Postdoctoral Scientist, Medicinal Chemistry

Eli Lilly and Company • South San Francisco, CA

11h • $58,000 - $123,200 • Onsite

About The Position

This Postdoctoral Scientist position offers the opportunity to work directly on drug discovery programs within Lilly’s Medicinal Chemistry organization in South San Francisco within Lilly Small Molecule Discovery (LSMD) Team. The scientist will be embedded in an active project team, applying their synthetic expertise to design and prepare novel medicinal chemistry targets advancing real discovery efforts. While the primary focus is project-driven synthesis, there are opportunities to contribute to synthetic method development where it directly enables program goals.

Requirements

• PhD in organic chemistry, chemistry, biochemistry, or related field with all completed requirements by October 2026

Nice To Haves

• Self-motivated with a continuous learner mindset
• Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to communicate and interact well with colleagues, vendors, and staff at all levels
• Experience or familiarity with parallel reaction design, design of experiments, or high-throughput synthesis
• Strong background in complex molecule synthesis, including multi-step route planning and execution of challenging transformations such as cross-coupling, C–H functionalization, or asymmetric reactions
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced, project-driven environment where hands-on contributions to active drug discovery programs are the primary measure of success
• Experience or familiarity with data science
• Familiarity with medicinal chemistry & drug design related software (LiveDesign, Maestro, MOE, PyMOL, ELN, etc)
• Excellent organizational, analytical, documentation and multi-tasking skills
• Demonstrated track record of creative problem solving

Responsibilities

• Synthesize and design new medicinal chemistry targets that optimize potency, ADME, and physicochemical properties
• Plan and execute multi-step synthetic routes to access structurally complex targets, including ring systems, stereocenters, and diverse heterocyclic scaffolds relevant to drug discovery
• Purify starting materials, intermediates, and final compounds
• Characterize reaction components including starting materials and products by modern analytical techniques including LCMS, NMR, etc
• Troubleshoot and optimize challenging reactions, applying mechanistic reasoning and synthetic creativity to advance stalled or difficult transformations
• Identify and implement enabling synthetic methods (e.g., C–H activation, photoredox, asymmetric catalysis) to access otherwise difficult chemical space in support of medicinal chemistry objectives
• Collaborate within the scientific team to conceptualize and execute methodologies for rapidly screening relevant reactions
• Review assay data, communicate results, and discuss project impact of new data, demonstrating strong attention to detail
• Uphold laboratory safety standards and safe chemical handling practices
• Generate accurate and descriptive lab records in a timely manner
• Present scientific findings and actively participate in team meetings
• Work both independently and collaboratively in a laboratory environment including maintaining and troubleshooting laboratory instrumentation and equipment

Benefits

• company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance)
• company-sponsored 401(k)
• pension
• vacation benefits
• medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits
• flexible benefits (e.g., healthcare and/or dependent day care flexible spending accounts)
• life insurance and death benefits
• certain time off and leave of absence benefits
• well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities)

What This Job Offers

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