Team Leader, Medicinal Drug Design

Team Leader, Medicinal Drug Design, London

Join to apply for the Team Leader, Medicinal Drug Design, London role at Isomorphic Labs

Isomorphic Labs is applying frontier AI to help unlock deeper scientific insights, faster breakthroughs, and life-changing medicines with an ambition to solve all disease. The future is coming. A future enabled and enriched by the incredible power of machine learning. A future in which diseases are curtailed or cured starting with better and faster drug discovery. Come and be part of an interdisciplinary team driving groundbreaking innovation and play a meaningful role in contributing towards achieving our ambitious goals, while being part of an inspiring and collaborative culture.

Isomorphic Labs (Iso Labs) was launched in 2021 to advance human health by building on and beyond the Nobel-winning Alpha Fold system. Since then, our interdisciplinary team of drug discovery experts and machine learning specialists has built powerful new predictive and generative AI models that accelerate scientific discovery at digital speed. Our name comes from the belief that there is an underlying symmetry between biology and information science.

By harnessing AI’s powerful capabilities, we can model complex biological phenomena to help design novel molecules, anticipate how drugs will perform, and develop innovative medicines to treat and cure some of the world’s most devastating diseases. We have built a world‑leading drug design engine comprising AI models that are capable of working across multiple therapeutic areas and drug modalities. We are continually innovating on model architecture and developing cutting‑edge capabilities to advance rational drug design.

Every day, and with each new breakthrough, we’re getting closer to the promise of digital biology, and achieving our ambitious mission to one day solve all disease with the help of AI.

We are a dynamic team of Medicinal Chemists transforming how drugs are designed. By partnering deeply with our AI/ML colleagues, we are doing more than just leveraging the Isomorphic Labs Drug Design Engine – we are actively shaping it. We use our domain expertise to challenge and refine our algorithms, creating a powerful symbiotic relationship that drives our internal and collaborative portfolios.

You will be responsible for line managing and mentoring a small team of talented and high‑performing Medicinal Chemists, fostering their scientific growth and career development. Additionally, you will provide scientific leadership and strategic direction for key drug discovery projects, guiding them from initiation towards clinical candidate selection. Working alongside world‑leading AI/ML scientists, you will play a critical role in driving project success, enhancing our AI platform through technical expertise.

• Provide line management for a team of 2–4 Medicinal Chemists. Set clear goals, provide regular feedback, support their professional development, and foster a collaborative and high‑performance team environment.
• Invent new medicines. Rapidly drive drug discovery programmes to value inflection points by deploying knowledge of modern discovery principles and synthetic organic chemistry, taking ownership as either a Medicinal Chemistry Lead or overall Project Lead.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally to support the data‑driven delivery of high‑quality scientific solutions to complex technical problems.
• Represent the company externally, interacting with existing and prospective collaborators and Contract Research Organisations (CROs).
• Provide strategic input and technical direction to our AI/ML platform teams.
• Effectively manage CRO resources and monitor KPIs to maintain delivery.
• Generate intellectual property positions and capture the value derived from Iso Labs’ investment.
• Prepare detailed scientific proposals and reports to support new and ongoing programmes.
• Embrace and champion our culture of inclusion and continuous professional development.

• PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, Synthetic Organic Chemistry, or related technical field; or equivalent…