Head of Discovery

Output Biosciences • New York, NY

1d

About The Position

Output has built a biological reasoning model that understands biology at the scale and complexity life actually operates. Our model independently learned the principles of molecular interactions, opening up drug treatments that were previously impossible. We're already generating therapies that traditional approaches cannot reach. The hardest problems in both AI and biology are being solved here, and there is room for you to own one. Output is currently in stealth, operated by a team of repeat founders and biotech veterans with multiple exits in AI x Bio, and backed by top-tier VCs including Y Combinator.

You are a drug hunter. You own the scientific strategy behind Output's drug discovery programs. You help select targets for our pipeline, evaluate what the models generate, and make the scientific decisions that advance candidates from computational generation to real-world testing.

Requirements

• PhD in pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, computational biology, or a related field with 5+ years of drug discovery experience in pharma or biotech, or equivalent depth through extensive industry experience
• Hands-on experience advancing drug discovery programs through pipeline stages: target selection, hit identification, hit-to-lead, and lead optimization
• Demonstrated experience evaluating drug candidates and making scientific go/no-go decisions on real programs
• Comfortable working directly with computational model outputs and analyzing AI-generated molecular data
• Strong scientific judgment across target biology, disease mechanisms, and therapeutic modalities
• Ability to build and defend a scientific rationale, communicate across disciplines, and make decisions under uncertainty

Nice To Haves

• Experience with AI-driven drug discovery or computational drug design tools
• Experience managing CRO relationships for synthesis and biological testing
• Experience across multiple therapeutic areas or modalities, including small molecules and peptides
• Track record of advancing compounds into preclinical or clinical development
• Programming skills in Python, with the ability to work with data analysis tools and model outputs hands-on
• Publications at top-tier venues or relevant drug discovery and medicinal chemistry journals

Responsibilities

• Identify and evaluate therapeutic targets, building the scientific rationale for which programs to pursue and why
• Analyze model outputs to assess drug candidates, evaluating biological plausibility, therapeutic potential, and readiness for advancement
• Prioritize candidates and make scientific go/no-go decisions, advancing the strongest compounds through the discovery pipeline
• Manage CRO partnerships for candidate synthesis and biological testing, designing experiments that validate or refine drug design hypotheses
• Work closely with the founders and model team, bringing drug discovery expertise to model evaluation and development priorities
• Stay current with target biology, disease mechanisms, and the clinical landscape across relevant therapeutic areas

Benefits

• Competitive salary and equity in a growing, well-funded startup
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree