Vice President, Chemistry

Job Posting

Title: Vice President, Chemistry

Type of employment: Full-time

Location: Los Angeles, CA or Princeton, NJ

(CHDI is currently on a “flex” model that allows for 2-3 days in office/2-3 days’

work from home)

Reports directly to the Chief Scientific Officer

About CHDI

CHDI Foundation, Inc. is a privately funded, nonprofit, biomedical research organization that is exclusively dedicated to rapidly accelerating therapies that slow the progression of Huntington’s disease (HD). Our scientists work closely with a network of more than ~700 researchers in academic and industrial laboratories around the world in the pursuit of these novel therapies, providing strategic scientific direction to ensure that our common goals remain in focus. This helps bridge the translational gap that often exists between academic and industrial research pursuits and that adds costly delays to therapy development. In our role as a collaborative enabler, CHDI seeks to bring the right partners together to identify, address, and de-risk critical scientific issues to accelerate drug candidates to clinical evaluation as rapidly as possible. Our activities extend from exploratory biology to the identification and validation of therapeutic targets and the development of proof-of-concept compounds, as well as support for clinical studies and trials.

Our staff works for CHDI Management, Inc. CHDI Management provides administrative, management, and contracting services to CHDI Foundation, as well as to other non-profit organizations dedicated to HD research.

Job Description

CHDI Management seeks an experienced, innovative, and passionate drug discovery scientist to join the preclinical leadership team as Vice President of Chemistry, to support the Foundation’s mission to accelerate meaningful therapies and clinical biomarkers for Huntington’s disease. In this role you will be responsible for developing and coordinating the strategy and tactics for several core platforms in support of both target-based campaigns and development of PET-tracers: including medicinal chemistry, structural biology & biophysics, ADMET/DMPK, cheminformatics & computational chemistry, and compound management. In partnership with the VPs of Biology, you will oversee a portfolio of drug discovery campaigns to elaborate proof of concept/mechanism compounds. You will participate in identifying, evaluating, advising, and partnering on external programs, technologies, and modalities that are relevant to our mission.  The position involves management of a highly experienced group of scientists within CHDI, as well as coordination of a larger team of external experts and collaborators (CROs and academics) within a unique “virtual” biopharmaceutical research model. A strong commitment to help patients coupled with leadership excellence in recruiting, mentoring, empowering, and engaging diverse scientists is essential.  CHDI Foundation conducts their research from three USA-based offices (New York City, Los Angeles, & Princeton). The position requires regular travel between the CHDI offices and to the various CROs and academics located in the USA, EU, and Britain.

Job requirements

• Ph.D Degree in Organic or Medicinal Chemistry or the Physical Sciences
• A minimum of 10 years of experience in the biotech / pharmaceutical industry
• A proven track record of co-leading interdisciplinary drug discovery project teams (preferably in neuroscience and CNS) from hit identification to lead optimization
• Experience managing academic and industrial external partners for: outsourcing, licensing, and technology transfer.
• Strong medicinal chemistry skills with proven track record of successfully driving campaigns, in both small molecule chemistry and large molecule; including nucleic acids (e.g., ASOs and RNAi) and proteins (e.g., antibodies)
• Experience in chemical biology and the integration of structural biology and biophysics across mechanistic biology and drug development
• Experience in virtual screening and AI
• Experience in Leadership Team goals and strategies planning and implementation. Leadership skills to manage, mentor, and engage a team of experienced PhD level scientists
• Strategic thinker capable of prioritizing and implementing the Foundation’s significant resources and the ability to influence/impact our mission
• A team player with strong organizational and multi-tasking skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills

Specific Job responsibilities

• Membership in the preclinical leadership team
• Direct line management of 9 existing staff members (Science Directors /senior Program Manager).
• Participate in identifying and recruiting new talent
• Oversight, innovation, and evolution of the Chemistry platforms
• Deployment of chemistry resources in line with strategic priorities
• Oversight of Contract Research Organization contracts and resources.
• Participation in scientific reviews and evaluation of internal and external projects
• Publication of manuscripts, patents, oral presentations, and connectivity to external subject matter experts
• Oversight the Foundation’s small molecule patent portfolio and related IP strategies
• Provide chemistry input on all aspects of the science portfolio (includes modalities beyond small molecules)

Salary Range

$280,000-360,000.  Exact compensation will vary based on experience.      

Other

Vaccination against COVID-19 is a prerequisite for employment at CHDI Management.

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For more information or to express your interest as a candidate, please email: