Senior Computational Medicinal Chemist - Drug Discovery

Novartis; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 126,000 - 257,400; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401(k) with company match

Annual equity awards

Job summary

Novartis in San Diego invites a Senior Expert I/II, Data Science, to advance computer‑aided drug discovery with a blend of medicinal chemistry, biology and machine learning. The role blends experimental insight with digital methods to optimize targets and drug candidates across small molecules, peptides and more.

You will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, publish findings and contribute to strategic discovery projects, within a hybrid work model and competitive compensation.

Qualifications

• PhD in medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, computational biology, or related field; strong computational background also acceptable.
• 3+ years of experience with drug discovery project teams.
• Proven innovation in analogue design impacting discovery projects.
• Familiarity with computational drug design tools (Schrödinger, CCG, OpenEye) and HPC environments.
• Strong publication history in peer‑reviewed journals.
• Excellent communication and clinical focus in project support.

Responsibilities

• Design medicinal chemistry efforts applying SAR and structure‑based design and assess PK/PD and synthetic feasibility.
• Apply machine learning, active learning and physics‑based CADD methods to small molecule discovery.
• Incorporate biological insights into lead characterization and screening initiatives.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to support target identification and lead optimization.
• Drive mechanistic studies using physics‑based modeling, biophysical methods and cellular validation.

Skills

Data visualization

Communication

Teamwork

Multitasking

Education

PhD in medicinal chemistry

MS with 6+ years pharma/biotech experience

Tools

Schrödinger

OpenEye

CCG

HPC environments

Job description

Novartis in San Diego invites a Senior Expert I/II, Data Science, to advance computer‑aided drug discovery with a blend of medicinal chemistry, biology and machine learning. The role blends experimental insight with digital methods to optimize targets and drug candidates across small molecules, peptides and more.

You will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, publish findings and contribute to strategic discovery projects, within a hybrid work model and competitive compensation.