Senior Discovery Medicinal Chemist – Oncology

IDEAYA; South San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 177,000 - 218,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/dental/vision coverage

401k

ESPP

Wellness programs

Job summary

IDEAYA Biosciences is seeking a discovery medicinal chemist to join our South San Francisco team. You will lead synthetic chemistry efforts, propose target molecules, and work in cross‑functional teams to advance oncology programs onsite five days a week.

The role requires a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry with 3–8 years of pharma medicinal chemistry experience, strong purification and characterization knowledge, and a track record of delivering complex molecules at pace.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry with pharma medicinal chemistry experience.
• Strong knowledge of medicinal chemistry concepts and purification/characterization techniques.
• Ability to design practical, scalable chemistry and troubleshoot problems.

Responsibilities

• Apply modern synthetic techniques to advance oncology programs and deliver high‑quality molecules.
• Design reaction sequences to avoid liabilities and reduce difficult purifications.
• Troubleshoot transformations and gather reaction information quickly.
• Plan and multitask to maintain high productivity in lab and team settings.
• Deliver molecules from 10 mg to >25 g and manage external resources.
• Communicate results and strategy clearly to inform cross‑functional teams.
• Use structure‑based design and computational tools to improve affinity and selectivity.
• Contribute to new directions to achieve program goals.

Skills

Medicinal chemistry

Structure-based design

SAR‑driven design

Multi-parameter optimization

ADME principles

Oral and written communication

Education

Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry

Tools

Computational tools

Job description

IDEAYA Biosciences is seeking a discovery medicinal chemist to join our South San Francisco team. You will lead synthetic chemistry efforts, propose target molecules, and work in cross‑functional teams to advance oncology programs onsite five days a week.

The role requires a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry with 3–8 years of pharma medicinal chemistry experience, strong purification and characterization knowledge, and a track record of delivering complex molecules at pace.