Senior Computational Chemist

Overview

Job Description

Responsibilities

• - Apply computational solutions to address unmet drug discovery challenges, questioning assumptions and rigorously validating results.
• - Work closely with the development team to enhance SandboxAQ’s unique technology and Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) for large-scale impact.
• - Apply SandboxAQ’s computational platform to provide high-value drug discovery solutions while critically evaluating its methodologies and results.
• - Translate insights from molecular dynamics, free energy perturbation, molecular docking, quantum, and ML methods into actionable, testable drug discovery hypotheses.
• - Collaborate closely with ML experts and cross-functional teams to prototype and scale innovative drug design solutions.
• - Develop and deploy computational methods and workflows to generate and evaluate hypotheses, guiding design decisions and influencing project direction.
• - Challenge conventional thinking by critically assessing and interpreting computational outputs, ensuring robust scientific conclusions.
• - Directly contribute to the discovery of innovative medicines by integrating computational chemistry techniques into multidisciplinary drug discovery teams.
• - Generate and evaluate hypotheses to assist design decisions and influence project direction by deploying and developing computational methods and workflows.

Required Skills

• - PhD in computational physics, computational chemistry, or a related discipline.
• - 3-5 years of relevant experience, including hands-on experience with computational chemistry applied to drug discovery in biotech, pharma, or related industries.
• - Excellent communication skills and record of fostering successful internal collaboration and effective external partnerships.
• - A deep commitment to critical thinking - comfortable questioning methodologies, challenging assumptions, and refining approaches to improve predictive accuracy.
• - A drive to cooperate with colleagues to identify problems and communicate technical solutions clearly and effectively.
• - A hands-on mentality & comfortable with getting deep into the technical weeds of highly complex problems.
• - Track record of driving projects to completion.
• - Proficiency in structure-based drug design and familiarity with ligand-based drug design methods.
• - Experience with GPU-accelerated MD codes like OpenMM.
• - Experience in the Python data science stack (NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, etc.).
• - Familiarity with ligand-protein free energy of binding prediction methods such as Free Energy Perturbation (FEP) or similar.
• - Experience running computational chemistry/quantum simulations on high-performance computing (GPU) environments for corporate R&D, innovation labs, or academic research.
• - A passion for solving scientific problems in chemistry and biology through computational and data-driven methods, with a commitment to rigorous validation and scientific integrity.
• - Ability to leverage both experimental and computational data in forming strategic drug discovery approaches.

Benefits

• - Competitive base salary, performance-based incentives or bonuses (where applicable), and equity participation.
• - Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents with generous employer premium contributions.
• - Retirement savings with company matching.
• - Paid parental leave, and inclusive family-building benefits.
• - Flexible paid time off, company-wide seasonal breaks, and support for flexible work arrangements that enable sustainable performance.
• - Opportunities for continuous learning and growth through on-the-job development, cross-functional collaboration, and access to internal learning and development programs.