Pillar Therapeutics- Director, Oligonucleotide and Conjugation Chemistry

About the role

Pillar Therapeutics is in the discovery stage and will invest heavily in its emerging platform for oligonucleotide delivery. Our disease focus offers strong translatability from animal models to humans, providing a potentially rapid and efficient path to the clinic. Given our recent funding and commitment to building a first-in-class platform with clear therapeutic targets and indications, we are recruiting a Director, Oligonucleotide and Conjugation Chemistry.

Responsibilities

• Oversee chemistry aspects of the development of oligonucleotide conjugates for biological evaluation in our targeted delivery platform
• Manage external chemical synthesis activities which may include oligonucleotide synthesis; small-molecule, lipid, and peptide ligand synthesis; linker synthesis; and oligonucleotide-conjugate synthesis
• Build internal lab capabilities and lead a team of conjugation and analytical scientists to prepare, purify, and analytically characterize oligonucleotide conjugates, particularly antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates
• Work cross-functionally with protein engineers and biologists to ensure timely and adequate preparation of oligonucleotide conjugates for biological evaluation as well as to contribute to the design of in vitro and in vivo studies
• Contribute to intellectual property around the design of oligonucleotides and oligonucleotide conjugates for the company
• Work closely with company leadership, contributing to scientific strategy and assisting in preparing materials (data reviews, presentation decks) for internal and external constituents; participate in external discussions, as directed
• Stay current with emerging oligonucleotide and delivery fields for translation into platform-relevant hypotheses

Requirements

• PhD. in chemistry or related discipline with 8+ years of experience working with oligonucleotide therapeutics (siRNA, ASOs, etc.) in the biopharmaceutical industry; or BS/MS with 12+
• Ideal candidate will have experience developing peptide-, protein-, or antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates while effectively operating in cross-functional, collaborative environments
• Adept in state-of-the-art conjugation (cysteine-maleimide, click chemistry, site-specific, etc.), purification (HPLC, SEC, IEX, etc.), and analytical (HPLC, LCMS, etc.) methods to prepare oligonucleotide conjugates
• Demonstrate creativity to contribute to the discovery of novel delivery systems, and be process- and detail-oriented to ensure production of high-quality oligonucleotide conjugates
• Experience managing both internal personnel and external CROs to advance oligonucleotide therapeutics
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally to plan and coordinate in vitro and in vivo studies to evaluate oligonucleotide and/or antibody/peptide-conjugate modalities
• Effective communicator and proven team-builder, mentor, motivator, and manager

Qualifications

• Highly collaborative, intellectually curious, driven, trustworthy, humble, adaptable, and flexible
• Highly organized, thoughtful, sound judgement and decision-making abilities
• Based on-site at the company’s headquarters in Cambridge, MA

Benefits

The role may also be eligible for an annual bonus and long-term incentives. Compensation and benefits may be updated in the future.

Pay

Base salary range: $210,000 - $235,000 USD

Schedule

Based on-site at the company’s headquarters in Cambridge, MA