Be the new

Senior Scientist Medicinal Chemistry

in a biotech company focused on the discovery, design and development of innovative peptide-based medicines

Zealand Pharma A/S (Zealand) is a fast-growing, fully integrated Copenhagen-based biotechnology company with a highly attractive pipeline. With two products on the market and three candidates in late-stage development, Zealand is a unique success story in Danish biotech. We are passionate about improving the quality of life for patients with metabolic and gastrointestinal diseases, and other specialty or rare disease areas with significant unmet medical needs. In addition to the Søborg Headquarters, Zealand is also located in the United States in Boston (MA), Marlborough (MA), and New York (NY).

Our Medicinal Chemistry Department in Copenhagen, Denmark, is seeking a highly talented and motivated medicinal chemist to join our team of successful peptide drug hunters.

We highly welcome applications of experienced medicinal chemists with a proven drug discovery track-record and the ambition to drive medicinal chemistry programs from hit validation through to candidate selection.

The mission of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry is to deliver high quality, peptide drug candidates within competitive timelines. It is our ambition to significantly evolve the scope and applicability of peptide drugs as well as our field of expertise. We therefore strive for excellence in drug design and synthesis as well as world class expertise in lead identification & optimization in the peptidomimetics &/or SMOL arena.

Job Profile

In your new role, you will be a member of interdisciplinary, highly collaborative research teams, working to identify innovative peptide drugs.

Responsibilities include:

• Outline strategies and approaches to discover novel therapeutic peptides, design and prioritize target compounds and plan their synthesis
• Analyze complex data sets to generate structure-activity relationships and hypotheses for optimization
• Work with chemists at Zealand as well as with teams at CROs to advance your projects
• Contribute to the chemistry team’s development not only from a medicinal chemistry and methodology perspective, but also through establishing new collaborations to expand our capabilities
• The opportunity to lead interdisciplinary research project teams.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will have most or all the below qualifications:

• PhD in organic or medicinal chemistry, with long-term professional experience in an international environment
• Several years of experience in Medicinal Chemistry with a peptidomimetics or small molecule focus
• Demonstrated track record of successfully delivering on LO and LF projects including project leadership
• Thorough knowledge on modern synthetic methods and CMC optimization
• Comfortable to enable your compound design with in silico predictive tools and structure-based drug design approaches
• Team-player attitude, profound communication skills and eagerness to develop further and learn about peptide chemistry
• Proficient oral and written communication skills in English as well as willingness to adopt a basic command of the Danish language.

What we offer

Our employees are fundamental to our success, and we continue to be able to attract and retain people with vast experience and talent. We have a unique culture, characterized by excellent teamwork and strong engagement across the organization.

Our work environment is characterized by strong cross functional team-work, room for individual performance and development, informality and respect, high work-ethics and engagement, and fun.

At Zealand, we understand the value of a diverse workforce. As an employee, you will be part of an innovative, cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural working environment.

We offer a combined compensation package which includes a base salary, pension, bonus, and an attractive employee share program. We care about our employees’ well-being and offer health insurance, use of massage, fitness, and a range of social clubs and activities. To find out more about working at Zealand, visit www.zealandpharma.com.

Application

Please submit your application with cover letter, CV (including patent/publication list) and research summary (max. 3 pages). Please apply no later than October 31, 2021.

For further information, please contact SSchunk@zealandpharma.com


About Zealand Pharma A/S
Zealand Pharma A/S (Nasdaq Copenhagen and New York: ZEAL) ("Zealand") is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative peptide-based medicines. More than 10 drug candidates invented by Zealand have advanced into clinical development, of which two have reached the market. Zealand’s current pipeline of internal product candidates focus on specialty gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases. Additionally, the portfolio includes clinical license collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim and pre-clinical license collaboration with Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Zealand is based in Copenhagen (Søborg), Denmark. For further information about the Company's business and activities, please visit www.zealandpharma.com or follow Zealand on LinkedIn or Twitter @ZealandPharma.