ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST: COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY

Do you want to join a world leading team in developing the next generation of respiratory medicines?

AstraZeneca R&D, Gothenburg, Sweden seek to recruit an Associate Principal Scientist, Computational Chemistry, in the area of Respiratory, Inflammation & Autoimmunity (RIA)

Mission

AstraZeneca is committed to the development of the next generation of innovative respiratory medicines. The Computational Chemistry team leads efforts to expand the use of state of the art in silico methods for modelling, ligand design, property predictions and data analysis supporting the RIA drug discovery projects with a focus on small to medium sized molecules. The team operates in a highly cross disciplinary environment in close collaboration with scientists from the Chemistry, Bioscience, DMPK and Pharmaceutical Sciences departments to advance the RIA project pipeline.

Job description

As a Computational Chemist you will have a profound impact on multiple projects across the RIA portfolio. You will work collaboratively with medicinal chemists and multidisciplinary teams to design compounds with improved potency, selectivity, activity and/or ADME properties. By working simultaneously across multiple projects (2-3), in all discovery phases, you will identify and drive ligand design strategies and efficiently and proactively apply a full range of drug design and computational chemistry approaches to manage complex problems within a project, delivering results to timelines that impact the design of compounds for synthesis and testing.

You will be accountable for identifying areas of scientific improvement within computational sciences and their potential for application to projects within AstraZeneca and you will contribute to the development of new computational capabilities at AstraZeneca through collaboration with external groups or colleagues at other AstraZeneca sites. You will publish original work and literature reviews in peer reviewed journals and at conferences, maintaining an up to date awareness of recent literature and current developments within the field.

Education

We are seeking an engaged computational chemist with a PhD in computational chemistry, chemistry, pharmacology, or a related field with strong computational background. Industry experience or a track record of applying innovative solutions with resulting impact in drug discovery project delivery is a plus, but not a must. The candidate is encouraged to have a high degree of independence and to be an expert in a number of computer-aided drug design techniques to assist target identification and advancement of discovery programs.

Requirements and Qualifications

* Solid knowledge of computational chemistry and medicinal chemistry concepts.
* A detailed understanding of how computational chemistry contributes to our drug discovery projects together with a sound understanding of the drug discovery process encompassing other disciplines, such as synthetic, structural and medicinal chemistry, DMPK, structural biology, biophysics, biological science etc.
* Experience and expertise in structure-based and ligand-based design techniques is essential, knowledge in scientific computing, and programming skills (e.g. Python, Perl, C, C++, Java) are desired.
* Specific knowledge in molecular dynamics (MD) applications with a track record of applying these techniques to relevant problems in the field is desired.
* Strong written and interpersonal skills and ability to work well in multidisciplinary project teams
* Excellent time management skills, forward planning and delivery focus

More information

For more information about this position please contact: Dr. Christian Tyrchan, Medicinal Chemistry, IMED RIA, christian.tyrchan(@)astrazeneca.com

Please send your application no later than March 20th, 2020.