Senior Medicinal Chemist - Discovery Unit (Hybrid)

Placements24; Mbombela (Nelspruit); Hybrid; ZAR 1,200,000 - 2,100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Performance-based bonuses

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Retirement plan

Training and conference funding

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Senior Medicinal Chemist to lead the drug discovery unit in a hybrid work setting at our Nelspruit facility. You will design, synthesize, and optimize novel small molecules, collaborating with biologists and computational chemists to advance drug candidates.

The role requires a Ph.D. in Organic or Medicinal Chemistry and at least 7 years of industry experience, with a strong track record in lead optimization and SAR-driven decision making.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry or Medicinal Chemistry is required.
• Minimum 7 years of progressive experience in medicinal chemistry within pharma/biotech.
• Proven track record leading drug-discovery projects from hit to lead optimization.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, synthesis and optimization of novel small molecules for therapy.
• Collaborate with biologists, pharmacologists, and computational chemists to SAR.
• Develop novel synthetic routes and execute multi-step syntheses.
• Mentor and manage a team of medicinal chemists and research associates.
• Oversee compound library design and high-throughput synthesis.
• Guide compound optimization using SAR, ADMET insights.

Skills

SAR expertise

ADMET knowledge

Leadership

Education

Ph.D. in Organic or Medicinal Chemistry

Tools

NMR

MS

HPLC

Computational chemistry tools

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Senior Medicinal Chemist to lead the drug discovery unit in a hybrid work setting at our Nelspruit facility. You will design, synthesize, and optimize novel small molecules, collaborating with biologists and computational chemists to advance drug candidates.

The role requires a Ph.D. in Organic or Medicinal Chemistry and at least 7 years of industry experience, with a strong track record in lead optimization and SAR-driven decision making.