Senior Medicinal Chemistry Scientist – Drug Discovery

Placements24; Southampton; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Bonus structure

Health and wellness benefits

Professional development

Support for conferences/workshops

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Senior Pharmaceutical Research Chemist to join a leading pharma innovator in Randburg, Gauteng. You will design multi-step syntheses, purify and characterize compounds, and apply NMR, MS, and HPLC to confirm structures while driving hit-to-lead and lead optimization efforts.

The role requires a PhD with 4+ years in synthetic chemistry, excellent problem-solving, and the ability to work both independently and in a team.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, or a related discipline.
• Minimum of 4 years of post-doctoral or industry experience in synthetic chemistry, preferably in drug discovery.
• Extensive hands-on experience in organic synthesis, including reaction design, execution, and purification techniques.
• Proficiency in spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques (NMR, MS, HPLC).
• Strong understanding of medicinal chemistry principles and SAR (structure-activity relationships).
• Excellent problem-solving abilities and a proactive approach to research.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a collaborative team.
• Experience with parallel synthesis and high-throughput experimentation is desirable.
• Knowledge of cheminformatics tools is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute multi-step synthetic routes for novel small molecules.
• Synthesize, purify, and characterize compounds using modern organic chemistry techniques.
• Utilize a variety of analytical methods (NMR, MS, HPLC, IR) to confirm compound identity, purity, and structure.
• Interpret analytical data and troubleshoot synthetic challenges.
• Contribute to hit-to-lead and lead optimization programs.
• Collaborate with biologists and pharmacologists to advance drug discovery projects.
• Maintain detailed and accurate laboratory notebooks and reports.
• Stay current with the latest literature and advancements in organic and medicinal chemistry.
• Assist in the evaluation of new synthetic methodologies and technologies.
• Contribute to patent applications and scientific publications.

Skills

Organic synthesis

Medicinal chemistry

SAR (structure-activity relationships)

Analytical techniques

Problem solving

Communication

Team collaboration

Independent work

High-throughput experimentation

Cheminformatics

Education

Ph.D. in Organic/Medicinal Chemistry

Tools

NMR

MS

HPLC

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Senior Pharmaceutical Research Chemist to join a leading pharma innovator in Randburg, Gauteng. You will design multi-step syntheses, purify and characterize compounds, and apply NMR, MS, and HPLC to confirm structures while driving hit-to-lead and lead optimization efforts.

The role requires a PhD with 4+ years in synthetic chemistry, excellent problem-solving, and the ability to work both independently and in a team.