Director/Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry EnVivo Pharmaceuticals

Job Summary:

The purpose of this position is to provide high-level, effective leadership to the medicinal chemistry group for drug discovery programs and to help shape the direction of the research programs by working closely with the other functional heads and the CSO. The applicant shall, through intellectual leadership, mentorship and organizational savvy, bring operational & scientific excellence to this department. The head of medicinal chemistry is also expected to drive successful programs to meet the business and scientific objectives of the company. The position will report to the Head of research & Chief Scientific Officer of the company.

Key responsibilities include:

Work as part of an integrated team of bio-analytical chemists, biologists, pharmacologists and clinical development chemists towards the identification of high quality small molecule drug candidates for the advancement into clinical development
Help streamline the design and synthetic efforts of the medicinal chemistry group to best meet the business and scientific objectives and goals
Aid in the development and implementation of tools and ideas to maximize the group?s ability to generate pertinent SAR and data analysis. Direct experience with use and evaluation of IT tools a plus.
Manage 2 direct reports as well as external chemistry consultants. Manage and direct the external chemistry resources (CROs) typically in the range of 25 FTEs
Manage and direct external resources and budgets associated with them in collaboration with the head of research
Collaborate and extend reach into CMC, formulation and scale up group (matrix function)
Responsible for mentoring and setting up career plans for direct reports, implementing and shaping of company goals along with the other functional heads, promoting the medicinal chemistry group within EnVivo, driving scientific decisions best benefiting EnVivo through to completion
Participate in the generation and evaluation of exploratory project ideas as part of EnVivo?s small molecule pipeline
Develop and expand EnVivo?s intellectual property position on existing projects and proactively work with the Chief Patent Council to ensure the best IP strategy based on project goals
Become recognized as an effective scientific leader within the research group and become effective at influencing other colleagues to bring out the best science to help the company be successful

Requirements:

Ph.D. in organic chemistry with 13 to 15+ years of relevant industry experience in both large and small pharma/biotech industry. Experience in CNS is strongly preferred.
Significant management experience including: planning and budgeting, selecting and managing external resources, and hiring and managing internal staff at all levels
Understanding of the importance external chemistry contract research organizations and how to best leverage them.
Experience and effectiveness demonstrated in interactions with executive level management
Deep and comprehensive knowledge of synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry
Fluid understanding of properties important to drug development. Critical is an understanding that different indications, targets and patient populations require different approaches.
In-depth knowledge of principles of ADME and pharmacokinetics. Demonstrable cross-functional experience here will be essential. This can be demonstrated by participation in successful candidate preparation for clinical development, back-up/follow-on projects and involvement in resolution of specific ADME/PK issues leading to a project nomination or advancement.
Successful nominations in small molecule programs for CNS indications is preferred or alternatively, nominations for disease areas similar to CNS involving chronic treatment, BBB issues, etc.
Strong oral and written communication
Strong presentation skills
Knows how to lead by example
Feels at ease with people of different backgrounds and working/learning styles
Embraces an openness to new and innovative ideas while maintaining a focus on overall strategy and productivity

Location:	480 Arsenal Street Building 1 Watertown, MA 02472 United States