Director, Scientific Data

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Massachusetts.

📋 Description

• Act as the main internal expert on cheminformatics and scientific data, possessing comprehensive knowledge in bioinformatics and drug discovery data to inform data-related decisions in both chemistry and biology domains.

• Lead the scientific strategy regarding how Drug Hunter collects, represents, integrates, normalizes, and sustains scientific data, collaborating with Engineering and Science on architecture and curation methodologies.

• Specify the representation, registration, standardization, and resolution of chemical entities across various sources, while establishing curation standards, controlled vocabularies, quality assurance rules, and scalable tools.

• Develop methods for extracting structured scientific information from unstructured literature and patent documents, encompassing chemical structures, text, and tables, and associate extracted data with canonical entities.

• Oversee scientific semantics, entity resolution, and ontology strategies across compounds, targets, genes, diseases, organizations, assays, and other relevant concepts.

• Assess scientific data sources in chemistry, biology, DMPK, drug, and clinical areas, evaluating coverage, quality, overlaps, limitations, licensing, and update characteristics.

• Set standards for data quality, provenance, validation, completeness, and timeliness while ensuring effective resolution processes for data quality issues.

• Collaborate with Science to translate scientific knowledge and curation decisions into sustainable data models, standards, and procedures.

• Work alongside Engineering on data models, technical strategies, architectural choices, and trade-offs related to scientific information and application systems.

• Partner with Product Management to convert scientific and technical needs into project specifications and convey technical trade-offs.

• Analyze build-versus-buy options for scientific datasets, cheminformatics and bioinformatics functionalities, and data tools.

• Direct the Data team in transforming priorities into actionable projects while tracking progress, addressing challenges, managing dependencies, and balancing workload.

• Offer scientific and technical guidance, mentorship, and direction to the Data team, including creating, hiring, and managing roles as necessary.

⛳️ Requirements

• PhD in cheminformatics, bioinformatics, computational biology, structural biology, or a related quantitative life-science discipline.

• Over 10 years of experience working with scientific data in drug discovery, biotech, or life science data/informatics organizations, including a minimum of 3 years in leadership roles or managing a data function.

• Proficiency in cheminformatics, including molecular representations, structure standardization, and substructure/similarity search concepts, along with familiarity with RDKit or similar tools.

• Expertise in bioinformatics, with extensive knowledge of biological databases and ontologies, as well as target and pathway biology, and gene/protein identifier mapping.

• Strong data modeling capabilities and practical experience with Python and SQL; skilled in data pipelines and contemporary data tools.

• Comprehensive understanding of the drug discovery process from target identification to clinical trials, with the ability to communicate effectively with medicinal chemists and biologists.

• Excellent communication skills, capable of navigating seamlessly between intricate scientific details and engineering/product trade-offs.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive salary, variable compensation, and equity options.

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees and their dependents, including generous coverage under a platinum PPO healthcare plan.

• Short-term and long-term disability insurance.

• Cancer and critical illness coverage.

• Up to 14 weeks of paid parental leave (after one year of employment) and a childcare FSA plan.

• 401(k) plan with employer matching contributions.

• Home office setup stipend for fully remote employees.

• Support for learning and development.

• Generous and flexible vacation and leave policies.