Head of Computer-Aided Drug Discovery (CADD)

We are seeking an experienced computational drug discovery leader to head a specialist CADD team within an established drug discovery organisation.

This is a hands-on scientific leadership role, combining team leadership with direct involvement in multidisciplinary discovery programmes, from hit identification through lead optimisation and candidate nomination.

The Role

• Manage and lead a growing team of computational chemists and data scientists.
• Responsible for directing computational strategy across structure- and fragment-based drug discovery programmes.
• Apply and guide the use of docking, virtual screening, MD, QM and advanced computational methods.
• Champion AI/ML, generative design and cheminformatics approaches that add value to drug discovery.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams such as medicinal chemistry, structural biology, biophysics and biology teams.
• Oversee computational workflows and analyse large-scale datasets, including DEL screening data.
• Represent computational science with external partners and collaborators.

About You

You will have:

• A PhD (or equivalent) in computational chemistry, CADD, cheminformatics or a related discipline.
• Significant pharma/biotech drug discovery experience.
• Strong hands-on expertise in CADD and structure-based drug design.
• Practical experience applying AI/ML to drug discovery.
• Proven experience leading and developing a team of computational scientists.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence multidisciplinary project teams.

Experience with fragment-based drug discovery, FEP, DEL data, cheminformatics and Python/software development would be highly advantageous.

If you're looking for an opportunity to shape computational drug discovery strategy while remaining close to and hands on with the science, please apply!

Keywords: Head of CADD, Head of Computational Chemistry, Head of Computational Drug Discovery, CADD Lead, Computational Chemistry Lead, Senior Computational Chemist, Principal Computational Scientist, CADD, Computational Chemistry, CADD, SBDD, Fragment-Based Drug Discovery, Virtual Screening, Molecular Docking, Molecular Dynamics, FEP, AI/ML, Cheminformatics, Drug Discovery, Hit ID, Hit-to-Lead, Lead Optimisation, Cambridge, Granta Park, Great Abington, South Cambridge, South Cambridgeshire, Duxford, Royston, Sawston, Saffron Walden, Haverhill, Hertfordshire, Essex, VRS9508MP.

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