Treeline Biosciences, a clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing precision medicines, is seeking an experienced small molecule process chemist to drive the development, scale-up, and commercial readiness of our small molecule, clinical-stage portfolio. This role centers around close collaboration with the medicinal chemistry team within the discovery portfolio. Additionally, the role is critical to ensuring clinical supply and commercial readiness for identified programs and ensuring that drug substance manufacturing processes meet quality, regulatory, safety, scalability, and scalability expectations. 

About the Position

Senior Scientist / Principal Scientist – Process Chemistry (Discovery Process Research)

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced synthetic chemist to join our Process Chemistry (Discovery Process Research) team supporting drug discovery programs. This role focuses on route invention, reaction development, and scalable synthesis of key intermediates and drug candidates.

The scientist will lead from the bench within our project-based research and development organization, designing and executing synthetic strategies that enable discovery programs. The successful candidate will collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Medicinal Chemistry, DMPK, Toxicology, Drug Product, and Analytical Sciences to develop practical routes that support SAR exploration and deliver material for biological and early toxicology studies. The role emphasizes modern synthetic methodologies, efficient route design, and early scalability assessment.

Scientific Impact

• Enable drug discovery through innovative synthetic strategy. Develop creative and efficient routes that accelerate SAR exploration, enable rapid evaluation of new chemical matter, and deliver material for early toxicology studies.
• Solve complex synthetic challenges. Apply modern synthetic methodologies to access structurally complex molecules and support emerging therapeutic modalities.
• Translate discovery chemistry into scalable processes. Design practical routes that support both rapid compound synthesis and early-stage scale-up.
• Advance cross-disciplinary drug discovery. Partner closely with discovery scientists to translate synthetic innovation into therapeutic progress.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with medicinal chemistry partners to support candidate selection and developability assessments.  Advise and assist with sourcing scaffolds and intermediates as appropriate. 
• Design and execute route scouting and synthetic strategies for drug candidates and key intermediates.
• Design and optimize chemical transformations and scalable synthetic routes to enable efficient and robust processes for discovery and early development programs.
• Enable rapid compound synthesis and methodologies to support SAR campaigns and discovery timelines.
• Apply modern synthetic technologies to address complex synthetic challenges.
• Support multi-gram to kilogram-scale synthesis for biological and toxicology studies.
• Manage external partners and cultivate strong, collaborative relationships to support program objectives.
• Contribute to early CMC understanding, including impurity identification and process considerations.
• Communicate results through technical reports, documentation, and presentations.
• May be involved with preparations for the first GMP synthesis of a clincial candidate for Phase 1 trials.
• Ability to travel up to 10% to support program needs, including on-site support at manufacturing plants and partner collaboration.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry or related discipline with 3–8+ years of relevant industry or postdoctoral experience; M.S. with 6–10+ years of industry experience also considered.
• Strong expertise in synthetic organic chemistry, reaction development, and route design.
• Experience with complex molecule synthesis and route optimization.
• Familiarity with scale-up considerations and impurity control in chemical processes.
• Ability to work effectively within cross-functional discovery teams.
• Experience working with and managing external CDMO partners. 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong project leadership skills with the ability to manage complex timelines, multiple stakeholders, and evolving program priorities. 
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with a proven ability to work cross-functionally in a fast-paced, science-driven environment. 
• High level of personal integrity, commitment to excellence and to our patients 

Desired Experience

• Experience with modern synthetic methodologies and technologies (e.g., catalysis, flow chemistry, photochemistry, high-throughput experimentation, as well as other techniques).
• Experience enabling synthesis of structurally complex drug candidates or emerging modalities.
• Demonstrated creative problem solving in synthetic chemistry.

This position is classified as exempt. The anticipated annual base salary range for candidates who will work in San Diego is $166,380 to $189,533. The final base salary offered to the successful candidate will be dependent upon several factors that may include but are not limited to the type and length of experience within the job, and other factors. Treeline Biosciences is a multi-state employer, and this salary range may not reflect positions that work in other cities or states.

Recruitment fraud statement

Please be aware of recruitment fraud and related job scams, where scammers present themselves as recruiters but are seeking to steal money or personal information. Keep the following in mind to protect yourself:

• Treeline Biosciences will never ask for money from you as part of our recruitment process. Do not provide bank details or pay somebody for the promise of a job at Treeline.
• We do not conduct interviews through RingCentral, Skype or Telegram.
• Our job openings are first posted to treeline.bio/careers. If you locate a listing for a Treeline job on another site, please ensure it is also posted on our careers website.
• You can find more information about job scams at consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams.
• To report job scams, head to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Senior Scientist Biophysics

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced, self-starter, and highly motivated Biophysics Senior Scientists to join our San Diego team to deliver high-quality results and drive small molecule drug discovery. In this role, you will be a key contributor to our small‑molecule discovery engine, designing and executing biophysical strategies that identify high‑quality hits, elucidate mechanisms of action, and accelerate lead optimization. You will work at the center of multidisciplinary project teams, partnering closely with chemistry, biology, and lead discovery to advance programs toward development candidates. The successful candidate will propose, design, and implement new biophysical assays and hit ID approaches (ie. SPR, MST, DSF, NMR), characterize protein-small molecule and protein-protein interactions, and uncover mechanistic insights of our drug discovery targets and lead molecules. You will provide expert interpretation of biophysical results and use data analysis and visualization tools to integrate data with the broader set of data generated at Treeline to drive program decisions.

Responsibilities

• Propose, design, develop, and execute biophysical assays to support hit identification, hit-to-lead, and lead optimization activities.
• Establish robust SPR assays for small‑molecule interaction analysis, including hit triage, affinity/kinetic characterization, and mechanism-of-action studies.
• Efficiently utilize a suite of biophysical techniques to advance drug discovery: primarily SPR but also including DSF, DLS, and others through in-house and CRO capabilities.
• Employ biophysical methods to mechanistically deconvolute the molecular mechanism of action of small molecule hits.
• Effectively analyze, interpret, and communicate biophysical data as a subject matter expert and biophysics representative on project teams.
• In collaboration with chemistry, biology, lead discovery, and medicine design, characterize and establish SAR to rapidly drive the hit-to-lead process.
• Propose and evaluate new approaches and technologies.
• Provide scientific leadership, mentorship, and cross-functional partnership within a dynamic matrixed environment.

Required Qualifications

• PhD in Biophysics, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Chemical Biology or related discipline with 2-3 years of relevant postdoctoral training.
• 4+ years of biotech/pharma experience with a demonstrated impact in hit identification, hit-to-lead, and lead optimization for small-molecule programs.
• Expertise in quantitative biophysical assay development, especially SPR for small‑molecule drug discovery. Hands-on experience characterizing protein–ligand interactions, including affinity, kinetics, stoichiometry, and mechanism.
• Strong theoretical and practical knowledge of an array of biophysical methods with proven hands-on expertise applying biophysics for interaction analysis. Expertise with MST/SS, DSF, MS, or NMR are a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex assays, work with challenging proteins, and deliver high‑quality, reproducible data.
• Excellent communication, data visualization, and interpersonal skills, with a track record of effective collaboration on multidisciplinary teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ability to lead in a matrix environment, and for example, act as point of contact on project teams.
• Experience with fragment-based lead discovery, covalent lead discovery, and DEL are a plus.
• Strong hands-on biochemistry experience or expertise in enzymology.
• Working knowledge of adjacent disciplines (biochemistry, structural biology, protein purification, biology, chemistry).
• Experience in working with challenging proteins.
• Experience working with CROs.

This position is classified as exempt. The anticipated annual base salary range for candidates who will work in San Diego is $151,694 to $174,363. The final base salary offered to the successful candidate will be dependent upon several factors that may include but are not limited to the type and length of experience within the job, education, and other factors. Treeline Biosciences is a multi-state employer, and this salary range may not reflect positions that work in other cities or states.

Recruitment fraud statement

Please be aware of recruitment fraud and related job scams, where scammers present themselves as recruiters but are seeking to steal money or personal information. Keep the following in mind to protect yourself:

• Treeline Biosciences will never ask for money from you as part of our recruitment process. Do not provide bank details or pay somebody for the promise of a job at Treeline.
• We do not conduct interviews through RingCentral, Skype or Telegram. 
• Our job openings are first posted to treeline.bio/careers. If you locate a listing for a Treeline job on another site, please ensure it is also posted on our careers website.
• You can find more information about job scams at consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams.
• To report job scams, head to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.