Senior or Principal Scientist - Discovery Research

Job Description

We seek an exceptionally collaborative Senior or Principal Scientist with experience in identifying and validating targets, and initiating early stage drug discovery efforts as part of a truly integrated R&D team. The ideal candidate will also have experience working right alongside geneticists and computational biologists, translating genetic findings into actionable therapeutic targets.  Since we are an actively growing start-up, we seek creative thinkers, agile learners and candidates with an unwavering willingness to do what is necessary to help build the company and mature a human-genetics-backed therapeutic pipeline. Our current disease areas of interest include kidney disease, fibrosis, inflammation, and neurodegenerative disorders.

Responsibilities

• Lead therapeutic programs from inception through to the clinic, with a focus on early-stage target prioritization and experimental validation.  
• Become a disease and biology subject matter expert in a variety of areas, ready to tackle new genetic findings in diverse areas.  
• Contribute to deep dives into our primary disease areas of interest and GWAS-identified targets to help build and support a competitive R&D pipeline. 
• Work together with internal computational geneticists to advance genetic findings.  
• Effectively communicate scientific results to internal and external audiences.
• Contribute to scientific publications.

Qualifications

• A Ph.D. in a biology discipline with >5 years of relevant experience.  Industry experience is a plus.   
• Proven track record in initiating and progressing novel therapeutic targets through validation and drug discovery.
• Experience with a variety of assay platforms, and the ability to develop robust assays to support a drug development program.  
• Familiarity with a broad array of human and mouse translational models relevant to disease areas of interest. 
• Ability to grow and manage a team.   
• Familiarity with publicly available databases and user interfaces for the investigation of genetics, biology and human disease data.
• Experience using molecular characterization and functional studies, including CRISPR/gene editing, to understand the role of a gene in a disease is preferred.  
• Strong people skills and an ability & willingness to work on a multidisciplinary R&D team.
• Independent, creative, detail-orientated, and a critical thinker. 
• Immunology, fibrosis, kidney disease or genetics expertise is an advantage.   
• Compelled by the company’s mission of great science, a strong ethical stance, and benefit sharing.