Executive Director, Chemical Biology/Drug Design

Recursion is seeking an Executive Director of Chemical Biology/ Drug Design to develop and lead chemical biology efforts that bridge multiomic discovery with target ID, including chemical probe design, as we expand our platform into new modalities beyond traditional small molecules (e.g. targeted protein degradation, molecular glues, and other emerging modalities). This is a senior scientific leadership role responsible for setting chemical biology strategy, managing a team of designers, and driving programs that bridge multiomic discovery to target ID and designing our chemical probe library to facilitate target discovery.  .

You will lead multidisciplinary project teams: partnering closely internally with biology, multiomics platform (high content imaging, RNA etc), computational biologists and data scientists to translate novel target and ligand insights into potent, selective, and developable chemical matter. You’ll bring hands-on chemical biology expertise together with the strategic judgment to prioritize programs, manage internal and external (CRO) teams, and build the new capabilities needed to establish new modalities within the portfolio.

Recursion’s AI/ML-driven Design Platform is a core tool your team will draw on, and you’ll play an active role in shaping how computational and generative design approaches are integrated into chemical biology decision-making. This role blends deep technical credibility with people and program leadership.

You will lead within the Drug Design team as part of the Discovery function in building Recursion’s next generation of therapeutic modalities, working alongside computational drug design, medicinal chemistry, biology, data science and platform technology groups that integrate proprietary AI-driven technology with advanced molecular design. The team tackles structurally enabled and non-structurally enabled targets across a diverse range of therapeutic areas, with a growing focus on proximity (e.g. protein degradation, molecular glues), and PPI blockers (e.g. macrocycles). As a leader, you will help define how chemical biology strategy and capability is built out and scaled to impact our portfolio.

• Set chemical biology strategy for Recursion based on our multiomics platform, with a focus on linking our proprietary maps of  biology to targets using modern chemical biology methods and work with teams to establish the right drug modalities (e.g. degraders, molecular glues) alongside traditional small molecule work
• Build, manage, and mentor a team of multiomics chemists, fostering a coaching-driven environment for growth
• Establish and manage internal and external (CRO) chemistry teams and networks to execute screening, synthesis, and validation campaigns
• Partner closely with biology, target ID teams, structural biology, and computational drug design to align chemical biology strategy with target validation and platform capabilities
• Define and align program strategy and go/no-go criteria with senior leadership, factoring in competitive landscape and portfolio priorities
• Represent the team in portfolio reviews and governance meetings, and lead technical discussions on molecular design with external collaborators and partners
• Contribute to IP strategy and business development activities related to novel chemical matter and new modalities

• PhD in chemical biology, chemistry, or related field, with 10+ years of relevant industry experience and demonstrated people leadership
• Deep, hands-on track record in chemical probe design — selective inhibitors, proximity approaches such as molecular glue degraders/PROTACs, covalent or activity-based/photoaffinity chemistry
• Proven ability to deconvolute phenotypic hits to mechanism via chemoproteomics or equivalent target ID methods
• Track record building and scaling a chemical biology function — hiring, mentoring, and developing multiple scientists/managers
• Experience setting multi-year technical strategy (e.g. chemical library architecture, probe portfolio direction) rather than executing a single program’s plan
• Comfortable operating with high ambiguity — translating open biological questions into executable chemistry strategy without a pre-defined target
• Executive-level communication: able to represent chemical biology strategy directly to C-suite/board and influence cross-functional senior leaders
• Prior experience managing, mentoring, or leading chemists and cross-functional project teams, including internal/external (CRO) team management

• Direct experience with phenomics, high-content imaging (e.g., Cell Painting), or other image-based screening platforms
• Familiarity with how AI/ML-derived phenotypic signatures inform compound prioritization or target nomination
• External scientific visibility — publications, conference leadership, or partner/BD-facing technical credibility
• Experience contributing to IP strategy or licensing diligence involving novel chemical matter

This is a remote position based in the United States. We are also open to candidates local to or interested in moving to be in office in Salt Lake City, Utah; employees are expected to work in the office at least 50% of the time.

At Recursion, we believe that every employee should be compensated fairly. Based on the skills, experience, and qualifications needed for this role, the estimated annual base salary range is: $237,600–$284,900. In addition to base salary, this role is eligible for an annual bonus, equity compensation, and a comprehensive benefits package.

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• We act boldly with integrity. We are unconstrained in our thinking, take calculated risks, and push boundaries, but never at the expense of ethics, science, or trust.
• We care deeply and engage directly. Caring means holding a deep sense of responsibility and respect - showing up, speaking honestly, and taking action.
• We learn actively and adapt rapidly. Progress comes from doing. We experiment, test, and refine, embracing iteration over perfection.
• We move with urgency because patients are waiting. Speed isn’t about rushing but about moving the needle every day.
• We take ownership and accountability. Through ownership and accountability, we enable trust and autonomy—leaders take accountability for decisive action, and teams own outcomes together.
• We are One Recursion. True cross-functional collaboration is about trust, clarity, humility, and impact. Through sharing, we can be greater than the sum of our individual capabilities.

Our values underpin the employee experience at Recursion. They are the character and personality of the company demonstrated through how we communicate, support one another, spend our time, make decisions, and celebrate collectively.

Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX) is a clinical-stage TechBio company decoding biology to radically improve lives. Recursion is advancing a portfolio of differentiated investigational medicines across its wholly owned and partnered pipeline in oncology, rare disease, neuroscience, immunology, and other therapeutic areas with significant unmet need. Enabling its mission is the Recursion OS, an AI-native, end-to-end drug discovery and development platform integrating biology, chemistry, and clinical development into a unified intelligence system. Powered by proprietary multimodal data, purpose-built AI models, and bilingual teams fluent in both science and AI, the Recursion OS is designed to translate complex science into medicines that matter — faster, better, and at scale — for patients who are waiting.

Recursion’s platform infrastructure is anchored in Salt Lake City, Utah and Milton Park, Oxfordshire, where its automated biology and chemistry laboratories generate proprietary data at industrial scale. Recursion also maintains offices in New York, Montréal, and London, three global hubs for talent and leadership at the intersection of AI and scientific innovation. Learn more at www.recursion.com, or connect on X and LinkedIn.

Recursion is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, local, or provincial human rights legislation.

Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Recursion leverages AI in our hiring process. We use Greenhouse’s Talent Matching AI technology feature to help review applications against the skills and experience we’ve identified as important for this role. It analyzes your resume and application responses to assess how closely your qualifications match our criteria - but all decisions are made by our human recruiters and hiring managers, including whether to move to the next phase of review. Talent Matching does not automatically advance or reject any candidate. By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you have been informed about and consent to this use of the Talent Matching tool in our review process. Please refer to our Recursion Privacy Policy at https://www.recursion.com/privacy-notice/ for more information about our processing of personal data and your rights.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Recursion Pharmaceuticals and its affiliate companies do not accept resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Recursion or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Recursion’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Recursion, and Recursion will not owe any referral or other fees. Our team will communicate directly with candidates who are not represented by an agent or intermediary unless otherwise agreed to prior to interviewing for the job.