TL;DR

Director / Senior Director, Small Molecule Therapeutics (Biotech): Leading biological evaluation and screening of small molecules for an AI-driven discovery platform with an accent on high-throughput screening, assay development, and laboratory automation. Focus on building and scaling a multidisciplinary scientific team to integrate biology with robotic synthesis and computational workflows for novel therapeutic discovery.

Location: Cambridge, MA, USA

Salary: $184,000 – $294,000 USD

Company

Lila Sciences is a scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous lab pioneering AI-driven discovery to solve challenges in human health, climate, and sustainability.

What you will do

  • Build and lead the small molecule biology and screening organization, including hiring and mentoring scientific staff.
  • Design and implement high-throughput and automated screening platforms to evaluate AI-generated chemical matter.
  • Develop biochemical, biophysical, and cell-based assays to identify and validate novel small molecule hits.
  • Establish scalable, robotics-enabled workflows for assay execution and data generation.
  • Lead DNA-encoded library (DEL) screening strategies and downstream validation pipelines.
  • Collaborate with chemistry, computational, and automation teams to integrate screening results into iterative design cycles.

Requirements

  • PhD in Molecular Biology, Chemical Biology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, or related field with 12–15 years of experience (or equivalent MS/BS with 15+ years).
  • Proven track record building and leading small molecule screening teams or platforms.
  • Demonstrated experience designing and executing HTS campaigns for drug discovery.
  • Expertise in biological assay development and implementation of automated or robotics-enabled laboratory platforms.
  • Experience with DEL screening or large-scale chemical library interrogation.
  • Must be able to work on-site in Cambridge, MA.

Nice to have

  • Familiarity with AI-enabled drug discovery environments or machine learning integration.
  • Experience scaling automated platforms that integrate robotics and computational workflows.
  • Knowledge of phenotypic assays or high-content screening systems.
  • Experience building screening infrastructure from the ground up.

Culture & Benefits

  • Competitive base salary and bonus potential.
  • Generous early equity participation.
  • Work at the intersection of AI, robotics, and drug discovery in a fast-paced environment.
  • Commitment to equal employment opportunity and diversity.