Head of Computational Chemistry — Hybrid (Cape Town)

Placements24; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Retirement savings plan

Advanced computational resources

Professional development opportunities

Hybrid work model

Performance-based incentives

Paid time off

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Computational Chemist in Cape Town to spearhead drug discovery efforts. You will lead a team of computational chemists, design and run advanced simulations, and collaborate with medicinal chemistry and biology to optimize compounds.

You will shape methodologies, manage resources, and present results to stakeholders while advancing scientific excellence in a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computational Chemistry, Cheminformatics, or related field.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in computational chemistry, drug discovery.
• Proven leadership of scientific teams.
• Expertise with molecular modeling software and cheminformatics toolkits.
• Strong foundation in ML for chemical/biological data.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of computational chemists and guide projects.
• Design and execute simulations, docking, virtual screening, and QSAR.
• Develop novel computational methods to solve drug design problems.
• Collaborate with medicinal chemistry and biology to interpret experiments.
• Manage resources and infrastructure for software/hardware use.
• Present findings to stakeholders and at conferences.
• Contribute to strategic direction of computational chemistry.
• Ensure timely, high-quality results aligned with timelines.

Skills

Molecular modeling

Cheminformatics

Machine learning

Data visualization

Team leadership

Collaboration

Communication

Education

PhD in Computational Chemistry

Tools

Schrödinger

MOE

AMBER

GROMACS

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Computational Chemist in Cape Town to spearhead drug discovery efforts. You will lead a team of computational chemists, design and run advanced simulations, and collaborate with medicinal chemistry and biology to optimize compounds.

You will shape methodologies, manage resources, and present results to stakeholders while advancing scientific excellence in a hybrid work environment.