Director​/Senior Director, Biology

Location: Onsite 2-3 days/week in Santa Cruz, CA

Reports To: Head of Biology

Employment Type: Full-Time, Exempt

Unnatural Products (UNP) is a Series B biotech company at the forefront of macrocyclic peptide drug discovery. Our mission is delivering first-in-class macrocycle therapeutics for high impact disease areas. UNP’s approach couples machine learning-based in silico tools with massively parallel peptide chemistry to enable the discovery and rapid optimization of highly non-natural macrocyclic peptides aimed at extracellular targets, undruggable intracellular targets, and beyond.

Based in Santa Cruz, CA, we are a passionate team of scientists and operators doing high-quality science in a beautiful setting—where innovation and work-life balance go hand in hand. Come shape the future of UNP with us!

UNP is seeking an accomplished biologist and project leader to lead our cell biology and in vivo pharmacology group as Director/Senior Director, Biology. This is a hands‑on leadership role for a scientist with direct responsibility for the cellular and in vivo pharmacology aspects of our drug discovery projects.

Reporting to the Head of Biology, the successful candidate will partner closely with the leader of our early discovery and protein sciences group, as well as with other scientific leaders in chemistry and DMPK. They will be accountable for the design, execution, and interpretation of the cellular and in vivo pharmacology strategy across UNP’s portfolio, will serve as biology project lead on one or more programs, and will build and develop the team of scientists delivering that work.

We are looking for a strong scientist, ideally with a background in immunology and/or inflammation. Equally important is a drug hunter’s mindset of advancing molecules toward patients, and a bias toward the experiment that changes a decision. The role can be filled at Director or Senior Director level depending on the experience the successful candidate brings.

• Leading UNP’s cellular biology and in vivo pharmacology group of experienced scientists
• Owning the cell biology and in vivo pharmacology strategy across the portfolio by selecting and qualifying models, designing studies that answer the critical project questions, and interpreting the resulting data
• Building testing cascades that connect biochemical, cellular, and in vivo assays, matched to each project’s goals and competitive positioning
• Serving as biology project lead on one or more discovery programs, accountable for biology deliverables from hit identification through development candidate nomination
• Managing contract vivarium operations and external CRO partnerships, ensuring studies are well designed, well executed, and delivered on timeline and budget
• Partnering with chemistry, DMPK, computational, and program management so that biology is a full contributor to project strategy and decision-making
• Contributing to translating in vitro and in vivo data into exposure-response and PK/PD understanding that informs compound progression and candidate selection
• Recruiting, mentoring, and developing scientists, and building a culture of scientific rigor, transparency, and accountability within the group
• Contributing biology assessments to new target evaluation, including tractability with UNP’s macrocyclic peptide platform
• Presenting data and recommendations to the scientific leadership team, and representing UNP’s biology externally with partners and KOLs as required

• Depth in immunology and/or autoimmune disease biology; additional experience in metabolic disease is valuable

• A strong scientific leader with a proven ability to design, execute, and interpret cellular pharmacology and PK/PD, target engagement, and efficacy studies in relevant models
• Experience developing and qualifying cell-based assays, including primary cell and translationally relevant systems
• Experience with both extracellular and intracellular targets; experience with peptides or other beyond-rule-of-five modalities is an advantage
• Knowledge of what in…