Postdoctoral Medicinal Chemist: Peptide Inhibitor Discovery

King's College London; Greater London; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 47,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

London weighting

Fixed-term contract until 31 Dec 2028

Job summary

King’s College London is seeking a postdoctoral researcher in the Drug Discovery Department, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, to discover and optimise peptide and peptidomimetic inhibitors that neutralise candidalysin activity. The role involves design, synthesis, purification and characterisation using NMR, MS and HPLC within an iterative medicinal chemistry programme.

You will work closely with computational chemistry and biology colleagues to interpret SAR and guide inhibitor design,

Qualifications

• PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Organic Chemistry or closely related discipline.
• Research experience in synthetic medicinal chemistry with design & synthesis of bioactive molecules.
• Knowledge of NMR, MS, HPLC and other analytical techniques.
• Experience in medicinal chemistry optimisation and SAR-driven design.
• Publications in peer‑reviewed journals.
• Excellent organisational, communication and teamwork skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, synthesis, purification and characterisation of inhibitor series.
• Iterative design‑make‑test cycles guided by SAR data.
• Scale up selected compounds for biophysical and biological evaluation.
• Collaborate with computational chemists and biology teams to evaluate activity.

Skills

Medicinal chemistry

Synthetic chemistry

SAR & iterative design

Organizational skills

Communication & teamwork

Education

PhD in Medicinal Chemistry or related

Tools

NMR

Mass spectrometry

HPLC/LC-MS

Job description

King’s College London is seeking a postdoctoral researcher in the Drug Discovery Department, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, to discover and optimise peptide and peptidomimetic inhibitors that neutralise candidalysin activity. The role involves design, synthesis, purification and characterisation using NMR, MS and HPLC within an iterative medicinal chemistry programme.

You will work closely with computational chemistry and biology colleagues to interpret SAR and guide inhibitor design,