Senior Director of Product, Medicinal Chemistry

(Senior) Director of Product, Medicinal Chemistry

Cambridge, MA USA

Lila Sciences is looking for a(Senior) Director of Product, Medicinal Chemistry, a strategic and visionary product leader who will shape the future of our therapeutic research and development capabilities. You will lead the strategy, roadmap, and execution for a portfolio of products and platforms at the intersection of drug discovery, life science research, and scientific intelligence. This is a high-impact, high-visibility role that requires exceptional leadership, cross‑functional orchestration, and a deep understanding of scientific and technical domains.

• Set and drive the long‑term product vision and strategic roadmap for Lila’s chemistry and small molecule discovery and optimization capabilities, closely aligned with company‑wide objectives and scientific priorities.
• Identify and shape product opportunities grounded in real‑world discovery challenges, partnering closely with collaborators, customers, and strategic stakeholders to ensure relevance and downstream value.
• Define target product profiles (TPPs) and develop product strategies that enable intelligent, iterative optimization of chemical matter using Lila's SSI platform.
• Own product portfolio planning and prioritization across multiple high‑impact initiatives and experiments, balancing long‑term vision with near‑term deliverables
• Represent product leadership across internal and external stakeholders, including executive leadership, partners, and the broader scientific community
• Drive product execution from concept to launch while leading cross‑functional teams across science, machine learning, automation, and data engineering
• Manage resource allocations (budget, compute, lab access, people) and decisions against a complex set of priorities (e.g., focus of experiments between AI model training and near‑term partnership requests)
• Define clear success metrics and milestones, and clearly communicate progress against them to the company, including executive leadership

• MS, PhD, or equivalent experience in medicinal chemistry
  , computational chemistry
  , chemical biology
  , or a related field with grounding in experimental or in silico small molecule research.
• 9+ years of experience in product management or platform strategy roles at the intersection of drug discovery, cheminformatics, AI/ML, or scientific software development
• 3+ years of experience leading and managing cross‑functional or product teams, including responsibility for performance, alignment, and mentorship.
• Deep understanding of small molecule discovery workflows, including structure‑based design, ligand‑based modeling, hit finding, lead optimization, ADMET profiling, and synthesis planning.
• Familiarity with ML tools for QSAR modeling, HTS triage, retrosynthesis, and generative compound design, as well as common libraries such as RDKit
  , Deep Chem
  , ASKCOS
  , or graph‑based ML frameworks for chemistry.
• Experience defining and executing TPPs for new drug discovery tools, therapeutic products, or scientific data platforms
• Experience with strategic planning and portfolio management across extremely complex, multidisciplinary projects
• Relentlessly output‑focused: driven by impact against our mission and program goals, not by doing tasks, owning decisions, or being in meetings
• Outstanding ability to influence across all levels of the organization and drive alignment among technical and executive stakeholders
• Highly collaborative and empathetic
• High degree of comfort with ambiguity and able to adapt to changing teams and needs
• Able to create small, achievable units of work from large, complex, and ambiguous goals
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, capable of conveying technical information to any audience with experience presenting to executive leadership and external partners

• Experience with automated/self‑driving labs and experience working with (not necessarily having run) machine learning in drug discovery or life science research
• Following the rapid evolution of LLMs and other AI solutions and have thoughts and opinions on how this will impact the future of…