Senior Medicinal Chemist, Drug Discovery

SandboxAQ

2d

About The Position

SandboxAQ is a high-growth company delivering AI solutions that address some of the world's greatest challenges. The company’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) power advances in life sciences, financial services, navigation, cybersecurity, and other sectors.
We are a global team that is tech-focused and includes experts in AI, chemistry, cybersecurity, physics, mathematics, medicine, engineering, and other specialties. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. as an independent, growth capital-backed company in 2022, funded by leading investors and supported by a braintrust of industry leaders.
At SandboxAQ, we’ve cultivated an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and impact. By investing deeply in our people, we’re building a thriving, global workforce poised to tackle the world's epic challenges. Join us to advance your career in pursuit of an inspiring mission, in a community of like-minded people who value entrepreneurialism, ownership, and transformative impact.

SandboxAQ’s AI Simulation team develops new drugs and materials using a spectrum of AI and physics-based computational solutions. Our AQBioSim group is looking for a senior medicinal chemist to join our Drug Discovery team. This person's responsibility will be to drive innovation by applying organic and medicinal chemistry expertise to drug discovery projects and address unmet medical needs. These skills will be leveraged within a seasoned, agile, and multi-disciplinary group, including drug hunters with an excellent track record in drug discovery, computational chemists, physicists, AI experts, and software engineers.
This is an opportunity to directly contribute to the discovery of novel innovative medicines by applying modern drug discovery methodologies on teams with experienced multidisciplinary drug hunters.

Requirements

• PhD in synthetic organic chemistry or medicinal chemistry or a related discipline
• At least 3 years of relevant experience including organic and medicinal chemistry expertise applied to drug discovery in the private sector e.g biotech or pharma
• Experience contributing to structure-based and ligand-based drug discovery programs and familiarity with computational methods
• Outstanding synthetic chemistry background and a demonstrated track record of aptitude and problem-solving in medicinal chemistry.
• Experience leading the chemistry function or sub-teams within drug discovery projects
• Experience executing drug discovery programs from HitID to Candidate delivery with a consistent track record, working in multidisciplinary teams
• Experience in working with and closely managing multiple CRO resources and external chemistry partners
• An interest in solving scientific problems in chemistry and biology via computational and data-driven methods
• Enthusiastic to collaborate with computational chemists and methods developers to advance SandboxAQ’s computational design platform and accelerate the development of computational tools and algorithms.
• A drive to cooperate with colleagues to identify problems and communicate scientific solutions in an accessible manner
• Hands-on mentality & comfortable with getting deep into complex problems, and a track record of contributing to projects and publications

Responsibilities

• Apply organic and medicinal chemistry strategies to address unmet drug discovery needs
• Apply your knowledge and track record of modern synthetic organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry principles to provide strategic input and technical direction
• Translate insights from drug discovery projects and work closely with the AI Sim computational chemistry and development teams to improve SandboxAQ's unique technology and Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) to deliver deep impact at scale
• Drive and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver scientific expertise and strategic direction in drug design problems.
• Work in close collaboration with computational chemists, AI/ML experts, and cross-functional teams to prototype and scale cutting-edge, impactful drug design solutions.
• Responsible for chemistry strategic alignment and effective resource allocation, leading and managing several contract research organizations (CRO) and external chemistry partners to deliver high-quality data in a timely manner
• Lead and collaborate in the preparation of scientific proposals, patents, reports and scientific publications supporting new and existing programs
• Represent SandboxAQ externally both with CROs and scientific partners
• Generate and evaluate hypotheses to assist design decisions and influence project direction.

Benefits

• We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your health, financial well-being, and life outside of work.
• Compensation: Competitive base salary, performance-based incentives or bonuses (where applicable), and equity participation.
• Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents with generous employer premium contributions, retirement savings with company matching, paid parental leave, and inclusive family-building benefits.
• Work-Life Balance: Flexible paid time off, company-wide seasonal breaks, and support for flexible work arrangements that enable sustainable performance.
• Career Development: Opportunities for continuous learning and growth through on-the-job development, cross-functional collaboration, and access to internal learning and development programs.

What This Job Offers

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