Senior Manager, Physics Application Science

About AQEMIA

AQEMIA is a next-gen pharmatech company generating one of the world's fastest-growing drug discovery pipeline.

Our mission is to design fast innovative drug candidates for dozens of critical diseases, such as immuno-oncology.

Our unique approach leverages quantum-inspired physics algorithms to power generative AI in designing novel drug candidates—without relying on experimental data.

We already delivered several drug discovery successes within our internal pipeline and through collaborations with pharmaceutical companies. Our most advanced programs are currently in vivo optimization.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Senior Manager to lead our Physics Application Science Team. This team is responsible for integrating and optimising physics-based computational methods to enhance our drug discovery efforts. This role is critical in ensuring that physics-based computational methods effectively contribute to our hit discovery and lead optimisation strategies, ultimately accelerating the identification of novel drug candidates. The ideal candidate will have both strong leadership abilities to manage a team of scientists and deep technical expertise in Statistical Mechanics and Computational Chemistry.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, manage, and mentor a team of scientists specializing in physics-based computational methods.
• Define and execute strategic initiatives to integrate physics-based models including our in-house state-of-the-art solvation free energy algorithm into the drug discovery workflow.
• Provide technical leadership in Statistical Mechanics, Molecular Dynamics, Free Energy Calculations, or Computational Chemistry.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including AI researchers, medicinal chemists, and computational chemists, to align computational strategies with drug discovery objectives.
• Drive innovation by identifying and implementing emerging computational approaches to improve hit discovery and lead optimization.
• Ensure the team delivers high-quality scientific results on time, balancing research innovation with practical impact.
• Foster a collaborative and high-performing team culture, ensuring continuous growth and development of team members.
• Communicate scientific insights and strategic recommendations to senior leadership and key stakeholders.

Qualifications

• PhD in Statistical Mechanics, Computational Chemistry, Biophysics, or a related field.
• Senior experience in computational drug discovery, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Strong expertise in physics-based computational methods, such as Molecular Dynamics, Free Energy Perturbation (FEP), or Enhanced Sampling Techniques with an emphasis on solvation free energy methods (using density functional theory, PBSA, GBSA for instance).
• Proven ability to manage, mentor, and develop a team of scientists in a high-performance environment.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to prioritize tasks and drive results.
• Excellent communication skills to engage with interdisciplinary teams and senior stakeholders.
• Familiarity with commercial drug discovery suites (e.g. Schrödinger and OpenEye), open source molecular dynamics packages (OpenMM, AMBER, GROMACS, NAMD) and chemoinformatics tools (e.g. RDKit and OpenBabel).

• Nice to have:
• Experience in machine learning applications for physics-based modeling.
• Background in high-performance computing (HPC) and cloud-based simulations.
• Track record of scientific publications and contributions to the computational drug discovery community.

Preferred Mindset

• Ability to set a technical vision for the team and align it with company objectives.
• Collaborative Leader: Thrives in an interdisciplinary environment and values teamwork.
• Pragmatic and Impact-Driven: Balances scientific rigor with real-world application.
• Growth-Oriented: Invests in the development of team members and fosters a culture of continuous learning.
• Passionate about pushing the boundaries of physics-based drug discovery.

Aqemia’s Recruitment team leads all recruitment activities for the company. We will not recognise any notional ownership recruitment companies claim over candidates presented directly to hiring managers without our Recruitment team's consent. Unsolicited resumes sent to us from recruiters do not constitute any type of relationship between the recruiter and Aqemia, and we will not be obligated to pay fees should we hire from those resumes.

Why Join Us ?

At AQEMIA, we work for a mission: joining us means having your own impact on changing the way drugs are discovered, and helping to shape thedirectionof our fast-growing company and team.

Expanding Drug Discovery Pipeline: Focused on critical therapeutic areas like Oncology, CNS, Immuno-inflammation... with in vivo proof of concept/patent stage programs. Collaborations with top Pharma, including a $140M Sanofi deal.

Interdisciplinary Team: brilliant talent from tech and life sciences.

DeepTech Recognition: Part of French Tech 120 and France 2030.

Prime Location: Based in central Paris and London (King's Cross) with the possibility of 2 remote days per week.

International Environment: The work language is English - relocation support and French lessons granted if needed.

Strong Financial Backing: $100M raised from leading European and International investors

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