Director, Discovery Chemistry

Your Impact at LILA

The Director, Discovery Chemistry will lead the design, synthesis, and optimization of small molecules across Lila's discovery platform, with a primary focus on organic synthesis, molecular design, and scalable chemistry execution. This leader will build and scale a world-class molecular chemistry program that translates AI-generated molecular hypotheses into high-quality, synthetically tractable, and functionally validated chemical matter.

Working closely with Lila's AI, automation, computational, biology, and platform teams, this role will establish the chemistry infrastructure required to rapidly progress novel molecules from concept to validated candidates across a broad range of discovery efforts. The Director will drive synthetic strategy, route design, analog generation, molecular property optimization, and chemistry-enabled innovation, while enabling seamless integration with robotic synthesis and platform-based experimentation.

This leader will play a central role in shaping Lila's molecular discovery engine by combining deep expertise in synthetic organic chemistry, molecular design, and data-enabled experimentation to accelerate the discovery of high-value molecules for therapeutic and broader platform applications.

What You'll Be Building

• Drive discovery chemistry strategy across discovery programs, with strong emphasis on small molecule design, synthetic innovation, analog generation, and optimization of chemical matter.
• Lead the design and execution of synthetic routes for novel small molecules, emphasizing speed, robustness, scalability, and compatibility with automated synthesis platforms.
• Develop and implement efficient workflows for molecular design, compound prioritization, analog generation, and iterative design-make-test cycles in collaboration with AI and computational teams.
• Partner closely with automation and platform teams to establish robotic and high-throughput chemistry capabilities that expand accessible chemical space and accelerate molecule generation.
• Guide the selection of reagents, reaction modalities, and synthetic methodologies to enable rapid exploration of structurally diverse and functionally relevant chemical matter.
• Drive discovery chemistry strategy across discovery programs, with strong emphasis on small molecule design, synthetic innovation, analog generation, and optimization of chemical matter.
• Lead the design and execution of synthetic routes for novel small molecules, emphasizing speed, robustness, scalability, and compatibility with automated synthesis platforms.
• Develop and implement efficient workflows for molecular design, compound prioritization, analog generation, and iterative design-make-test cycles in collaboration with AI and computational teams.
• Partner closely with automation and platform teams to establish robotic and high-throughput chemistry capabilities that expand accessible chemical space and accelerate molecule generation.
• Guide the selection of reagents, reaction modalities, and synthetic methodologies to enable rapid exploration of structurally diverse and functionally relevant chemical matter.
• Oversee molecular optimization by integrating chemistry principles including structure-activity relationships, physicochemical properties, selectivity, develop ability, and synthetic tractability.
• Collaborate with biology, screening, and profiling teams to interpret assay and characterization data and translate those insights into informed molecular design decisions.
• Drive discovery efforts from early chemical matter generation through optimization of advanced molecules, including scaffold evolution, property tuning, and progression toward candidate-quality compounds.
• Establish best practices for experimental design, chemistry data capture, compound registration, quality control, and reproducibility across molecular chemistry operations.
• Contribute strategically to program direction by aligning chemistry efforts with therapeutic hypotheses, platform capabilities, and broader company priorities.

What You'll Need to Succeed

• PhD in Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Chemical Biology, or a closely related discipline with 12-15…