Associate Director, Computational Chemistry

Revolution Medicines•Redwood City, CA

8d•$186,000 - $233,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Revolution Medicines is seeking an accomplished and creative Associate Director to join its Computational Chemistry team. Reporting to the Head of Computational Chemistry, this leader will provide computational support for drug discovery programs, using structure-based drug design to guide compound design and optimization from hit finding through lead optimization. The role will also lead Computational Chemistry’s contribution to TQ by setting computational priorities, coordinating work across TQ efforts, and guiding scientific decisions. The Associate Director will serve as a computational chemistry lead on multidisciplinary discovery teams, integrate data to guide prioritization of Ro5 and bRo5 molecules, and partner across scientific functions to resolve discovery challenges. The role includes advancing hit-finding strategies, evaluating and applying computational methods, collaborating on AI/ML approaches, and setting computational priorities and resource plans across assigned programs. It also provides scientific leadership, establishes standards for reproducibility and knowledge sharing, and may include managing and developing junior scientists.

Requirements

Ph.D. in computational chemistry or a related field.
10+ years of experience post-Ph.D.
Substantial computational chemistry experience in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry.
Demonstrated scientific leadership across discovery programs, with a track record of influencing program strategy, advancing compounds, or enabling key discovery decisions.
Expert knowledge of computational chemistry methods for protein-ligand analysis and molecular design, including docking, virtual screening, pharmacophore modeling, molecular dynamics, and free energy or quantum mechanical calculations.
Experience developing, validating, and applying AI/ML or data science approaches to drug discovery, with sound judgment in model evaluation, uncertainty, applicability, and experimental validation.
Strong scientific programming skills in Python or related languages, and experience with computational chemistry, cheminformatics, and machine learning software.
Ability to set scientific priorities, develop work plans, coordinate resources, and lead scientists or cross-functional programs.
Ability to influence senior stakeholders and clearly communicate complex findings and recommendations.
Collaborative leadership style, a record of mentoring scientists, and ability to balance exploratory research with discovery timelines and deliverables.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Ro5 and bRo5 modalities, including macrocycles, molecular glues, tri-complex inhibitors, covalent ligands, or other challenging therapeutic modalities.
Experience working in HPC or cloud environments and developing scalable computational workflows.
Scientific innovation reflected in patents, publications, presentations, or adoption of methods that improve discovery outcomes.
Experience managing direct reports, external scientific collaborations, or budgets.

Responsibilities

Serve as a computational chemistry lead on multidisciplinary discovery teams, shaping project direction and compound design from hit finding through lead optimization.
Integrate SAR, structural, biophysical, biochemical, and ADME/PK data to guide prioritization of Ro5 and bRo5 molecules.
Lead Computational Chemistry’s contribution to TQ by translating discovery strategy into computational objectives, work plans, and milestones; coordinate execution and ensure work quality, timeliness, and scientific impact.
Partner with medicinal chemistry, structural biology, biology, and screening leaders to define scientific questions, resolve discovery challenges, recommend priorities, and communicate evidence, uncertainties, and trade-offs to project teams and senior leadership.
Establish hit-finding strategies for novel protein and protein-protein interaction targets, including structure-based and ligand-based virtual screening and designing diverse chemical libraries.
Guide evaluation, development, and application of computational methods, including molecular dynamics, enhanced sampling, and free energy calculations, while remaining hands-on in modeling and molecular design.
Collaborate with Advanced Analytics to develop, validate, and apply AI/ML methods for computational chemistry and drug discovery.
Set computational priorities across assigned discovery programs and TQ responsibilities in alignment with the Head of Computational Chemistry and project leads.
Identify staffing, compute, software, and external collaboration needs; provide budget and resource recommendations and track delivery against plans.
Provide scientific leadership and lead cross-functional initiatives; establish standards for reproducibility, model evaluation, and knowledge sharing, and support adoption of effective methods.
Manage and develop junior scientists as appropriate, supporting their scientific development and project contributions.