Computational Chemist

Senior Computational Medicinal Chemist / Digital Drug Hunter – Nordics Fancy a new scientific challenge — and a move to the Nordics ? We’re working on a retained search with a well-established pharmaceutical R&D organisation in the Nordics that is looking for a Senior Computational Medicinal Chemist / Digital Drug Hunter to join its drug discovery team. This is a role for someone who wants to be right at the heart of molecular design — not sitting on the sidelines running calculations on request. You’ll work closely with medicinal chemists and project scientists, using computational chemistry to help shape real design decisions across active small molecule discovery programmes. The team is particularly interested in scientists who enjoy asking difficult questions, challenging assumptions and using computation to influence where a programme goes next. What you’ll be doing You’ll be involved in areas such as:Driving molecular design and multi-parameter optimisation strategiesWorking closely with medicinal chemists on SAR, compound prioritisation and design hypothesesApplying structure-based and ligand-based drug design approachesRunning virtual screening and hypothesis-led computational studiesExploring binding modes, conformations and structural hypothesesUsing docking, molecular modelling and data-driven approaches to guide chemistryEvaluating predictive and generative models rather than simply accepting their outputWorking alongside specialists in cheminformatics, ML/AI, structural biology and physics-based modellingHelping introduce new computational methods when they can genuinely improve project decisionsSupporting work across emerging small molecule modalities, including PROTACs and molecular gluesYou’ll be expected to have an opinion, contribute scientifically and influence medicinal chemistry strategy. What would make you a good fit? You’ll probably have:A PhD in computational chemistry, medicinal chemistry, cheminformatics, structural biology or a related areaSeveral years’ experience working in computational drug discoveryStrong understanding of medicinal chemistry and multi-parameter optimisationExperience with structure-based and ligand-based designHands-on molecular modelling experience, including docking and conformational analysisConfidence working with SAR and experimental dataProgramming/data skills using tools such as Python, RDKit, KNIME or similarExperience with proximity-inducing modalities such as PROTACs or molecular glue degradersThe ability to explain computational results clearly to medicinal chemists and multidisciplinary teamsRelocation- If you’re currently elsewhere in Europe, the UK or further afield and would seriously consider relocating for the right scientific opportunity, relocation support is available. The Nordics offers a high quality of life, strong scientific infrastructure and a collaborative working culture, and this particular environment is built around low hierarchy, scientific discussion and giving experienced scientists room to influence. You’ll be joining a team where computational science is expected to shape drug discovery decisions, not simply validate them afterwards. If you’d like to hear more, send me a message in confidence. No formal application needed at this stage — I’m happy to have an informal conversation first and talk through the science, team and relocation.