Associate Director, Medicinal Chemistry

Who We Are: MapLight Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotech company that focuses on drug discovery for central nervous system disorders. We combine cutting-edge technologies including optogenetics, in vivo physiology, and spatial transcriptomics to identify novel drug targets and develop effective therapies to address psychiatric symptoms. What You’ll Do: We are searching for a highly motivated Medicinal Chemist to join our drug discovery team at the Associate Director level. Reporting to the Executive Director of Chemistry, the candidate will be expected to co-lead, or lead, preclinical medicinal chemistry programs from hit to candidate nomination. A highly qualified candidate will have experience in CNS drug discovery and an in-depth understanding of designing efficacious and safe brain-penetrant small molecules. While MapLight has in-house laboratories for pre-clinical research, many activities like chemical synthesis are outsourced to external vendors. Experience managing remote CRO teams, logistics across multiple partners, and coordinating internal drug discovery activities across different time zones is essential. This is a fantastic opportunity to join a small medicinal chemistry team and have a significant impact in addressing unmet patient needs by advancing MapLight’s pipeline. Responsibilities: Co-lead, or lead, preclinical medicinal chemistry programs from hit to candidate nomination. Design and execute successful medicinal chemistry strategies to meet project and corporate goals. Conduct multi-parameter optimization to deliver orally bioavailable, brain-penetrant candidates without secondary pharmacology, ADME, or safety concerns of initial hits. Apply structure-based drug design principles utilizing in-house resources and external computational partners. Manage chemistry and tiered screening cascade at external contract research organizations (CROs). This includes maintaining a good relationship, overseeing synthesis or experimental plans, project tracking, evaluation of results, and assisting in troubleshooting. May require assessment of analytical data including NMR, LCMS, HPLC, UV-VIS, and DSC. Apply previous experience with successful hit finding strategies to find novel chemical equity, including scaffold-hopping approaches. Coordinate with in-house drug discovery team to ensure compounds are distributed in support of other disciplines. Provide regular project updates to Leadership and Project Teams that include relevant updates. May include in-depth SAR, ADME, and PK analyses. Co-lead, or lead, patent strategy to protect existing or novel chemical matter with Maplight legal partners, when appropriate. You can participate and work effectively with multiple cross-functional teams. You have strong interpersonal skills and understand relationships are key to being successful. You are a leader. Teams love working with you, and you are someone who takes pride in mentoring and supporting the careers of others. You’re a team player who is willing to roll-up your sleeves and get the job done. Qualifications: PhD in Chemistry or Medicinal Chemistry with 10+ years’, or BS/MS 15+ years’, pharmaceutical experience successfully (co)leading preclinical drug discovery programs. Contemporary knowledge of Medicinal Chemistry concepts with strong working knowledge of computational chemistry, biology, pharmacology, drug metabolism, and pharmacokinetics. Prior experience in CNS drug discovery is essential, including a successful track record of delivering brain-penetrant candidate compounds for brain disorders. Track record of successfully managing projects remotely through multiple and CRO partners. Clear record of accomplishments as exemplified through patents and/or publications. Travel: Candidate can expect to travel 4-6 times a year to meet with collaborators and/or attend both discovery and all-company meetings. Location: This is a hybrid position with three days per week onsite at our office in Burlington, MA. Compensation for this role may vary within the above range based on many factors including geographic location, candidate experience, and skills. Additional compensation/benefits include annual bonus opportunity, medical, dental, vision, life and AD&D, short term and long term disability, 401(K) plan with match, stock options, flexible non-accrual paid time off, and parental leave. Salary Range $180,000—$205,000 USD EEOC Statement: MapLight Therapeutics is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.