Medicinal Chemistry Project Leader

Medicinal Chemistry Project Leader

Arvinas is a biotechnology company dedicated to improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases through the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapies that degrade disease-causing proteins. Arvinas uses its proprietary PROTAC Discovery Engine platform to engineer PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras, or PROTACs, that are designed to harness the body's own natural protein disposal system to selectively and efficiently degrade and remove disease-causing proteins.

This differentiated approach has enabled Arvinas to build a broad pipeline of investigational therapies across oncology and neurodegenerative diseases, including ARV-102, targeting LRRK2 for neurodegenerative diseases; ARV-806, targeting KRAS G12D for mutated cancers, including pancreatic, colorectal, and non-small cell lung cancers; ARV-393, targeting BCL6 for relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; ARV-027, targeting the polyglutamine-expanded androgen receptor, or polyQ-AR, in skeletal muscle for spinal bulbar muscular atrophy;

and vepdegestrant, targeting the estrogen receptor for patients with locally advanced or metastatic ER+/HER2- breast cancer.

Building on its leadership in targeted protein degradation, Arvinas achieved a major milestone in May 2026 with the first-ever U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a PROTAC protein degrader therapy. The approval marked a significant advancement for the field and demonstrated the therapeutic potential of targeted protein degradation as a novel treatment modality. This PROTAC has been out-licensed for commercialization and further development.

Arvinas is headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut. For more information about Arvinas, visit

Position Summary

The Medicinal Chemistry Project Leader is expected to lead the chemistry efforts as part of a cross-functional project team to drive programs to key decisions at all stages of the preclinical pipeline. This role requires deep understanding and utilization of key concepts in medicinal chemistry to design molecules with optimized potency, selectivity and pharmacokinetic properties, with a particular emphasis on degrader-antibody conjugates.

This role reports to the Executive Director, Medicinal Chemistry. This work can be performed on-site at our headquarters in New Haven, CT with hybrid work arrangements being available, depending on work requirements and project needs.

Principal Responsibilities

• Drive milestone decision-making on assigned PROTAC projects, which may focus on degrader-antibody conjugates, from inception to clinical candidate nomination in line with target product profiles and timelines within a team environment
• Expeditious molecular and synthetic design of PROTACs, degrader-antibody conjugates, and libraries in conjunction with state-of-the-art computational chemistry resources to enable program advancement
• SAR analysis of complex, multivariate datasets to generate new testable hypotheses
• Dynamic interaction with external CRO resources to ensure synthetic and data needs are fulfilled according to agreed timelines and standards
• Solicitation and analysis of necessary experimentation/data to allow identification and prioritization of issues, and crisp-decision making within the project environment to meet company, project and personal goals and timelines
• Strong communication skills to drive smooth collaboration and decision-making with other functions in drug discovery
• Exemplify leadership, demanding excellence in performance at all levels
• Provide transparent, coherent, and focused scientific updates to manager and company executives on request. Represent company interests at conferences and in scientific matters to external organizations as needed
• Craft and communicate data-based strategic recommendations and decisions to leadership within research and development

Qualifications

• Proven track record of leading research projects through milestone decisions toward clinical candidate nomination
• Extensive experience in the synthetic and medicinal chemistry of antibody-drug conjugates. Specific experience with degrader-antibody conjugates preferred.
• Extensive knowledge around structure-based design, SAR generation, and multi-parametric optimization
• Deep understanding of pharmacokinetic principles and in vivo pharmacology
• Proven ability to collaborate and communicate project needs and strategy to multidisciplinary team members and senior leaders
• Must be legally authorized to…