Scientist, Chemistry

COMPANY

Octant is a well-backed team of experienced scientists and entrepreneurs at the frontiers of biology, chemistry, and computation. We are a small molecule therapeutics company combining high-throughput synthetic biology, generative chemistry, and AI/ML to repeatedly develop precision medicines for genetically defined diseases.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Octant is seeking a driven and curious Scientist to serve as the chemistry subject matter expert on our OpenADMET team. In this role, you will apply your physical organic chemistry expertise to guide data collection and interpretation. You will play a strategic role in determining how and when we execute synthesis, driving key collaborations, and advancing our platform technologies.

At a high level, you’ll play a hands-on role in leveraging Octant’s Navigator platform to synthesize and analyze novel small molecules that modulate disease-relevant cellular mechanisms. Specifically, you will support the OpenADMET initiative at Octant by building libraries targeting the “avoidome” to generate high quality data to fuel machine learning model development. You will also expand our platform chemistry capabilities by pioneering novel synthetic and analytical methods. Finally, you will serve as a liaison between platform and drug program teams, leveraging your expertise to further Octant’s drug discovery efforts.

 

THIS JOB MIGHT BE GREAT FOR YOU IF YOU HAVE:

• PhD in Organic Chemistry, Chemical Biology, or related field with 0-3 years experience post PhD as a post doctoral candidate or industry scientist
• Expertise with multi step organic synthesis, purification and analysis (HPLC, LC/MS, NMR)
• Familiarity with the application of LC-MS methods for proteomics or high throughput screening
• Experience with laboratory automation platforms and high-throughput screening methods
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience coding for data analysis, visualization or lab automation (e.g., Python)
• Familiarity with high-throughput experimentation and direct-to-biology high throughput chemistry approaches

Optional: Along with your application, please share a paper/preprint/software repo that best highlights your strengths so we can better understand work you've led. If there is nothing public, please summarize that work in a few paragraphs. We'd love to also hear about things you've been proud to build or lead outside of science.

The expected annual salary for this role is in the range of $130,000 to $145,000, depending on experience level. We offer health benefits (medical, dental, vision), equity, and 401(k) matching.

Octant is located in Emeryville, California and we work onsite.

Octant is an equal opportunity company that values applicants of all backgrounds. We’re committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive work environment. We value less traditional backgrounds, and may consider an equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education, and experience to meet minimum qualifications. We know that confidence-gap and imposter syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates, so please don’t hesitate to apply — we’d love to hear from you.

OCTANT’S NAVIGATOR PLATFORM:

Octant’s Platform, “The Navigator,” accelerates the design, build, test, and learn iterations across chemistry and biology to build drugs against cellular mechanisms. The Navigator is an expanding set of drug discovery and development capabilities with three interwoven components that operate together: 

• Generative Biology – Multiplexed measurements from engineered sensors in human cells to understand cellular mechanisms
• Generative Chemistry – Nanoliter-scale chemical synthesis for rapid exploration of local & targeted chemical space 
• Generative AI – ML/AI ingests large-scale biological and chemical datasets and drives iteration of experiments to build better molecules faster

Together, the Navigator platform drives week-to-week progress on our drug programs, generative 3M+ readouts each week across multiple therapeutic areas.