head of chemistry

We are offering the challenging position of Head of Medicinal Chemistry for an experienced and dynamic leader to oversee all aspects of our medicinal chemistry discovery operations within the CNS Business Unit.
The CNS Business unit is comprised of in vitro pharmacologists, behavioural pharmacologists and more than 20 medicinal chemists committed to advancing innovative small molecule allosteric modulators to fulfil unmet medical needs in CNS diseases, from hit stage up to clinical candidate selection.
The ideal candidate will provide leadership and direct supervision of several teams of medicinal chemists involved in multiple projects. The candidate will be responsible for insuring excellent liaison with the technology platforms developed in the Core Biology and Core Chemistry groups (including computational chemistry) on the one hand and with DMPK and toxicology groups on the other.

 

Key Responsibilities

  • Define and coordinate the chemistry activities in multiple projects to advance hits to leads and develop high quality clinical candidates
  • Actively contribute to strategic decisions within the CNS Business Unit for project portfolio management
  • Participate in the IP portfolio creation and consolidation
  • Represent Addex during business discussions with pharma chemistry experts and ongoing CNS discovery collaborations.

 


Key Tasks

  • Lead, inspire and structure a group of more than 20 medicinal chemists in charge of the design, the synthesis and the optimization of lead molecules
  • Deliver high quality Clinical Candidate molecules through successful collaboration with scientists from other disciplines (in-vitro and in-vivo pharmacology, ADME-PK and toxicology) to the Non-Clinical Development Group
  • Identify patentable inventions, organise the preparation of patent applications and manage the patent strategy for NCEs within the Business Unit
  • Manage external collaborations and CRO resources for discovery chemistry
  • Provide scientific and technical guidance and maintain a current knowledge of latest technological/scientific trends
  • Hire and train staff at appropriate levels of expertise and provide regular performance feedback, development and coaching
  • Adjust resource allocations according to projects priorities and stage of development
     

 

Your Qualifications

  • A PhD with a minimum of 10 years of industry experience after completion of post-doctoral training
  • Demonstrable leadership skills as Director or Head of Chemistry in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry
  • Extensive and practical knowledge of all aspects of the drug discovery and development process
  • A proven track record of advancing NCEs into development and, ideally, into clinical stages
  • A strong patent and publication record
  • Knowledge of modern drug design, synthesis and optimisation for CNS-related small molecules compounds is required
  • Strong competences in both multi-step organic synthesis and combinatorial and in depth knowledge of parallel synthesis and modern purification techniques
  • Technical fluency with biological disciplines, DMPK, toxicology and non clinical development sciences
  • Practical and theoretical experience in allosteric modulation pharmacology is a plus
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills
  • Demonstrated ability to set expectations and manage progress of multiple projects
  • Track record as a goal-oriented decision maker whose track record demonstrates an unusually high commitment to quality

 

 

Interested candidates should send their CV, references and a cover letter by email or regular mail to:

Addex Pharma S.A.
Human Resources
Chemin des Aulx 12
1228 Plan-les-Ouates
Switzerland

Please quote reference "H Chem CNS" when replying.