Senior Director to Executive Director, Chemistry

Job Title: Senior Director to Executive Director, Chemistry

Reports To: VP, Head of Discovery Unit 3

Location: Shanghai, China

About Us:

Structure Therapeutics develops life‐changing medicines for patients using advanced structure‐based and computational drug discovery technology. The company’s platform combines the latest advancements in visualization of molecular interactions, computational chemistry, and data integration to design orally available, superior small molecule medicines that overcome current limitations of biologic and peptide drugs. We are advancing a clinical‐stage pipeline of differentiated treatments focused on chronic diseases with high unmet need, including cardiovascular, metabolic, and pulmonary conditions.

Structure Therapeutics is led by an experienced group of international drug innovators and financed by top-tier global life sciences investors. The company completed an initial public offering (IPO) in February 2023. With offices in California and Shanghai, Structure Therapeutics has the benefit of being at the center of life science innovation in both the US and China and capitalizing on the strengths of each geographic location.

Position Summary:

This position will play a key role in advancing the research pipeline and drug discovery projects.  Anchored in Discovery Unit, the successful candidate will be responsible for designing, overseeing and interpreting in vivo studies in obesity, metabolic disease and related disease areas.  The position will be an essential part of an interdisciplinary team, collaborating closely with cross-functional team members and contributing to project success. 

Job Responsibilities:

Scientific and Program Leadership

• Provide medicinal chemistry leadership for one or more discovery programs, guiding design strategy from hit identification through lead optimization and candidate selection.
• Define and drive compound design hypotheses integrating structure–activity relationships (SAR), structure-based drug design, physicochemical properties, and developability.
• Partner with DMPK/ADME, in vitro/in vivo pharmacology, safety, and translational teams to optimize potency, selectivity, PK/PD, and overall drug-like profiles.
• Lead scientific decision-making at program milestones; present clear, data-driven recommendations to governance and senior leadership.

Team and Organizational Leadership

• Build, lead, and mentor a medicinal chemistry team (internal scientists and external partners), fostering a collaborative, high-accountability culture.
• Set clear goals and development plans for direct reports; recruit and retain top talent as the organization grows.
• Establish best practices for design cycles, data review cadence, documentation, and knowledge sharing.

Externalization and Partner Management

• Manage CRO/CMO medicinal chemistry activities: scope definition, compound plan development, quality control, timelines, and budgets.
• Ensure effective communication across time zones; maintain high scientific rigor and reproducibility across external work.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Structural Biology, Computational Chemistry, and Informatics to accelerate design-make-test-analyze (DMTA) cycles.
• Collaborate with CMC and Pharmaceutical Sciences to transition candidates and address synthetic feasibility, scalability, salt forms, and impurity risks.
• Contribute to IP strategy with legal/IP counsel: invention disclosures, patent support, and competitive landscaping.

Operational Excellence

• Drive program execution with strong planning, risk management, and prioritization.
• Ensure high-quality experimental design, data integrity, and clear reporting aligned with company standards

Qualifications:

• Deliver repeatable DC output across modalities
• PhD in Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, or related discipline with 12+ years of relevant industry experience (or MS with additional industry experience).
• Demonstrated track record of advancing small-molecule programs through lead optimization to candidate selection (ideally multiple programs).
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional discovery teams and influence program strategy at the portfolio level.
• Deep expertise in SAR development, property optimization (e.g., potency/selectivity/solubility/permeability/metabolic stability), and developability considerations.
• Strong understanding of DMPK concepts and how to integrate ADME/PK data into compound design decisions.
• Experience managing external partners (CROs) including scientific oversight, timelines, and budgets.
• Excellent communication skills with ability to present complex data clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.