Senior/Principal Scientist, Small Molecule Therapeutics

Responsibilities

• Lead early hit identification efforts using DNA-encoded libraries (DEL) and complementary screening technologies
• Build and improve DEL screening capabilities integrated with AI-enabled chemistry and automated synthesis platforms
• Design and execute DEL screening campaigns, including selection strategy and data interpretation
• Develop and optimize biochemical and biophysical assays to validate and characterize hits
• Evaluate and implement complementary screening modalities such as fragment and affinity-based approaches
• Establish collaborations to secure high-quality protein supply for high-throughput screening
• Define and triage optimal protein constructs to enable reliable screening performance

Requirements

• PhD in Biology, Chemical Biology, Biochemistry, or related field with 6–8 years of drug discovery experience, or MS/BS with 10+ years of industry experience
• Demonstrated success in designing and executing DNA-encoded library (DEL) screening campaigns
• Strong knowledge of fragment-based, affinity-based, and functional screening approaches
• Experience developing and optimizing biochemical and biophysical assays
• Hands-on proficiency with biophysics methods such as SPR, BLI, DSF, ITC, or MST
• Experience operating in automation- and robotics-enabled laboratory environments
• Proven ability to collaborate with protein science teams on construct strategy and purification
• Deep understanding of the hit identification and validation funnel

Preferred Qualifications

• Expertise in large-scale screening and contemporary small molecule discovery technologies
• Strong command of screening data analysis and large experimental dataset stewardship
• Familiarity with AI-enabled drug discovery environments and machine learning integration
• Experience building end-to-end screening capabilities including instrumentation selection

About the Company

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously.