Senior Scientist, Computational Chemistry

Key Skills

Java Programming, Python Programming, C++, C Programming, SQL, Cloud computing, Scala Programming, Machine learning techniques, Data science techniques, MATLAB Programming, PyTorch, TensorFlow, R Programming

Job Description

Our Research Scientists are our Inventors. We identify and target steps in disease mechanisms or pathways that could be inhibited or enhanced. Our goal is to isolate a compound that is effective against a disease target. Using innovative thinking, state-of-the-art facilities and robust scientific methodology we collaborate to discover the next medical breakthrough.

Position Title

Senior Scientist, Computational Chemistry – Peptide Specialist

Position Description

Our company is seeking a creative, self-motivated computational chemist with exceptional interpersonal and problem-solving skills to join the Modeling group in Kenilworth, NJ, part of the Computational and Structural Chemistry (CSC) department. We are looking to expand our capability in peptide computational chemistry to support our future peptide strategy.

CSC is a team of approximately 110 scientists, who employ state of the art capabilities in predictive science, macromolecular structure, biophysics, mass spectrometry, and protein production to drive drug design. We are an integral arm of both discovery and process chemistry, and we collaborate seamlessly with teams across the globe to invent better molecules faster. With an unbiased approach to drug modalities, in-house access to the newest screening techniques, and world-class medicinal chemistry, we have a wealth of opportunities to impact our pipeline and ultimately save and improve patient lives.

The successful candidate will join multidisciplinary, highly collaborative discovery teams both locally and across the global network to invent novel medicines by applying advanced computational techniques and developing innovative computational methods.

Key responsibilities will include:

1) Design and optimization of drug candidates using advanced computational techniques as a member of discovery teams through:

• design of peptides utilizing existing company tools and techniques
• informative data analysis and visualization of SAR and mRNA-display screening data
• protein construct design
• peptide library design
• development of innovative computational methods for peptide modeling
• application of machine learning
• influencing teams by effectively communicating non-obvious insights from computational approaches to drive projects forward

2) Contributing to the overall wellbeing of the department by sharing knowledge, workflows, and being invested in the success of your peers.

Our organization is inspired by invention and founded on a culture of respect and collaboration. We recognize that the diversity in our team is our strength and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all our employees. Successful candidates must demonstrate inclusive behaviors in working with a diverse group of scientists to drive our core mission. By joining us, you’ll have the opportunity to expand your knowledge and skills through collaboration with talented and dedicated colleagues while contributing to developing medicines for human health.

Position Qualifications:

Education Minimum Requirement:

• PhD (or PhD to be awarded before Spring 2023, or master’s degree with minimum of 4 years of experience in drug discovery industry) in biophysics, biochemistry, chemistry, engineering, or equivalent, with a computational emphasis

Required Experience and Skills:

• A desire to learn and to innovate
• Specific experience with peptide design using conformational analysis, amino acid monomers, in silico mutation, property prediction or similar
• Evidence of creative application of computational approaches to problems of pharmaceutical interest
• Ability to communicate, collaborate and deliver results as a member of multi-disciplinary teams
• Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Strong track record of recent publications and/or presentations

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Experience with Linux
• Proficiency with modeling software packages (e.g. Schrodinger, MOE, Rosetta)
• Proficiency in general molecular modeling techniques (docking, molecular simulation, homology modeling, quantum mechanics, ligand- and structure-based design)
• Skilled in scientific programming (e.g. Python, Pipeline Pilot) and data analytics (e.g. Spotfire, Pandas, Jupyter)
• Experience with QSAR, machine learning, deep learning.