Team Lead, OpenADMET

Octant is a clinical-stage drug discovery company developing cor rectors for protein misfolding diseases with active programs in rare diseases and oncology. Octant’s platform, The Navigator, combines high-throughput synthetic biology, generative chemistry, and AI/ML to discover and develop therapeutics against complex cellular mechanisms in human cells.

We are seeking a team lead to head Octant’s OpenADMET team. OpenADMET is a multi-institution open science consortium, spanning Octant, UCSF, and the Open Molecular Software Foundation (OMSF), on a mission to solve ADMET prediction and make ADMET a design challenge. Octant leads assay development and data generation for the consortium, including the data behind OpenADMET’s public blind challenges.

You will lead strategy and execution for Octant’s role in OpenADMET, working across consortium partners, funders, and the broader community. Internally, you will be the thought leader on how OpenADMET assays, data, and workflows are built into the Octant Navigator platform and put to work in our drug discovery programs. You view ADME through a molecular lens, operate comfortably at both the strategic and execution layers, and have a track record of leading complex, cross-functional projects.

You are motivated by Octant’s mission and have a team-first mindset. You bring excellent communication skills and an ability to thrive in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.

• Lead the strategy and execution of Octant’s contributions to OpenADMET, coordinating closely with partners at UCSF and OMSF
• Build long-term relationships with funders, provide regular progress updates, and scope out the next stages of funding
• Grow community across the OpenADMET ecosystem, including blind challenge participants and others working on ADMET prediction
• Decide which ADMET assays Octant builds and onboards, and ensure they run robustly and reproducibly at high throughput
• Connect our in-house high-throughput synthesis capabilities with ADMET assays in a closed design-make-test loop, including technology development in microscale synthesis and quantification
• Lead and grow a team, working hand-in-hand with machine learning scientists, software engineers, biologists, chemists, and automation engineers

• A PhD in Analytical Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry, Biology, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience
• 8-10+ years of experience in small molecule drug discovery, including leading large, cross-functional projects and teams. Industry experience strongly preferred.
• Experience spanning ADME/DMPK, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry, with the intuition to reason about ADME through a molecular lens
• A track record of building platforms or other enabling technology, such as new assays, high-throughput workflows, or data and automation infrastructure
• Computational fluency: you don’t need to be a data scientist or computational chemist, but you are comfortable working with data and AI tools and building workflows
• The ability to move between strategy and execution, and to communicate clearly with funders, collaborators, and internal teams
• Excitement about open science: much of this work is public-facing through OpenADMET, a rare opportunity in drug discovery
• Flexibility to rapidly changing priorities and project needs, with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. Comfortable with ambiguity and able to pivot strategies as needed to meet project goals.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities, with a proactive approach to anticipating potential issues and addressing them before they become critical.
• A drive to build a successful…