Senior Director, Medicinal Chemistry Strategy

Are you a recognized expert in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery with strategic leadership skills? Will you thrive on working together across boundaries to unlock the power of what science can do? Join us to develop the ground-breaking medicines of the future for Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic diseases! 

At AstraZeneca, we work without barriers between functions at the cutting-edge of science. It is a place to rethink the future of medicine to answer some of the most complex unmet patient needs. That’s why we love it – this is the place to make a greater impact!  

AstraZeneca now offer a unique opportunity for you with expertise in Drug Discovery and Medicinal Chemistry with a special interest in bridging chemistry and biology. In this key scientific leader role, you will impact our future portfolio and drug discovery programs across disciplines, both internally and through collaborations with leading academic institutions and biotech companies. In an innovative and collaborative environment, you will lead and work with an open minded, creative and experienced team to push the boundaries of science. The role is at Senior Director level and placed at AstraZeneca’s dynamic R&D site in Gothenburg Sweden. 

CVRM is one of AstraZeneca´s core therapy areas. We drive our pipeline and areas of scientific leadership internally and in collaborations with world experts which provide you as a scientist with the unique opportunity to stay at the forefront of science. The Early CVRM Medicinal Chemistry Department is a critical player in the discovery, design and making of drug molecules to identify and validate novel biological targets. We are proud of our successful delivery of clinical candidates to human testing, leading to new medicines for patients. To realize our ambitions, we stay agnostic to molecular modality and emphasize a strong science-driven culture. 

What you’ll do 

This highly visible, key role provides scientific leadership and strategic direction within the Medicinal chemistry department, the CVRM therapeutic area and in the AstraZeneca global community.  

You provide strong influence across disciplines on the early CVRM portfolio, from target selection and early strategies, to enable successful delivery of project progression into the pipeline, working close with the head of the department and the leadership team. Responsibilities include: 

• Lead a team of open-minded, creative, and experienced professionals and together recommend, gain commitment to and champion chemistry strategies and new innovations that help CVRM to address novel drug targets and meet its overall objectives 

• Offer significant contributions from a medicinal chemistry standpoint to pre-portfolio and early portfolio projects. Ensure the implementation of cutting-edge medicinal chemistry techniques and chemical biology strategies to efficiently advance these projects. 

• As part of the Medicinal Chemistry Leadership Team provide a clear, compelling scientific strategy in the field of medicinal chemistry across synthetic modalities 

• Evaluate and manage external collaborations & in-licensing opportunities  

• Demonstrate scientific leadership through high quality publications, conference presentations and by building networks with key opinion leaders and academic groups  

Essential for the role 

With your excellent inter-personal, communication and collaboration skills you have the ability to operate effectively in a multidisciplinary matrix research environment, providing leadership and insight into both drug discovery and people management 

• Ph. D. degree in a relevant scientific discipline with 10 or more year’s post-doctoral research experience in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, with significant time spent in a biopharmaceutical setting. 

• Line management experience and strong leadership skills in collaborative work, strategic thinking, leading through others  

• Experience from leading projects or chemistry programs  

• Excellent understanding of when to use various chemical modalities, various hit finding strategies, new concepts to expand the druggability of challenging novel targets. 

• Awareness of how AI can be deployed across drug discovery to gain new insights 

• Internationally recognized as evidenced by your external disclosures and publication record 

• Track record of innovation and milestone delivery in drug discovery projects  

• A genuine openness to novel scientific approaches to drive projects with the most relevant drug modalities and latest techniques 

• Sound knowledge of related disciplines including DMPK, safety, bioscience, IP, pharmaceutical development and early clinical development 

• Experience from the cardiovascular, renal or metabolic disease area is a plus 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, networking and influencing skills including ability to present to senior leaders 

So, what’s next?  

Are you already imagining yourself providing Medicinal Chemistry scientific leadership and strategic direction? Good, because we can’t wait to hear from you. 

Welcome to apply! Please apply as soon as possible since we are continuously reviewing candidates.