Sosei Heptares (the corporate brand of Sosei Group Corporation) is a research-focused biotechnology group, publicly listed in Japan (TSE: 4565) and with sites in Tokyo, London and Cambridge (UK).

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 StaR® technology and platform.

Our primary focus is 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. We are advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including CNS, immuno-oncology, gastroenterology, inflammation and other rare/specialty indications.

We have established partnerships with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, including Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Genentech (Roche), Novartis, Pfizer and Takeda; and additionally, with multiple emerging biotechnology companies.

Sosei Heptares has approximately 147 employees based at its new R&D research facility at Granta Park. The size of the company ensures a transparent linkage between all activities from early discovery through to clinical development

We are seeking a highly motivated and skilled Computational Chemist with experience in Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) and SBDD to join the Computational Chemistry team to assist Sosei Heptares in its drug discovery programs. This is an exceptional opportunity to participate in cutting-edge science using unique GPCR structural data whilst helping the growth and success of an industry-leading drug discovery company.

Responsibilities:

The computational chemist will work with our chemistry, pharmacology, biophysics and structural biology teams, and,

• Contribute to GPCR Structure-Based Drug Discovery projects by applying a broad set of computational chemistry and CADD approaches and developing structural protein-ligand interaction hypotheses to support and creatively contribute to data-driven molecular design and medicinal chemistry efforts.
• Develop, customise and apply computational medicinal chemistry and cheminformatics tools, workflows and models to extract, integrate, analyse and visualise complex chemical, structural, pharmacological and ADMET data within the context of structure-based drug discovery.
• Play an active role in new initiatives in GPCRome wide structural chemogenomics data driven virtual screening, GPCR optimised physics-based computer-aided drug design and generative molecular design approaches for GPCR SBDD.

Our preferred candidate will have the following profile:

• Ph.D. or equivalent experience in computational chemistry or a related discipline.
• Experience within a collaborative, multi-disciplinary, pharma/biotech environment with a track record of scientific achievements and contributions.
• Experience in supporting and executing structure-based drug design for lead generation and lead optimization with an experienced drug design team to develop novel compounds to enhance potency, selectivity and PK
• Skilled in computational chemistry/CADD approaches and strong familiarity with a wide range of current computational chemistry software suites for ligand-based and protein structure-based drug design, including bio/cheminformatics and structural chemogenomics data analysis, interpretation of crystallographic/cryoEM data, pharmacophore and QSAR modeling,  protein homology modeling and molecular docking, and different virtual screening approaches.
• Demonstrable expertise in GPCR modeling and structure-based drug design is considered beneficial.
• Proficiency in Python scientific programming language and/or scientific workflow systems.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills: you will need to be able to communicate effectively with team members having diverse professional backgrounds.
• Strong team player with an inclusive, pro-active and positive can-do mindset that is willing to listen and learn from others.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate proof of the right to work in the United Kingdom.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Heptares is an equal opportunities employer.

Applications should include a covering letter, providing a short description of the background to their interest in the role, with curriculum vitae including the names and contact details for two referees. Please apply through our on-line jobs portal with your application in pdf format, quoting reference number 2020-2CC. The closing date for applications is 30th September 2020.