# Director, Medicinal Chemistry at Centessa Pharmaceuticals

- Company: Centessa Pharmaceuticals
- What the company does: Patient-Centric Mission. Asset-Centric Approach. We’re pursuing our Orexin Receptor 2 Agonist Program to bring potentially transformative treatment options to patients with sleep-wake, neurological, neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders.... Backed by Foresite Capital.
- Company website: https://centessa.com
- Type: Startups
- Level: Principal and up
- Location: Boston, MA
- Work setup: On-site
- Posted: 2026-09-09
- Apply by: 2026-10-24
- Apply: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/centessapharmaceuticalsinc/jobs/6185805004?utm_source=1752vc&utm_medium=careers
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/centessa-pharmaceuticals-director-medicinal-chemistry/

## About the role

Centessa Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company, is a clinical-stage company developing orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonists as a new class of medicines for the treatment of narcolepsy and potentially other sleep-wake disorders. Centessa’s lead investigational candidate – cleminorexton (formerly ORX750) – is being developed for narcolepsy type 1, narcolepsy type 2, and idiopathic hypersomnia. Found on 1752vc Careers, the job board for startup and VC roles.

## What they're looking for

- BS/MS Chemistry. PhD Strongly preferred
- 10+ years designing small molecules as a medicinal chemistry team leader within a biotech and/or pharmaceutical company
- Experience of working on CNS targets, and across all stages of discovery (hit-to-lead & lead optimisation into IND-ready candidates)
- Proven ability to lead and motivate teams — including remote and virtual teams — toward aggressive timelines, balancing independent scientific judgment with strong interpersonal and leadership skills
- Experience of managing outsourced chemistry teams
- Adaptive problem solver - turn issues into opportunities and translates ideas into solutions, even when the path isn’t clear

Tags: Discovery Operations

Source: 1752vc Careers, https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/centessa-pharmaceuticals-director-medicinal-chemistry/