Medicinal Chemist

About Arc Institute

The Arc Institute is a new scientific institution that conducts curiosity-driven basic science and technology development to understand and treat complex human diseases. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Arc is an independent research organization founded on the belief that many important research programs will be enabled by new institutional models. Arc operates in partnership with Stanford University, UCSF, and UC Berkeley.

While the prevailing university research model has yielded many tremendous successes, we believe in the importance of institutional experimentation as a way to make progress. These include:

• Funding: Arc will fully fund Core Investigators’ (PIs’) research groups, liberating scientists from the typical constraints of project-based external grants.
• Technology: Biomedical research has become increasingly dependent on complex tooling. Arc Technology Centers develop, optimize and deploy rapidly advancing experimental and computational technologies in collaboration with Core Investigators. 
• Support: Arc aims to provide first-class support—operationally, financially and scientifically—that will enable scientists to pursue long-term high risk, high reward research that can meaningfully advance progress in disease cures, including neurodegeneration, cancer, and immune dysfunction.
• Culture: We believe that culture matters enormously in science and that excellence is difficult to sustain. We aim to create a culture that is focused on scientific curiosity, a deep commitment to truth, broad ambition, and selfless collaboration.

Arc has scaled to nearly 200 people. With $650M in committed funding and a state of the art new lab facility in Palo Alto, Arc will continue to grow quickly in the coming years.

About the position

Arc Institute seeks a highly skilled and motivated Medicinal Chemist to join a collaborative team working across multiple laboratories. The successful candidate will leverage their expertise in medicinal chemistry to design and perform drug screens, conduct Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR) studies, optimize existing therapeutic compounds, and provide essential synthesis and chemical design expertise. This position offers the opportunity to collaborate with leading researchers in multiple disease areas, contributing to innovative therapeutic discoveries.

In this position you will

• Design and implement drug screening assays for multiple therapeutic targets.
• Maintain and run high-throughput screening mass spectrometry instrument
• Perform/guide chemical synthesis and optimization of bioactive compounds.
• Conduct comprehensive Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR) studies.
• Modify and improve existing drug candidates to enhance therapeutic potential, stability, and bioavailability.
• Collaborate closely with interdisciplinary teams to facilitate drug discovery efforts.
• Provide chemical design expertise and strategic insight to support ongoing projects across Arc Institute labs.
• Maintain accurate experimental records, analyze data, and communicate findings clearly within teams and through presentations/publications.

Requirements

• PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, or related field.
• Proven expertise and hands-on experience in drug discovery, chemical synthesis, and medicinal chemistry.
• Extensive experience in SAR studies, drug screening design, and compound optimization.
• Demonstrated ability to modify and optimize existing therapeutic compounds.
• Strong understanding of drug-like properties, pharmacokinetics, and ADMET optimization.
• Excellent organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills essential for working in multi-laboratory environments.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Postdoctoral or industry experience in pharmaceutical drug discovery programs.
• Experience with computational chemistry and modeling software.
• Proven track record of publication in medicinal chemistry or drug discovery.

The base salary range for this position is $121,250-$150,000. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual base compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, market conditions, education/training, skill level, and whether the compensation is internally equitable, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This position is also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and institute performance factors.