Associate Director, Medicinal Chemistry

Job description

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 Senior 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 chem...