Scientist I/II, Process Chemistry

Your Impact at LILA

The Scientist I/II, Process Chemistry will develop and apply modern process chemistry approaches to support Discovery Chemistry efforts across Lila’s platform, with a focus on reaction/reactor engineering, process design, high-throughput experimentation, and digitalized chemistry workflows for small molecules and related molecular matter. This role is intended for a hands-on scientist who combines strong foundations in synthetic and process chemistry with an engineering mindset and experience building practical, scalable, and data-rich experimental workflows.

Working closely with Discovery Chemistry, analytical chemistry, automation, platform engineering, and AI/computational teams, this scientist will design, execute, and optimize reaction and process workflows that improve the speed, robustness, and scalability of chemical transformations. The Scientist I/II will help bridge early discovery chemistry and modern process development by establishing experimentally efficient, digitally enabled, and automation-compatible approaches to reaction screening, process optimization, and chemistry execution.

This role is ideal for a scientist excited by the intersection of chemistry, engineering, high-throughput platforms, process intensification, and digital experimentation, and who wants to help shape next-generation process chemistry capabilities beyond traditional bench development.

What You'll Be Building

• Design, execute, and optimize process-relevant chemical transformations that support Discovery Chemistry programs and the generation of small molecules.
• Develop reaction and process workflows with emphasis on engineering rigor, scalability, reproducibility, throughput, and data quality.
• Apply high-throughput experimentation (HTE) to reaction screening, process optimization, condition scouting, and evaluation of process-relevant variables.
• Build and execute workflows that connect reaction setup, process screening, workup, analytical readout, and data capture into efficient experimental cycles.
• Contribute to the design of digitally enabled process chemistry workflows, including structured experimental data generation, electronic documentation, and integration of chemistry data into computational and AI-ready systems.
• Collaborate with automation and platform teams to develop and adapt reaction and process workflows for robotics-enabled experimentation.
• Work closely with analytical chemistry teams to ensure rapid and informative analytical support for reaction monitoring, impurity assessment, and process decision-making.
• Evaluate reaction performance through both chemistry and engineering lenses, including yield, selectivity, impurity formation, mass balance, robustness, throughput, and operational simplicity.
• Establish best practices for AI-enhanced process design in early discovery settings, balancing speed and molecular access with process understanding and future scalability.
• Stay current with advances in modern process chemistry, reaction engineering, HTE, digitalization, automation, and enabling technologies relevant to next-generation discovery chemistry.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• PhD in Process Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Medicinal Chemistry, or a related discipline with relevant postdoctoral and/or industry experience.
• Strong hands-on experience in process chemistry, reaction development, or scale-relevant synthetic chemistry.
• Demonstrated experience applying engineering principles to chemical process design, optimization, and troubleshooting.
• Experience with HTE for reaction or process screening, optimization, and data-rich experimentation.
• Strong understanding of key process variables in discovery chemistry.
• Experience with reaction workup, sample handling, purification, and analytical interpretation in fast-paced chemistry environments.
• Hands-on familiarity with analytical tools commonly used to support process chemistry.
• Experience generating well-structured experimental data to support reproducibility and digital workflows.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex experimental problems and independently drive practical, technically sound solutions.
• Strong collaborative skills and ability to work effectively across chemistry, analytics, automation, engineering, and computational teams.

Bonus Points For

• Experience supporting Discovery Chemistry or small molecule R&D in biotech, pharma, or advanced platform environments.
• Familiarity with modern process chemistry in early discovery settings, including rapid route improvement, robustness assessment, impurity understanding, and scalable reaction design.
• Experience with miniaturized process screening, parallel reactors, or robotics-enabled chemistry platforms.
• Experience contributing to the digitalization of process chemistry, including structured data capture, ELNs, workflow automation, or AI/ML-enabled experimental environments.
• Ability to connect chemistry execution with broader platform goals such as throughput, automation compatibility, and data generation.
• Strong scientific curiosity and enthusiasm for building next-generation process chemistry capabilities that go beyond traditional development paradigms.