Vice President, Biochemistry and Head of Early Discovery Projects

Job Description

Job Description

About Parabilis Medicines

Parabilis Medicines is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to creating extraordinary medicines for patients with serious diseases by unlocking biologically important targets long considered undruggable. The company has pioneered a new class of alpha-helical peptides – Helicons™ – capable of modulating intracellular proteins that have historically been beyond the reach of conventional medicines. The company's lead investigational medicine, zolucatetide, is the first and only direct inhibitor of the β-catenin:TCF interaction, a central node in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway that has eluded drug developers for decades. Zolucatetide is being evaluated in the clinic across multiple Wnt/β-catenin-driven diseases, including desmoid tumors, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and a range of other solid tumor indications. Beyond zolucatetide, Parabilis is advancing additional Helicon-based programs focused on other challenging targets where we believe our medicines could have life-altering impact. For more information, visit  or follow us on LinkedIn.

What's the opportunity?

This role will be the scientific leader of the company's early discovery efforts, which span multiple modalities, and include both oncology and non-oncology indications. You will oversee our portfolio of early projects from initiation and hit discovery through hit-to-lead, working with the leaders and teams of each project to set strategy, develop execution plans, and evolve our approaches as they progress. You will cross-functionally collaborate with members of our discovery science, biology, AI, computational drug discovery, and platform teams, and will directly manage the team of biochemists and biophysicists that play a central role in all our early projects. This role will also work closely with our BD and alliance management teams on scientific partnering strategy, and will be the senior scientific liaison with collaboration partners.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead our early discovery portfolio (currently ramping up to 6 concurrent projects), providing scientific direction and support to teams and their leaders.
• Work closely with company leadership on setting strategic direction, prioritization, and resourcing across early discovery projects.
• Guide projects from target evaluation and hit discovery through hit-to-lead and successful transition into late discovery, partnering with project teams to establish scientific strategy and execution plans, evaluate key scientific inflection points, recommend strategic pivots when needed, and drive critical go/no-go decisions.
• Collaborate closely with the display screening, AI/CDD, biology, synthesis, design, platform, structural biology, and other groups involved in early projects.
• Directly manage our biochemistry and biophysics team (currently 5 full-time team members, with one additional new opening).
• Mentor and develop early discovery project leaders, fostering scientific growth, strategic thinking, and strong program leadership capabilities across the organization while helping build the next generation of discovery leadership within Parabilis.
• Serve as primary scientific liaison to collaboration partners, working closely with BD/Alliance Management.
• Present early discovery progress and strategy to senior leadership and the Board.

What you'll need to be successful:

• PhD in biochemistry, chemical biology, or related field, with 15+ years of drug discovery experience in industry.
• Significant experience working as part of drug discovery project teams and driving candidates to IND and clinic, preferably in small molecule or peptide modalities against intracellular targets.
• Experience leading or co-leading multiple cross-functional discovery projects.
• Deep expertise in protein biochemistry and biochemical/biophysical assays (e.g., SPR, TR-FRET, HDX, ITC, structural biology), and familiarity with cell-based screening assays.
• Ability to think strategically about portfolio-level decision-making, including stage-gate frameworks, go/no-go criteria, and resource prioritization across multiple concurrent efforts.
• Ability to recruit and develop scientific talent, and to mentor and grow project leaders.
• Excellent scientific communication skills, and ability to represent portfolio credibly to senior leadership, partners, and external stakeholders.
• Experience leading or contributing to external partnerships (academic, biotech, or pharma alliances) is a plus.

Core Values

Parabilis Medicines is a team of passionate pioneers who are trailblazing the future of precision medicine with the aim of making a meaningful difference in the lives of patients. The company is committed to promoting an inspiring and flourishing working environment for all employees across the business, in all departments, and driving innovation for patient benefit.

• Growth-Minded . We're inventing a new class of medicines—one applicable to therapeutic targets that have been dreamt about, but always considered impossible to drug. Our work requires us to be curious, humble and adaptable.
• In(ter)dependent. We are fiercely independent as a leader in defying the limitations of current therapeutic modalities, and interdependent as a team as we work collaboratively to shift drug discovery paradigms and provide patients with better treatment options.
• Patient-focused. We are deeply focused on patient outcomes, and all energy in the company is focused on science as it translates to patient impact.
• All-In. We're All-In on solving some of the hardest scientific challenges and delivering one of the most effective new classes of drugs in history.

The base salary range for this position is $310,000-$340,000, depending on experience, qualifications, and internal practices. Parabilis's total compensation package also includes an annual target bonus, equity, and a comprehensive suite of competitive benefits designed to support our employees' overall well-being.

As an equal opportunity employer, Parabilis Medicines values an inclusive workplace and welcomes applicants of all backgrounds and experiences. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.

30 Acorn Park Drive | Cambridge, MA 02140 |