Director, Biochemistry/Biophysics

As Director, Biochemistry/Biophysics at NextRNA Therapeutics, you will join an interdisciplinary team of highly creative and talented individuals whose mission is to translate pioneering science of non-coding RNAs into transformative medicines for patients. You will be leading and building out the Biochemistry and Biophysics group and be responsible for integrating biochemical and biophysical technologies with our drug discovery pipeline.

About you:

• You are an experienced and accomplished manager and have successfully led and supported cross-functional teams.
• You are an expert in applying biochemical and biophysical technologies to solve challenging questions and have demonstrated this with a strong publication record.
• You are equipped with a strong toolbox of technologies and love challenges and bring a vision to build a unique biochemistry and biophysics platform at NextRNA with the goal to drug the undruggable space.
• You are driven, passionate, and motivated to make a difference
• You are a team player and collaboration is one of your strengths
• You are conscientious, organized, and detailed oriented
• You are curious, love learning and are eager to take on hard problems
• You thrive in a fast-paced environment and enjoy pushing the edge of what is possible

What you’ll do:

• You will lead and set the strategy for the Biochemistry and Biophysics group at NextRNA
• You will apply your expertise in Biochemistry and Biophysics to lead your team in establishing functional and binding assays for RNA-binding proteins and/or RNAs with small molecules.
• You will own the Biochemistry and Biophysics budget.
• You will be the Biochemistry and Biophysics lead on projects and play a key role in drug discovery.
• You and your team will explore and evaluate new biochemical and biophysical methods to support drug discovery and push the boundaries of developing RNA targeted small molecule drugs.
• You will manage and actively engage in collaborations with CRO’s.
• You will drive the development of experimental designs for understanding protein and RNA interactions.
• You will establish, troubleshoot and improve biochemical screening and biophysical binding assays.
• You and your team will work closely with a multidisciplinary team to screen and validate small molecule hits.
• You will work in a highly cross disciplinary team and learn how to drug the undruggable.

Key Qualifications:

• You have a PhD with 3+ years of post-doctoral training in biochemistry and/or biophysics.
• You have at least 6+ years of industry experience, have led a team of Scientists and have worked in an interdisciplinary environment where you have closely worked with medicinal chemists.
• You are a leader and have managed teams of 2+ PhD Scientists.
• You have a strong publication record from PhD and Post-doc and/or industry that demonstrate your expertise in biochemistry and biophysics
• You are trained in studying protein function and protein/protein or protein/small molecule interactions and applied a variety of different biochemical assays (e.g. TR-FRET, FP) and biophysical methods (e.g. SPR, ITC, MST, DSF, NMR, MS) in small molecule drug discovery.
• You are an expert in small molecule drug discovery and have supported hit-finding and validation workflows.
• You have an understanding of protein expression, purification and quality control (QC).
• You have the ability to thrive in a fast-paced start-up environment.
• You have excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience with RNA biochemistry or any novel specialty is preferred

Please contact NextRNA Head Talent Acquisition for further information
Mary Beth Greene: mgreene@nextrna.com