Company Description

Sosei Heptares is an international biopharmaceutical company with a mission to make a significant contribution to improving the quality of life and health of people around the world. To achieve this, we will discover, design, and develop the most innovative and effective medicines for patients worldwide, through our world-leading patent-protected technology and platform.

Our core focus is on the discovery and early development of new medicines originating from our proprietary G Protein-Coupled Receptor (GPCR) targeted StaR® technology and Structure Based Drug Design (SBDD) platform capabilities. Today, we are advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology, and inflammation diseases.

We have established partnerships with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and multiple emerging technology companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Biohaven, Genentech (Roche), GSK, Neurocrine Biosciences, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda and Verily.

Sosei Heptares is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with corporate and R&D facilities in London and Cambridge, UK. We have approximately 170 employees based at our state-of-the-art R&D research centre at Granta Park, Cambridge. The size of our company ensures optimum agility and transparent linkage between all activities from early discovery through to clinical development.

For more information, please visit https://soseiheptares.com/. LinkedIn: @soseiheptaresco | Twitter: @soseiheptaresco | YouTube: @soseiheptaresco

Position

We are seeking a Senior Scientist to join our multidisciplinary and highly collaborative discovery chemistry team.

We have an opportunity for a laboratory-based role focused on innovative synthetic chemistry problem-solving skills whilst leveraging Sosei Heptares’ structure-based drug discovery platform to design novel molecules that drive our pipeline.

Successful candidates will contribute to the overall scientific deliverables of the organisation by helping to define program and chemistry strategy, with opportunities to lead aspects of project chemistry and CRO management. They will also play a key role in drug discovery project teams, interacting with scientists from other disciplines, including computational chemistry, molecular pharmacology and drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK).

For the right candidates, this role provides an excellent opportunity to pursue a research career in an industry-leading company offering the unique environment of structurally enabled GPCR Drug Discovery.

Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be expected to work both independently and as part of a wider team of scientists and:

• Maintain high synthetic chemistry productivity that impact drug discovery programs
• Effective troubleshooting of challenging chemistry via implementation of appropriate synthetic methodologies
• Contribute to medicinal chemistry strategies and execute on the overall project strategy from Target ID to Candidate nomination
• Contribute to molecule design strategies that drive delivery of high-quality molecules to enable target validation and generation of candidate molecules for clinical assessment
• Give presentations and represent medicinal chemistry at internal project scientific meetings and externally, where appropriate
• Where appropriate, lead a team of CROs ensuring effective prioritisation and high productivity
• Maintain the highest levels of Health and Safety across the Medicinal Chemistry team

Requirements

Educational Requirements

A PhD, or BSc/MSc with equivalent experience, in Chemistry or related discipline

Skills and Experience Requirements

• 2-5 years of relevant industry experience in drug discovery
• High level understanding of organic synthesis with track-record of applying deep knowledge in a practical setting
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, and ability for lateral thinking
• Solid understanding of the field of medicinal chemistry and drug design principles
• A track-record of supporting drug discovery projects; ideally including aspects of chemistry leadership
• A broad understanding of the related scientific disciplines that are pertinent to drug discovery and early development (e.g. chemical biology, computational chemistry, structural biology, pharmacology, ADME, drug safety, IP)
• Ability to work highly effectively both in team environments and independently
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with ability to clearly communicate chemistry strategies to team, management, and collaborators both verbally and in written form, in English

What’s in it for you?

• State-of-the-art R&D centre located in the heart of the Cambridge science cluster
• Competitive compensation package including discretionary cash bonuses
• Eligible for grants of Restricted Stock Units in Sosei Group Corporation
• 25 days annual leave in addition to public holidays
• Employer contribution to pension
• Private Medical Insurance and a cash plan for dental and optical reimbursement
• Health and wellbeing benefits including a subsidised individual gym membership
• Income protection to cover long term absences due to ill health
• Group Death in Service equal to 4x basic annual salary

Why Sosei Heptares?

At Sosei Heptares, we are dedicated to the pursuit of scientific innovation. Our mission is to make a significant contribution to improving the quality of life and health of people around the world. To achieve this, we will discover, design, and develop the most innovative and effective medicines for patients worldwide, through our world-leading patent-protected technology and platform

Working at Sosei Heptares

The Sosei Heptares R&D centre is a modern, state-of-the-art centre located within easy shuttle reach of Cambridge and Whittlesford Parkway train stations. We offer a collaborative, diverse and inclusive working environment that considers your individual needs and believes in maintaining a sustainable work-life balance. You will be welcomed by a team of colleagues with decades of accumulated experience in their areas of expertise, happy to help you develop your own skills in a highly collaborative environment and who are keen to provide guidance and support in your personal and career development plans.

Our Vision and Values

To become one of Japan’s science and technology-led biopharmaceutical drug discovery champions. To achieve this, we will leverage our global know-how and operating agility to deliver a sustainable pipeline of first or best-in-class therapeutics, ensuring our place amongst the next generation of leading innovators.

We are guided by three fundamental values.

• Limitless Compassion
• Unswerving passion
• Continuous self-innovation

These unchanging set of core values that serves as a guide across all our activities.

Join Us!

Other information

The successful candidate will be employed by Heptares Therapeutics Ltd, a UK wholly owned subsidiary of Sosei Group Corporation.

Sosei Heptares is committed to building a diverse and ambitious workforce, and to promoting equal opportunities in employment. We recognize that diverse and inclusive teams build a stronger and more innovative company. Therefore, all qualified applicants will be considered for employment: we do not discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, or any other classification prescribed by law.

Applications should include a CV and covering letter, providing a short description of your background and interest in the role. Please apply through our on-line job’s portal with your application in pdf format, quoting reference number 2022-SS1-Med-Chem. The closing date for applications is 30th Sept 2022.

Sosei Heptares does not accept speculative or unsolicited CVs from agencies. All speculative or unsolicited CVs submitted without an agreement in place will be considered Sosei Heptares property and will not obligate us to pay a referral fee.

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