Purpose

This position brings an opportunity to make innovative contributions that will define how AbbVie leverages AI-enabled drug discovery across our small molecule portfolio. Reports to Head of Computational Drug Discovery (CDD) and will lead the computational HitGen/LeadGen (HGLG) team. Will implement and enable close collaboration between members of the HGLG team and partners in the Target Enabling Technologies (TET) and Global Medicinal Chemistry (GMEC) teams. Must possess a strong expertise in modern medicinal chemistry, including a deep understanding of modern computational and experimental strategies, and property-based drug design. The ideal candidate will have a strong and established background from having worked on a broad range of diverse early-stage campaigns, and an established external footprint and network. Past experience will have included mentorship of early/mid-career scientists in matrixed and/or direct reporting relationships. 

Responsibilities

• Consult with project team to establish desirable project-relevant hit/lead criteria, and assigning an HGLG member to the project team that can execute these goals for accelerated identification of suitable chemical matter 

• Guide HGLG members in benchmarking experiments to evaluate models’ performance and domain of applicability 

• Clearly communicate to project teams the rationale for selecting specific approaches and how they suit project needs 

• Lead development of a cohesive collection of cutting-edge methods and workflows, to comprehensively address AbbVie’s small molecule portfolio needs (methods for predicting binding affinities of diverse chemotypes, for predict pharmacological properties for diverse chemotypes (PK parameters, etc.), and for rapidly sampling both enumerated and AI-generated chemical spaces 

• Work closely with the TET and GMEC leadership teams to identify and address gaps where computational predictions are needed 

• Advance scientific expertise within the HGLG team and collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams from CDD and Information Research to advance programs and ensure computational capabilities are best implemented across programs 

• Proactively demonstrate leadership by providing expert advice and shared knowledge with direct reports, peers, and senior management 

• Identify and integrate emerging scientific trends from internal and external sources into functional objectives 

• Present program updates and research strategies to functional and non-functional leaders as well as potential and existing partners 

• Maintain awareness of emerging literature and science in the field and author scientific disclosures/publications 

• Maintain scientific presence outside AbbVie with appropriate publication and conference abstract submission highlighting innovative learnings in computational medicinal chemistry