At Two Bear Capital we believe in partnering with our portfolio companies to find the best scientist possible and we look forward to working with you for Talus Bio's next Medicinal Chemist.

Fractional Medicinal Chemist (20–30% FTE)

About Talus Bio

Talus Bio is pioneering small-molecule therapeutics against previously “undruggable” transcription factors, combining covalent chemistry, proteomics, and computational/ML tools. As we advance two drug programs through hit-to-lead and lead optimization, we seek a seasoned medicinal chemist to provide strategic leadership and oversight of chemistry execution via CRO partnerships, while interfacing with our internal biology, proteomics, and computational teams.

Role Summary

We are looking for an experienced medicinal chemist to serve in a part-time, fractional capacity (20–30% effort), with responsibility for: guiding medicinal chemistry strategy across two programs, managing a ~10-person external chemistry team at a CRO, and integrating external chemistry work with internal discovery and computational efforts.

Key Responsibilities

Program Strategy & Drug Discovery

• Lead medicinal chemistry design for hit-to-lead and lead optimization campaigns, defining chemical hypotheses and prioritizing compounds for synthesis.
• Evaluate structure–activity relationships, potency, selectivity, ADME, and physicochemical data to guide iterative rounds of design and synthesis.
• Oversee compound triage and prioritization of hits from screening, including covalent or reactive warhead chemistry if relevant. CRO & External Chemistry Leadership
• Provide oversight and mentorship to a ~10 FTE chemistry team at external CRO(s). Review synthetic proposals and routes, monitor execution quality, ensure efficient, on-time delivery of compounds.

Qualifications & Experience

• PhD in Medicinal Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Chemical Biology, or equivalent, or substantial industry experience in small-molecule drug discovery.
• Significant track record (7–15+ years) in drug-discovery settings, with experience moving compounds from hit-to-lead through lead optimization.
• Proven experience in external/CRO chemistry management or leading outsourced chemistry teams, ability to provide scientific oversight remotely and ensure high quality deliverables.
• Strong communication, documentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills, ability to articulate design rationale and interpret data across biology, chemistry, and computational domains. Common expectation for medchem leads.
• Familiarity / comfort with computational tools (CADD, molecular modeling, docking, AI/ML-assisted design) and ability to critically evaluate computational proposals (preferred).

www.talus.bio

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