Research Informatics Scientist/Senior Scientist at Plexxikon in Berkeley



Plexxikon is a leader in the discovery and development of novel, small molecule pharmaceuticals. The company has utilized its proprietary discovery platform to successfully develop a portfolio of competitively differentiated clinical and preclinical stage programs in a number of therapeutic areas. Plexxikon’s most advanced program, Zelboraf® (vemurafenib, and formerly known as PLX4032), was approved by the FDA in 2011 and is approved in over 60 countries worldwide. Plexxikon's demonstrated capability in discovery and early development uniquely positions the company to develop multiple commercial franchises for different therapeutic indications, and create significant value for Plexxikon and its collaborators.
Plexxikon's novel discovery approach, combined with an experienced management and scientific team, a broad network of scientific and clinical experts, and partnerships that support later stage development, have been key drivers of the company's success since it began operations in 2001.  In April 2011, Plexxikon became a member of the Daiichi Sankyo Group, and continues to build its broad and diverse pipeline and R & D operations independently.
Plexxikon is a small business with less than 50 employees and this position will be a critical member of the research team reporting to the VP, Research.  We have an opportunity for a highly motivated and experienced computational scientist (software engineer) to join our innovative drug discovery and development team. The successful candidate will work alongside of a tightly-integrated group of molecular, structural, and translational biologists, medicinal and computational chemists, and IT personal to deploy and develop software tools to integrate the large volume of structural, chemical and biological data. The candidate will also play a significant role in mining these data to identify patterns and trends that assist decision making in drug discovery and development and be responsible for other duties as assigned.
Promising candidates are expected to have experiences with installing and customizing commercial software for laboratory data acquisition and reporting, and experiences with implementing database, data warehousing, and data mining solutions. Extensive experience with SQL, web-based programming, and one or more scripting languages (Perl, VBA) is essential. The candidate is also expected to have a good understanding of the principles of statistics and prior training in scientific data representation/visualization. Candidates who have built informatics infrastructure in industrial R&D setting in close collaboration with assay biologists and medicinal chemists will be preferred. Ideal candidates should also have some experience in bioinformatics and chemo informatics, and broad knowledge of the small molecule drug discovery process.
Position Requirements & Experience:
  • PhD in Computer Science, Biology or Chemistry preferred, but not required
  • 3 or more years of related experience in the research environment of a biotech or pharmaceutical company
  • Track record of accomplishments demonstrating technical proficiency, scientific creativity, and collaboration with others
  • Creative thought processes and problem solving ability
  • Ability to function with minimal direct supervision
  • Willingness to do whatever needs to be done, regardless of level or type of work
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills are essential in this collaborative work environment
Plexxikon, an equal opportunity employer, is located in Berkeley, just off interstate 80.  We offer a chance to work with talented people in a collaborative environment and provide top-notch benefits including health insurance, generous time off and much more.   To learn more about Plexxikon, please visit our website at www.plexxikon.com.
If you are interested in applying for this opportunity, please submit your resume or CV, cover letter and salary requirements.  All submissions will be evaluated and interviews will be conducted for those applicants who most strongly fit our needs. If you are not contacted for an interview, your resume will remain on file and active for available positions for a period of one year.

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