Senior Medicinal Chemist — Drug Discovery Leader

Placements24; Soweto; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical aid

Retirement fund contributions

Performance bonuses

Conference attendance

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Senior Medicinal Chemist to join a cutting-edge drug discovery team in Soweto, Gauteng. The role focuses on designing, synthesizing, and optimizing small molecule candidates to address unmet medical needs.

The candidate will work closely with biologists, pharmacologists, and other scientists to advance compounds from hit to lead and beyond, contributing to the pipeline and intellectual property through patent filings.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry or Medicinal Chemistry from a reputable institution.
• Minimum of 5 years of post-doctoral or industry experience in medicinal chemistry, focused on drug discovery.
• Extensive experience in modern synthetic organic chemistry techniques and reaction mechanisms.
• Proven ability to design and execute complex synthetic strategies.
• Strong understanding of SAR, ADME, and pharmacokinetic principles.

Responsibilities

• Design and synthesize novel chemical entities with therapeutic potential.
• Optimize lead compounds through iterative design, synthesis, and evaluation.
• Develop synthetic routes for target molecules with efficiency and scalability.
• Characterize compounds using NMR, MS, and HPLC.
• Collaborate with biologists to assess potency, selectivity, and PK properties.
• Contribute to strategic directions of drug discovery projects.
• Maintain lab notebooks and assist in patent applications.
• Stay up-to-date with advances in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry.

Skills

Synthetic organic chemistry

Medicinal chemistry

SAR/ADME

Drug discovery

Analytical thinking

Education

PhD in Organic Chemistry

PhD in Medicinal Chemistry

Tools

NMR

Mass Spectrometry

HPLC

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Senior Medicinal Chemist to join a cutting-edge drug discovery team in Soweto, Gauteng. The role focuses on designing, synthesizing, and optimizing small molecule candidates to address unmet medical needs.

The candidate will work closely with biologists, pharmacologists, and other scientists to advance compounds from hit to lead and beyond, contributing to the pipeline and intellectual property through patent filings.