Senior Director / Vice President, Chemistry Experiment

The role

The Head of Chemistry will lead the chemistry organization and establish strategic direction for discovery and platform efforts. This leader will build an experimental chemistry function spanning organic and inorganic chemistry, molecules, nanoparticles, and target technologies.

What you will do

• Build and lead the growing chemistry organization
• Recruit, mentor, and develop high-performing chemists and leaders
• Define chemistry strategy, priorities, and organizational roadmap
• Establish operational practices and standards for scientific data quality
• Own organizational development for Chemistry
• Represent chemistry strategy in executive stakeholder forums
• Lead the design of capabilities and execution of synthetic routes for automated high-throughput synthesis
• Align the Chemistry autonomous science platform with Commercial and Scientific Superintelligence roadmaps
• Develop and implement efficient workflows for iterative design-make-test cycles
• Partner with automation and platform teams to establish robotic and high-throughput chemistry capabilities

Required qualifications

• PhD in Chemistry or a closely related discipline
• 12+ years of experience in chemistry research
• Demonstrated excellence building and leading high-performing chemistry teams
• Deep expertise in molecular chemistry: synthetic organic/inorganic and nanochemistry, retrosynthesis, route design, and practical execution of complex multistep syntheses
• Experience in process chemistry, formulation development, and analytical chemistry
• Ability to evaluate synthetic feasibility alongside innovation potential
• Experience defining chemistry strategy and priorities
• Experience working effectively in highly interdisciplinary environments spanning chemistry, materials science, biology, automation, and computational sciences
• Track record of scientific leadership, program delivery, and translating discoveries to commercializable solutions
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to build inclusive, high-trust team cultures

Nice to have

• Experience working in AI-enabled discovery environments or integrating computational design and machine learning insights into chemistry workflows
• Experience building and scaling automated, robotics-enabled, or high-throughput chemistry platforms for molecular synthesis and optimization
• Experience translating chemistry needs into platform requirements
• Broad understanding of molecular design principles across therapeutics and other small-molecule innovation areas
• Experience operating in fast-paced, technology-driven environments
• Prior leadership experience at a growth-stage chemistry, biotech, or other deep-tech company

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Employer-paid life and disability insurance
• Flexible time off with generous company wide holidays
• Paid parental leave
• Educational assistance program
• Commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees
• Company subsidized lunch program

About the company

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. The company combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments to execute the scientific method autonomously.