Distinguished Scientist, Small Molecule Therapeutics

Your Impact at LILA

The Distinguished Scientist, Small Molecule Therapeutics will play a key role in building a world-class small molecule screening organization across Lila’s discovery platform. The qualified candidate will leverage deep expertise in DNA-encoded libraries (DEL) and biophysical/biochemical assay development to identify, triage, and validate novel chemical matter in close partnership with Lila’s chemistry, computational, and automation teams.

In this role, the Director will be responsible for designing and implementing the capabilities, workflows, and infrastructure needed to rapidly evaluate and advance hits across therapeutic modalities. They will also lead the establishment of biophysical instrumentation and scalable assay platforms, enabling an efficient, high-throughput discovery workflow for small molecule hit confirmation and validation.

What You'll Be Building

• Implement and scale biophysical instrumentation and assay platforms to validate, confirm, and triage small molecule screening hits.
• Build screening technologies integrated with Lila’s AI-driven chemistry and robotic synthesis capabilities to identify novel, high-quality chemical matter.
• Establish, optimize, and deploy biochemical activity assays to enable target triage for screening and robust validation of screening hits.
• Develop fit-for-purpose mechanistic assays to determine mode of action for small molecule inhibitors.
• Design, produce, and characterize protein constructs required for high-throughput screening and assay development.
• Execute on DNA-encoded library (DEL) screening strategies, including downstream validation pipelines and hit-to-lead-enabling workflows.

What You'll Need to Succeed

• PhD in Biology, Chemical Biology, Biochemistry, or a related discipline with 8–12 years of drug discovery experience; or MS/BS in a relevant field with 15+ years of industry experience in small molecule discovery and screening.
• Demonstrated track record of designing, executing, and delivering results from high-throughput screening (HTS) campaigns for small molecule discovery.
• Deep expertise in biophysical and biochemical assay development in the context of screening hit triage/validation and medicinal chemistry enablement.
• Experience working in automation- and robotics-enabled labs, including liquid handling integration, assay automation, and scalable experimental workflows.
• Strong proficiency with DNA-encoded library (DEL) screening and complementary high-throughput screening approaches.
• Robust understanding of end-to-end hit identification, triage, and validation workflows in small molecule discovery programs.
• Proven ability to partner closely with medicinal chemistry teams to translate screening outputs into validated, actionable chemical matter.
• Demonstrated effectiveness in highly interdisciplinary environments spanning chemistry, biology, automation, and computational teams.
• Experience in protein construct design, expression, and purification in support of high-throughput screening and assay development.

Bonus Points For

• Deep expertise in a range of biophysical assay modalities, including SPR, DSF, BLI, MST, MS-based methods, and ITC.
• Extensive experience developing and running biochemical activity assays, with fluency across common readouts (luminescent, colorimetric, fluorometric, and label-free formats).
• Strong familiarity with modern, large-scale screening approaches, including DNA-encoded libraries (DEL), fragment-based screening, and other contemporary small molecule discovery technologies.
• Experience designing and generating protein constructs that enable robust, high-throughput screening assays.
• Strong command of screening data analysis and interpretation, including working with and managing large experimental datasets.
• Experience building screening capabilities from the ground up, including instrumentation selection, workflow design, and laboratory automation.
• Familiarity operating in AI-enabled drug discovery settings and/or integrating machine learning insights into experimental workflows.
• Experience scaling automated discovery platforms that integrate robotics, high-throughput screening, and computational workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to thrive in a fast-paced, innovative biotech environment.
• Excellent communication skills, with a track record of mentoring and developing junior scientists.