Mystic, Connecticut

We are currently seeking a Data Scientist to be a foundational member of the Enko Data Science team and to play an integral role in building out our predictive analytics capabilities. A successful candidate will thrive in a growing and rapidly changing environment and will contribute to projects across the R&D portfolio. Specifically, the role has the following criteria:

Responsibilities:

• Provide expert analytics support for the various data analysis needs of a growing and evolving R&D team
• Support the sourcing, building, curating, and maintaining of our core research data assets
• Build automated pipelines for various data preparation and cleaning tasks
• Conduct data driven experiments to identify areas where predictive analytics, or simple logic, can improve efficiency of Enko’s R&D pipeline, and then deploy these models into our production environment
• Develop dashboards and presentations to enable the R&D team to capitalize on these insights

Qualifications:

• Masters/PhD in relevant scientific discipline (e.g. Chemistry, Biology, Computational Science, Statistics); Professional experience with cheminformatics and machine learning for small molecule discovery desired
• Strong analytics skills with experience analyzing and interpreting biological assay data (e.g. in vitro assays, agricultural testing data, etc.)
• Highly proficient with developing repeatable and scalable analysis pipelines using Python in a professional environment; Experience with our core stack: infrastructure tools (e.g. AWS, PostgreSQL, Django, Git, Docker), analysis tools (e.g. Numpy, Pandas, Scikit Learn, RDKit, DeepChem), and visualization tools (e.g. Matplotlib, Plotly, Seaborn) are all nice to have as well
• Ability to learn and adapt new software tools; experience with computational chemistry software packages are nice, but not required
• Demonstrated success working on cross functional teams (e.g. software engineers + scientific domain experts + data scientists + product managers + UI/UX developers) to deliver business relevant products
• Ability to drive a project from conception through development, testing, and deployment in a fast paced (and still evolving) environment

Mystic, Connecticut

The Director of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology is responsible for building and leading the Protein Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Structural Biology teams with a focus on people development, results delivery, and scientific excellence. The successful candidate will lead overall activities in support of target-based, lead discovery and optimization programs, and will have demonstrated the ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced, and innovative environment. As a member of the R&D Leadership Team, they will have an opportunity to establish a culture that nurtures scientific excellence, a sense of urgency to achieve project success, and success built on collaboration and personal accountability.

Major responsibilities will include:

• Design and implement selection, production, characterization, and detection of target proteins across the Enko R&D pipeline
• Build and lead a team that will generate and analyze the data needed to characterize hit compounds leading to advancement through the pipeline
• Strengthen expertise in molecular biology, protein production and purification, assay design and development or structural biology with hands-on work
• Collaboration with a diverse team of scientists to identify and validate targets and optimize lead chemistries creating a pipeline of product candidates
• Integrating business aspects, scientific aspects, non-scientific aspects (R&D related legal, IP, regulatory, quality management) and infrastructure / operational aspects into decision processes
• Collaborate as a member of the R&D leadership team to develop an integrated strategy for discovering and developing novel crop protection chemistries

Qualifications and Skills

• MS or Ph.D. in protein biochemistry, molecular biology or a related discipline
• A minimum of 10 years of industry experience, preferably in the discovery of crop protection chemistries
• A minimum of 4 years of experience in a biochemistry leadership role and building teams within an evolving company culture
• Demonstrated expertise in experimental design and data analysis
• Demonstration of leadership and data-driven decision making
• Excellent written and oral communication, project management skills, and ability to manage working teams effectively without direct authorities
• Desire and ability to excel in a multidisciplinary environment; open minded and capable of receiving feedback.

Mystic, Connecticut

The successful candidate will have demonstrated the ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced, and innovative environment. Excellent written and oral communication skills are required, as is the desire and ability to excel in a multidisciplinary environment. As a member of a growing R&D team, this person will have an opportunity to contribute to a culture that nurtures scientific excellence, a sense of urgency to achieve project success, and success built on collaboration and personal accountability.

Major responsibilities include:

• Work with a multidisciplinary technical team to plan, coordinate, and execute R&D activities to deliver innovative products and technologies to the agrochemical market
• Overall responsibility for discovering and developing formulation technologies that will improve the efficacy, stability and environmental profile of Enko’s discovery lead chemistries
• Establish routine processes to characterize formulation properties including stability, compatibility with potential tank-mix partners and alignment with overall product delivery objectives
• Scale up prototype formulations for laboratory and field trial evaluation, and ultimately to pilot and commercial scale
• Plan, coordinate and execute relationships with contract research partners and consultants to produce and scale up new formulations, improve processes, and address product performance opportunities
• Design and implement goals and scientifically sound project plans that enable data-driven decisions and milestones to be attained
• Individual contributor role with the future potential to build and lead a team supporting formulation-related activities
• Thrive in a fast paced, timeline-driven environment with demonstrated ability to work on and prioritize across multiple projects
• Maintain awareness of relevant crop protection trends and technical advances by monitoring scientific and patent literature and by attending industry meetings and conferences
• Maintain accurate experimental records using an electronic notebook system. Maintain other records as necessary to support patent applications for innovative products and processes.
• Work safely, create and maintain a strong safety-conscious culture at the work place. Actively participate in safety programs.

Qualifications and Skills:

• PhD. or equivalent combination of education and experience in Chemistry, Material Science, Chemical Engineering or related field with at least 3 years industry experience
• Practical experience in the discovery and development of pharmaceutical or agricultural formulations
• Experience in the manufacture of agrochemical products across multiple indications, including pre- and post-emergent herbicides, insecticides and fungicides with diverse formulation compositions (e.g., SL, SC, EC, EW, SE, etc.) provides a distinct advantage
• Proficiency in planning and administering standard tests for physical evaluations of formulation stability and compatibility of formulations
• Comfortable in a hands-on working environment
• Demonstrated ability to lead by influence across matrixed organizations
• People leadership skills and experience are an advantage
• Ability to flexibly manage multiple projects with varying timelines and competing priorities
• Desire to develop and achieve formulation objectives, using innovative chemistry combined with strong listening, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Seek out opportunities to work with peers and customers interactively

Mystic, Connecticut

The successful candidate will have demonstrated the ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced, and innovative environment. Excellent written and oral communication skills are required, as is the desire and ability to excel in a multidisciplinary environment. As an early member of the R&D team, this person will have an opportunity to help establish a culture that nurtures scientific excellence, a sense of urgency to achieve project success, and success built on collaboration and personal accountability.

Major responsibilities include:

• Apply knowledge of market leading products and the attributes of highly effective fungicides to define characterization strategies that support advancement of chemistries through the staging system
• Lead the design and implementation of robust assays for characterization of candidate chemistries on model and agronomically important plant pathogens
• Collaborate with a diverse team of scientists to identify and validate targets and optimize lead chemistries creating a pipeline of product candidates
• Collaborate with external partners to conduct advanced characterization of candidate molecules
• Collaborate as a member of the Biology Leadership Team to develop approaches for rapidly and reliably advancing candidate molecules through a tiered evaluation system

The ideal candidate will have demonstrated an ability to apply their expertise in fungicide discovery to advance small molecule discovery campaigns from screening to identification of development candidates. They will have a deep understanding of the discovery process and be able to translate this to the development of a tiered evaluation system for fungicides.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Ph.D. in Plant Pathology or a related discipline
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in the discovery of fungicides including direct involvement the characterization of early stage chemistries in the lab and greenhouse.  A working knowledge of the characterization of crop protection chemistries in the field is desirable
• Experience in utilizing data-driven decision making to advance chemistries in a staged, pipeline management system
• Demonstration of scientific and team leadership Excellent written and oral communication
• Experience building teams and research infrastructure, as well as establishing and managing external research collaborations provides a distinct advantage
• Understanding of the properties necessary in a small molecule fungicide and a working knowledge of organic chemistry necessary to contribute to a multidisciplinary team
• Experience working in a multidisciplinary team environment

Mystic, Connecticut

The successful candidate will have demonstrated the ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced, and innovative environment. Excellent written and oral communication skills are required, as is the desire and ability to excel in a multidisciplinary environment. As a member of a growing R&D team, this person will have an opportunity to contribute to a culture that nurtures scientific excellence, a sense of urgency to achieve project success, and success built on collaboration and personal accountability.

Major responsibilities include:

• Collaborate as a member of the Biology team to develop approaches for rapidly and reliably advancing early-stage chemistries through a tiered evaluation system
• Design and hands-on execution of experimental strategies to characterize the performance, mode-of-action (MOA) and metabolism of early-stage chemistries
• Data capture, analysis and preparation of technical reports for presentation to group members, project teams and senior management
• Share results, skills, and knowledge in a team-based environment, including as a member of multidisciplinary project teams in the discovery and optimization of herbicide and fungicide candidates
• Work with external collaborators and contractors (CROs) to extend Enko’s research capability
• Maintain timely and accurate lab records. Follow all Environmental, Health & Safety laboratory safety standards and maintain company compliance requirements

Qualifications and Skills:

• Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Plant Physiology, Weed Science or a related discipline
• Preference will be given to candidates with two or more years postdoctoral research experience, preferably including direct involvement characterizing early-stage crop protection chemistries and/or pharmaceuticals
• Self-starter with the ability to independently conceive and implement a research strategy to characterize the MOA and metabolism of early-stage compounds
• Hands-on expertise in a range of analytical techniques (e.g., HPLC, GC, MS, multinuclear NMR) for characterizing and quantifying diverse cellular metabolites, and the ability to analyze, visualize and interpret results
• Familiarity with crop protection literature is desired, particularly in the areas of herbicide and fungicide MOA and metabolism
• Experience establishing and managing external research collaborations provides a distinct advantage

• Working closely with the Discovery team to design safe and efficacious molecules; Consultants, collaborators, and others identified as instrumental to product discovery and development; and the Enko Scientific Advisory Board, providing timely information for decision making
  

• Incorporating computational tools in the design of molecules. Such tools would include, but are not limited to, structure-activity relationships (OECD Toolbox, etc.), in silico identification of potential human and ecological toxicological issues, molecular docking models, and advanced capability to implement predictive human and environmental modeling
  

• Employ and interpret early-phase product safety screening assays to evaluate and select compounds for development. Screening assays will cover both human and environmental risk
  

• Coordinate the development of post-screening de-risking strategies that help lead to the design, selection, and advancement of safe and efficacious compounds
  

• Identify optimal Contract Research Organizations and other collaborators for study placement. Coordinate and manage protocol development, study conduct, delivery of data, and interpretation of results
  

• PhD in toxicology, pharmacology, or related field and a minimum of 4 years’ experience working in the field of human and/or ecological toxicology
  

• An understanding of and experience with global regulatory data requirements
  

• Demonstrated experience in informatics and/or insilico modeling. For example, predictive toxicity software, genomics/transcriptomics, with an emphasis on extracting, compiling, and analyzing complex data sets for building QSAR/machine learning models
  

• Experience with designing and placing studies with CROs or other collaborators, with an ability to influence and arbitrate the quick resolution of issues, ensuring on-time delivery of results and reports
  

• Ability to work well within a diverse team and to think strategically
  

• Effective management of a wide range of tasks, responding in a timely manner and adjusting and reacting quickly to changing priorities in a variety of situations
  

• Effective communication (verbal and written) and organizational skills