Principal Scientist, Platform Chemical Biology

We are seeking a highly committed and self-motivated principal scientist role as a key player in the Totus platform innovation and optimization, working closely with a diverse team of chemists, chemical biologists, biochemists, cell biologists, data scientists and automation engineers to establish Totus platform workflow.

In this role you will:

• Drive and direct chemical biology functions within the Platform Team to enable lead discovery efforts in collaboration with chemistry, proteomics, and screening functions
• Design, propose, and execute chemical biology strategies and workstreams enable complex laboratory protocols in medium- to high throughput assays for measuring target engagement (biochemical or cell-based)
• Design and synthesize chemical biology tools in support of Platform Screening efforts, as well as supervise and direct synthetic chemistry activities at external partners
• Be a leader from the bench for the Platform Chemical Biology team and a strong individual contributor, able to handle multiple tasks and deliver high quality results under tight timelines
• Supervise junior team members and manage external teams/CROs
• Be open to learning new techniques; staying abreast of the latest scientific and competitive developments and applying knowledge to project strategy
• Prepare and present hypotheses, on-going progress reports, technical reports, and future planning (including contributing to budgets and business plans)
• Contribute to building a culture that embraces scientific excellence and integrity with a sense of urgency and collaboration with key stakeholders

Requirements:

• Ph.D. with postdoctoral experience or comparable industry experience in chemical biology, molecular biology, cell biology, or related field with strong interest in contributing to the discovery of novel small molecule drugs within an innovative Biotech environment
• 6+ years of industry experience
• Highly motivated individual with excellent verbal and written communication skills and willingness to proactively engage in an interdisciplinary and collaborative environment
• Experience in SAR-driven design and synthesis of small molecules, with proven track record of delivering high quality chemical biology probes
• Solid understanding of chemical biology/chemoproteomics methods, including activity-based protein profiling (ABPP), DNA-encoded libraries photoaffinity labeling, affinity chromatography, and cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA)
• Hands-on experience in cloning molecular biology and tissue culture techniques to express target proteins in mammalian cells
• A strong work ethic and willingness to learn drug discovery approaches in biochemical and cellular target engagement is a requirement
• Willingness and ability to work on diverse projects simultaneously
• Experience with molecular biology techniques and protein expression using various systems, especially mammalian cell culture, is required
• Prior hands-on experience in analyzing protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions (e.g. mass spectrometry, fluorescence, TR-FRET, nanoBRET, ELISA, AlphaLISA assays.)
• Training in high-throughput techniques is a plus and will be provided as needed
• Experience with liquid-handling robots, and integrated lab automation systems is strongly preferred
• Experience with data analysis tools (e.g. Prism, SpotFire, Knime, GeneData Screener, Datagrok)
• Experience in mentoring and managing junior team members and/or external partners/CROs
• Excellent organization and communication skills; ability to prioritize tasks and manage time effectively; attention to details and good documentation habits