets. Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a commitment to collaborative problem solving.

Preferred Qualifications

Background in structural biology, medicinal chemistry, or biologics engineering. Experience summarizing preclinical findings for AI-based applications or scientific review panels. Track record of providing actionable recommendations to multidisciplinary R&D teams.