Scientist I/II, Drug Delivery Chemistry

We are seeking a Scientist (II) to join our Physical Sciences team. This role will focus on assisting in the design and development of a high throughput chemical synthesis platform, with emphasis on medicinal chemistry and drug delivery applications. The ideal candidate will have experience synthesizing, analyzing, and optimizing novel molecules to build out structure-activity relationships for a library of compounds. This position will work closely with others across the chemistry, formulations, engineering, machine learning, and data science teams to help establish next-generation tools for therapeutic development and drug delivery. Your work will bridge the physical sciences and bioanalytical domains, enabling high-throughput experimentation for closed-loop optimization of organic compounds.

• Design, synthesize, and optimize novel lipids, small molecules, and other combinatorial chemistry compound libraries for drug delivery applications
• Design and deploy high-throughput synthesis strategies, build automated assay platforms, and develop innovative approaches to interrogate large chemical spaces
• Partner closely with chemistry, computational, and automation teams to establish structure-activity relationships for compound libraries to guide iterative design strategies
• Implement data-driven approaches to analyze screening outputs and guide iterative molecule design.
• Work with and manage projects with CDMOs for research-grade synthesis, with considerations towards scale-up of lead compounds
• Establish best practices for screening data quality, reproducibility, and assay robustness.
• Collaborate across disciplines to translate screening hits into validated chemical starting points for therapeutic programs.

• Ph.D. in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.
• ≥ 1 years of experience with automation, instrumentation, and integrating real-time analytics into experimental workflows.
• Strong background in organic synthesis, with experience designing and synthesizing novel organic compounds.
• Excellent problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills.

• Familiarity with novel lipid design for drug delivery applications
• Prior knowledge and implementation of biodegradability and tolerability design principles, with working knowledge of biological implications of compound moieties
• Prior experience working in an autonomous or self-driving chemical lab environment driving organic chemistry transformations
• Hands-on experience with AI-driven experimental design or Bayesian optimization
• Background in scaling workflows from proof-of-concept to routine, high-throughput operation

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

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