Director, In Vitro Biology & Molecular Pharmacology

Schrödinger; New York (NY); On-site; USD 195,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Healthcare, dental and vision coverage

401k

Pre-tax commuter benefits

Flexible work schedule

Parental leave

Paid vacation

Job summary

Schrödinger seeks a Director/Senior Director of In Vitro Biology and Molecular Pharmacology to direct strategy and execution across a pipeline of small molecule drug discovery programs. You will focus on undrugged targets, novel modalities, and hit finding approaches while shaping pipeline strategy and mentoring a high-performing team.

You will set vision for IVB/MP capabilities, participate in governance, and oversee assay development, CRO partnerships, and cross-functional collaboration with

Qualifications

• PhD required in Biochemistry, Molecular Pharmacology, Chemical Biology, Cell Biology or related discipline.
• At least ten years of industry experience in drug discovery, including leadership.
• Experience leading in vitro biology teams and managing direct reports.
• Demonstrated background with developing assays and prosecuting programs against undrugged targets.
• Significant experience across hit finding modalities (DEL, fragment screening, HTS/MTS, chemoproteomics).
• Deep expertise in biochemical, biophysical, and cell-based assay design.
• Strong experience managing strategic CRO partnerships, including governance, budgets and FTE planning.

Responsibilities

• Set strategic direction for In Vitro Biology across the Therapeutics Group portfolio and represent the function on governance bodies.
• Assess target tractability and risk during target selection and define the assay cascade to advance a target from hit identification to Development Candidate selection.
• Lead organization-wide hit finding strategy across DEL, fragment-based, HTS/MTS, and chemoproteomic platforms focusing on undrugged targets.
• Provide scientific oversight across multiple programs including challenging target classes such as protein–protein interactions and degraders.
• Tackle complex in vitro biology and molecular pharmacology challenges including biochemical-to-cellular disconnects and in vitro-to-in vivo translatability.
• Act as IVB project lead when needed, coordinating with chemistry and structural biology leads.
• Lead and develop the IVB and MP team, mentoring staff and fostering scientific rigor and collaboration.
• Own the CRO strategy for In Vitro Biology, including partner selection, budget and FTE planning, KPI accountability, and remediation of performance issues.
• Identify capability gaps and drive investment in new technologies and platforms.

Skills

Leadership

Hit finding

Assay development

Molecular pharmacology

Education

PhD in Biochemistry/ Molecular Pharmacology/ Chemical Biology/ Cell Biology

Tools

LiveDesign

Job description

Schrödinger seeks a Director/Senior Director of In Vitro Biology and Molecular Pharmacology to direct strategy and execution across a pipeline of small molecule drug discovery programs. You will focus on undrugged targets, novel modalities, and hit finding approaches while shaping pipeline strategy and mentoring a high-performing team.

You will set vision for IVB/MP capabilities, participate in governance, and oversee assay development, CRO partnerships, and cross-functional collaboration with