Senior Research Scientist, Medicinal Chemistry

IDEAYA is a precision medicine oncology company committed to the discovery, development, and commercialization of transformative therapies for cancer. Our approach integrates expertise in small-molecule drug discovery, structural biology and bioinformatics with robust internal capabilities in identifying and validating translational biomarkers to develop tailored, potentially first-in-class, targeted therapies aligned to the genetic drivers of disease. We have built a deep pipeline of product candidates focused on synthetic lethality and antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, for molecularly defined solid tumor indications.

Our mission is to bring forth the next wave of precision oncology therapies that are more selective, more effective, and deeply personalized with the goal of altering the course of disease and improving clinical outcomes for patients with cancer. When you're at IDEAYA, you will be in the midst of brilliant minds working on precision medicine therapies to help cancer patients.

We are passionate and committed about being on the forefront of oncology medicine, which means we all have a high internal drive that is at the very core of every person  are inquisitive, ask deep questions, and are data‑driven innovators who like to collaborate and use teamwork to move science forward.

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South San Francisco, CA

We are seeking a talented and highly motivated individual with significant pharmaceutical industry experience to join our multidisciplinary team as a discovery medicinal chemist. The successful candidate will impact programs by being highly productive in lab and by rationally proposing target molecules that overcome liabilities to deliver clinical candidate molecules. You will be a part of dynamic, cross‑functional teams that successfully deliver drug discovery pipeline goals.

The responsibilities will include, but not be limited to, those listed below.

• Apply modern synthetic techniques to prepare complex chemical targets to advance cutting‑edge oncology programs and deliver high‑quality molecules at a very productive rate
• Design high‑confidence reaction sequences that avoid known liabilities and reduce difficult purifications
• Rapidly gather reaction information and troubleshoot problematic transformations
• Plan ahead and multitask in and out of the lab
• Deliver molecules on scales from 10mg to >25g
• Help manage external synthetic chemistry resources to high productivity
• Follow SAR data and leverage medicinal chemistry knowledge to propose targets that address critical issues
• Use emerging structure‑based design skills to design targets with improved affinity and selectivity profiles
• Clearly and concisely present results in various forums

• Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry with 0‑3 years of pharmaceutical industry medicinal chemistry experience
• Excellent scientific expertise in synthetic organic chemistry, including asymmetric reactions and modern cross‑coupling techniques, strong knowledge of modern chemistry literature and in‑depth knowledge of a wide range of purification and spectroscopic characterization techniques
• Ability to keep good scientific records
• Demonstrated ability to maintain high productivity in the lab and synthesize complicated chemical structures at the pace required to impact medicinal chemistry programs while maintaining high safety standards
• Ability to develop new chemistry that is both practical and scalable
• Ability to regularly troubleshoot synthetic problems and provide practical and creative solutions
• Demonstrate excellent oral and written communication skills
• Ability to multi‑task and set priorities in a fast‑paced and dynamic environment while demonstrating a positive attitude and superior work ethic
• Ability to work well in multi‑disciplinary teams
• Level‑appropriate knowledge of medicinal chemistry concepts, including structure‑based target design, SAR‑driven target design, multi‑parameter optimization, physicochemical properties of drugs, and ADME and pharmacological principles applied to drug discovery
• Desire to continually learn drug discovery concepts and structure‑based design concepts…