Chief Technology Officer (AI- Drug Discovery)

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About the Company

Our client is a venture-backed biotech startup developing a novel oral regenerative drug candidate with a strategic platform approach. Backed by a world-class scientific advisory board (Harvard, UCSD, Helmholtz), they are preparing for IND filing and early-stage clinical development.

They are now building the AI engine to power their next generation of drug discovery, inspired by pioneers like Insilico Medicine and Absci, and are seeking a senior CTO or technical co-founder to lead this transformative vision.

Role Overview

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) / Head of AI will lead the development of a cutting-edge, AI-first drug discovery platform, combining generative modeling, predictive analytics, cheminformatics, computational chemistry, and biophysics modeling. This is a high-impact, strategic role ideal for an individual passionate about reimagining the future of medicine discovery.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect and build the company’s AI/ML infrastructure for target discovery, molecular generation, and therapeutic design
• Lead the development of generative models (e.g., diffusion models, VAEs, GNNs) for novel molecule and protein design
• Integrate cheminformatics, computational chemistry, and biophysics modeling tools into the drug discovery workflow
• Partner with biology and chemistry teams to incorporate wet-lab feedback into model pipelines
• Establish and scale data pipelines, FAIR data systems, and ML model governance
• Drive the AI strategy, team building, and long-term platform roadmap
• Represent technology leadership in discussions with investors and strategic partners

Ideal Candidate Profile

• PhD in Machine Learning, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, or related field
• 6+ years of experience applying AI/ML in life sciences, ideally within drug discovery
• Proven expertise with generative models and AI tools for drug design (e.g., GNNs, VAEs, LLMs, protein folding)
• Familiarity with cheminformatics, computational chemistry, or biophysics modeling platforms
• Demonstrated ability to scale ML projects in biotech or health-tech environments
• Excellent communication skills with investor-facing and partner-facing capabilities

Nice to Have

• Startup or co-founder experience
• Contributions to open-source platforms (e.g., DeepChem, TorchDrug)
• Knowledge of drug repurposing, phenotypic screening, or multi-omic data fusion

What’s on Offer

• Co-founder or executive-level equity opportunity
• Global exposure with a dual India–U.S. operational model
• A chance to build a differentiated, AI-powered biotech platform from the ground up
• Backing from a visionary founder and a world-class scientific advisory board