Head of Discovery - Natural Products
3 days ago
Paris
Job Title: Head of Discovery – Natural Products Chemistry & Bioactivity Company: Confidential (deep-tech biotech) Location: Paris, France Working Schedule: Full-time, Hybrid (on-site required) Start Date: ASAP About the Company This deep-tech biotech is pioneering large-scale discovery of natural molecules using synthetic biology, machine learning, and automation. Their platform unlocks the 97 percent of natural molecular diversity previously inaccessible to industry, generating novel scaffolds at unmatched speed. Backed by top European scientific leaders and already working with global players across pharma, agriculture, animal health, and cosmetics, the company is expanding rapidly. The Role We are looking for a Head of Discovery to lead the natural-products drug discovery pipeline. You will be responsible for: • Leading discovery programmes from hit confirmation to lead optimisation, • Setting scientific strategy, milestones, and decision criteria, • Overseeing assay development, validation, and execution, • Directing mode-of-action and target deconvolution work, • Interpreting complex biological datasets to prioritise leads, • Guiding SAR, structure elucidation, and lead refinement, • Managing and recruiting scientists across biology and chemistry, • Driving cross-functional collaboration with platform, computation, and operations teams You will report directly to the CEO. Key Requirements • Proven ability to advance small-molecule programmes to lead stage, • Strong track record in assay development and mechanism work, • Experience in fast-paced start-up environments, • Ability to work across chemistry, biology, and computational disciplines, • Excellent scientific judgement and decision-making, • Fluent English; French a plus, • Experience with natural products or in vivo models is an advantage What’s on Offer • Competitive salary and equity package, • Opportunity to build and scale a discovery function from scratch, • Collaborative, mission-driven environment, • Work on cutting-edge natural-product discovery at industrial scale