Lead Medicinal Chemist — Drive Drug Discovery & Equity

Placements24; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Stock options

Private medical aid

Career advancement

Advanced equipment

Job summary

Placements24 seeks a Lead Medicinal Chemist in Cape Town to spearhead drug design and synthesis efforts, directing a chemistry team to generate novel therapeutic candidates.

You will collaborate with biologists and other scientists to advance hit identification through lead optimization, shaping projects with SAR/ADMET data and presenting findings to leadership in a dynamic research environment.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Organic or Medicinal Chemistry with a strong academic record.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in medicinal chemistry within the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry.
• Expertise in modern synthetic organic chemistry techniques and structure-based drug design.
• Proven experience leading research projects and managing a team of scientists.
• Strong understanding of drug discovery principles, including SAR, PK/PD, and ADMET.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills and ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative team in Cape Town.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, synthesis, and optimization of small molecule drug candidates targeting key disease pathways.
• Direct and mentor a team of medicinal chemists, fostering a collaborative and high-performance research environment.
• Develop innovative synthetic routes and strategies for target compounds, ensuring efficiency and scalability.
• Collaborate with biologists and other drug discovery disciplines to integrate structure-activity relationships (SAR) and ADMET data into compound design.
• Manage external collaborations with contract research organizations (CROs) as needed for specialized synthesis or analytical support.
• Present project updates and scientific findings to internal stakeholders and leadership, contributing to strategic decision-making.

Skills

Medicinal chemistry

SAR

Drug design

Leadership

Project management

Synthetic organic chemistry

PK/PD

Education

Ph.D. in Organic or Medicinal Chemistry

Tools

Structure-based design tools

Computational chemistry tools

SAR analysis software

Job description

Placements24 seeks a Lead Medicinal Chemist in Cape Town to spearhead drug design and synthesis efforts, directing a chemistry team to generate novel therapeutic candidates.

You will collaborate with biologists and other scientists to advance hit identification through lead optimization, shaping projects with SAR/ADMET data and presenting findings to leadership in a dynamic research environment.