Head of Discovery

Output Biosciences; City of Utica (NY); On-site; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Feedback-focused environment

Job summary

Output Biosciences, located in New York, is seeking a drug hunter to drive innovative drug discovery programs. The ideal candidate will possess a PhD and substantial experience in drug discovery, alongside the ability to analyze computational model outputs.

This role involves assessing drug candidates and managing partnerships with CROs for testing and synthesis, all within a culture that emphasizes feedback and ownership.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in drug discovery programs in pharma or biotech.
• Hands-on experience in target selection and lead optimization.
• Ability to analyze AI-generated molecular data and make decisions.

Responsibilities

• Own the scientific strategy behind Output's drug discovery programs.
• Evaluate therapeutic targets and prioritize drug candidates.
• Manage CRO partnerships for candidate synthesis and testing.

Skills

Drug discovery experience

Scientific judgment

Experience with AI-driven drug discovery

Data analysis in Python

Education

PhD in pharmacology or related field

Tools

Computational drug design tools

Job description

The Role

Output has built a biological reasoning model that understands biology at the scale and complexity life actually operates. Our model independently learned the principles of molecular interactions, opening up drug treatments that were previously impossible. We're already generating therapies that traditional approaches cannot reach. The hardest problems in both AI and biology are being solved here, and there is room for you to own one.

Output is currently in stealth, operated by a team of repeat founders and biotech veterans with multiple exits in AI × Bio, and backed by top-tier VCs including Y Combinator.

You are a drug hunter. You own the scientific strategy behind Output's drug discovery programs. You help select targets for our pipeline, evaluate what the models generate, and make the scientific decisions that advance candidates from computational generation to real‑world testing.

• Identify and evaluate therapeutic targets, building the scientific rationale for which programs to pursue and why.
• Analyze model outputs to assess drug candidates, evaluating biological plausibility, therapeutic potential, and readiness for advancement.
• Prioritize candidates and make scientific go/no‑go decisions, advancing the strongest compounds through the discovery pipeline.
• Manage CRO partnerships for candidate synthesis and biological testing, designing experiments that validate or refine drug design hypotheses.
• Work closely with the founders and model team, bringing drug discovery expertise to model evaluation and development priorities.
• Stay current with target biology, disease mechanisms, and the clinical landscape across relevant therapeutic areas.

About You

• PhD in pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, computational biology, or a related field with 5+ years of drug discovery experience in pharma or biotech, or equivalent depth through extensive industry experience.
• Hands‑on experience advancing drug discovery programs through pipeline stages: target selection, hit identification, hit‑to‑lead, and lead optimization.
• Demonstrated experience evaluating drug candidates and making scientific go/no‑go decisions on real programs.
• Comfortable working directly with computational model outputs and analyzing AI‑generated molecular data.
• Strong scientific judgment across target biology, disease mechanisms, and therapeutic modalities.
• Ability to build and defend a scientific rationale, communicate across disciplines, and make decisions under uncertainty.

Bonus Points

• Experience with AI‑driven drug discovery or computational drug design tools.
• Experience managing CRO relationships for synthesis and biological testing.
• Experience across multiple therapeutic areas or modalities, including small molecules and peptides.
• Track record of advancing compounds into preclinical or clinical development.
• Programming skills in Python, with the ability to work with data analysis tools and model outputs hands‑on.
• Publications at top‑tier venues or relevant drug discovery and medicinal chemistry journals.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and equity in a growing, well‑funded startup.
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Healthy feedback‑focused environment to help you thrive; leadership has high expectations, regularly shares constructive feedback, supports growth, and welcomes ideas.
• You own your day‑to‑day management. What matters is hitting milestones.
• Encouragement of new and different ideas, creativity, and contrarian thinking.

Our Values

• Heart: We foster a culture of ownership, bringing passion and pride in contributions.
• Excellence: We commit to excellence and continuously challenge ourselves to reach the highest standards.
• Practicality: We value practicality and results‑oriented thinking, making a tangible impact on patients and the broader community.
• Honesty: We value honesty and directness, addressing issues openly and transparently.
• Fun: We believe life is short; we aim to create a workplace that is fun, engaging, rewarding, and fulfilling.