Research Leader / Senior Scientist (Medicinal Drug Design)

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States; hybrid work with office attendance required 3 days per week

Company

hirify.global develops AI models and drug design technologies to accelerate scientific discovery and the development of medicines.

What you will do

• Lead portfolio drug discovery projects from initiation through clinical candidate selection as a Project Lead or Medicinal Chemistry Lead.
• Apply medicinal chemistry, synthetic organic chemistry, structure-based drug design, and modern discovery principles to advance programs.
• Collaborate with machine learning scientists and provide strategic and technical input to the AI platform.
• Work with external collaborators and CROs, manage CRO resources, and monitor delivery KPIs.
• Develop intellectual property positions and prepare scientific proposals, reports, publications, patents, and presentations.
• For applicable positions, line-manage and mentor teams of 2–4 medicinal chemists.

Requirements

• PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, Synthetic Organic Chemistry, or a related technical field, or equivalent industrial experience.
• 5+ or 8+ years of professional medicinal chemistry experience in a biotech, pharmaceutical, or CRO environment, depending on level.
• Demonstrated project leadership across drug discovery, ideally from hit identification through lead optimization or candidate nomination, including ADME optimization.
• Experience applying structure-based drug design and managing CRO resources.
• Strong strategic thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, communication, collaboration, adaptability, and scientific achievement through publications, patents, or presentations.
• Ability to work in the hybrid model and attend the office 3 days per week.

Nice to have

• Successful application of fragment-based drug design approaches.

Culture & Benefits

• Interdisciplinary collaboration between medicinal chemistry and machine learning specialists.
• Supportive environment focused on inclusion, scientific growth, and continuous professional development.
• Values centered on thoughtful, brave, determined, and collaborative work.
• Employee support and reasonable accommodations for additional needs.