Director, Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery

Exelixis; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 234,000 - 296,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) plan

Medical, dental and vision coverage

Life and disability insurance

Flexible spending accounts

Discretionary annual bonus program

Stock purchase plan

Long-term incentives

Paid time off: 15 vacation days, 17 U\

Job summary

Exelixis in Alameda, CA seeks a Director of Medicinal Chemistry to lead a small molecule discovery team, design and synthesize novel compounds, and drive projects from target validation to lead optimization.

This senior leader oversees cross-functional collaboration with biology, DMPK, and safety, mentors chemists, contributes to patents and publications, and participates in strategic planning while upholding safety and lab standards.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in chemistry with 8+ years of related experience or equivalent.
• Experience leading medicinal chemistry teams and managing projects in biotech/pharma.
• Proven track record delivering drug candidates from target ID through optimization.
• Strong background in structure-based design, synthesis, and analytical techniques.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to present to senior teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide scientific and transformative leadership to the chemistry team.
• Collaborate with biology, DMPK and safety to advance quality compounds.
• Drive projects from target validation to lead optimization and candidate selection.
• Present at project team and departmental meetings.
• Maintain laboratory notebooks according to company policies and EH&S guidelines.
• Contribute to writing technical documents, patents, manuscripts and conference presentations.

Skills

Medicinal chemistry leadership

SAR analysis

Drug discovery

Team management

Cross-functional collaboration

Project management

Communication

Literature/database skills

Education

Ph.D. in Chemistry

Tools

MS Word

MS PowerPoint

MS Excel

Job description

Exelixis in Alameda, CA seeks a Director of Medicinal Chemistry to lead a small molecule discovery team, design and synthesize novel compounds, and drive projects from target validation to lead optimization.

This senior leader oversees cross-functional collaboration with biology, DMPK, and safety, mentors chemists, contributes to patents and publications, and participates in strategic planning while upholding safety and lab standards.