Senior Director / Vice President, Chemistry Experiment

Lila Sciences; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 204,000 - 346,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits program

Flexible time off

Educational assistance program

Company subsidized lunch program

Job summary

Lila Sciences is seeking a Head of Chemistry to lead their chemistry organization based in Cambridge, MA. This role includes establishing strategic direction and team leadership, cultivating a top-tier chemistry culture, and developing AI-driven experimental strategies.

The ideal candidate will have a PhD in Chemistry, extensive experience in research, and a proven track record in building high-performing teams. Competitive salary range is offered alongside comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in chemistry research.
• Demonstrated success in building high-performing teams.
• Experience in process chemistry and formulation development.

Responsibilities

• Lead experimental chemistry strategy at Lila.
• Establish team leadership and culture of scientific rigor.
• Work closely with senior leadership on AI-driven experimentation.

Skills

Leadership

Molecular chemistry expertise

Analytical chemistry

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Education

PhD in Chemistry or closely related discipline

Job description

Your Impact at LILA

The Head of Chemistry will lead Lila's chemistry organization, establishing the strategic direction and team leadership that enables Chemistry to drive impact across all of Lila's discovery and platform efforts. This leader will build an experimental chemistry function spanning organic and inorganic chemistry, molecules and nanoparticles, discovery and process chemistry, synthetic and analytical methods, and target technologies spanning medicines to industrial chemistry.

The Head of Chemistry will lead Lila’s experimental chemistry strategy in conjunction with senior advisors and will work closely with Lila's Product, AI, and Engineering leadership to establish AI-informing and AI-driven experimentation to address humankind’s greatest challenges. The successful candidate will cultivate the culture and scientific rigor that define excellence in chemistry at Lila and scale the Chemistry team to tackle the breadth of opportunities afforded by Lila’s development of scientific superintelligence.

The Head of Chemistry will report directly to the Chief Autonomous Science Officer, expanding Lila’s team of science, engineering, and business leaders.

What You’ll Be Building

Organization & Team Leadership

Chemistry Strategy & Innovation

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• PhD in Chemistry or a closely related discipline with 12+ years of experience in chemistry research
• Demonstrated excellence building and leading high-performing chemistry teams, including hiring, mentoring, and developing scientists across multiple levels.
• Deep expertise in molecular chemistry: synthetic organic/inorganic and nanochemistry, retrosynthesis, route design, and practical execution of complex multistep syntheses.
• Experience in process chemistry, formulation development, and analytical chemistry.
• Ability to evaluate synthetic feasibility alongside innovation potential to prioritize molecules and chemical series effectively.
• Experience defining chemistry strategy and priorities with a passion for cross-functional collaboration
• Experience working effectively in highly interdisciplinary environments spanning chemistry, materials science, biology, automation, and computational sciences.
• Track record of scientific leadership, program delivery, and translating discoveries to commercializable solutions.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate chemistry depth into strategic clarity for diverse audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to build inclusive, high-trust team cultures that attract and retain top talent in competitive chemistry markets.

Bonus Points For

• Experience working in AI-enabled discovery environments or integrating computational design and machine learning insights into chemistry workflows.
• Experience building and scaling automated, robotics-enabled, or high-throughput chemistry platforms for molecular synthesis and optimization.
• Experience translating chemistry needs into platform requirements, including instrumentation selection, workflow design, and integration with automated systems.
• Broad understanding of molecular design principles across therapeutics and other small-molecule innovation areas.
• Experience operating in fast-paced, technology-driven environments where scientific creativity, speed, and cross-functional execution are critical.
• Prior leadership experience at a growth-stage chemistry, biotech, or other deep-tech company.

Compensation

We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.

U.S. Benefits. Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees; and a company subsidized lunch program.

International Benefits. Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.

Expected Base Salary Range: $204,000 USD - $346,000 USD

About LILA

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.

LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.

Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.

We’re All In

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.