Principal/Director, Computational Biology & Target Discovery (Neurology)
London, on-site
We are partnered with an exciting Neuro TechBio start-up, currently operating in stealth, based in the heart of Central London. The company is developing a full-stack platform for neurodegenerative drug discovery, spanning target identification, validation, and biomarker development. Its technology addresses a fundamental bottleneck in the field: the lack of routine access to living human brain tissue. Backed by leading venture capital firms, the company has secured significant funding to advance both its proprietary platform and its Alzheimer’s disease target pipeline.
About this role
The Principal Scientist/Director of Target Discovery will define and lead the computational biology strategy underpinning target identification and prioritisation across the company’s neurology pipeline. Combining hands-on technical execution with scientific and strategic leadership, you will drive internal drug discovery programmes leveraging a highly innovative proprietary AI/ML platform, with scope to build and scale the function over time in line with company growth.
Who you are
You bring 5–10 years of experience building and leading target discovery programmes in neurology within leading biotech or pharmaceutical environments, with a strong track record of applying computational approaches to resolve complex disease biology.
You are motivated to apply your expertise in a high-impact, fast-moving environment, contributing directly to both scientific strategy and delivery, while supporting the evolution of the function.
This role is well suited to a Senior or Principal Scientist looking to step into broader ownership with strategic leadership and influence, or an existing Director willing to work hands-on to build and shape computational target discovery capabilities within a pioneering biotech platform.
What you will do
Target Discovery & Analysis
* Lead the design and pipeline execution of QTL mapping analyses to identify loci with causal relevance to Alzheimer's and neurological disease biology.
* Integrate functional genomic and multi-omic data to prioritise targets with convergent regulatory and phenotypic evidence.
* Hands-on ownership of pipeline development and multi-omics integration frameworks that build mechanistic target evidence packages.
Platform Development & Integration
* Collaborate with ML engineers to translate biological domain knowledge into model design decisions - feature selection, training and evaluation metrics, and interpretation frameworks.
* Work with the SWE/Infrastructure engineers to define knowledge graph schema requirements: biological entities, relationships, and evidence types to support target ranking and query workflows.
* Own the computational target evidence layer within the knowledge graph, ensuring biological accuracy, ontological consistency, and query utility.
* Lead pipeline development for multi-omic data processing, bringing scientific rigour to QC, normalisation, and analytical choices.
Functional Biology & Target Validation Interface
* Collaborate to translate computational target packages into experimentally testable hypotheses, defining the biological rationale, predicted mechanism, and recommended validation for each prioritised target.
* Participate in target review meetings with the in vitro validation team, providing computational context and iterating on hypotheses based on experimental findings.
* Contribute to the design of functional validation experiments where computational data can inform assay selection or readout interpretation.
Scientific Leadership & Team Building
* Play a leading role in shaping the Target Discovery strategy and computational platform capabilities.
* Build, lead, and mentor a team of computational biologists in line with company growth.
* Develop leadership responsibility for the Target Discovery function over time.
* Represent the company with external partners, collaborators, and in due diligence processes.
* Contribute to publications, patents, conference presentations, and grant applications where the platform methodology is a key asset.
* Establish and own computational biology best practices, analytical reproducibility standards, and documentation norms across the team.
Required skills and experience
* PhD in related field with 5-8 years of experience in computational biology, with a focus on multi-omic target discovery.
* Strong proficiency in relevant programming languages such as Python, R, or similar, and HPC/cloud computing.
* Significant experience in analysis of omics technologies including transcriptomics, proteomics, and epigenomics etc.,
* Prior experience delivering computational work embedded directly within target discovery programmes
* Application of novel analytic methods to target ID, prioritisation & in silico validation strategies.
* Strong expertise in statistical analysis and data visualisation techniques.
* Experience in applying all above concepts in the field of Neurology, or Neurodegenerative Disease is preferred.
* Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to convey complex concepts to diverse audiences.
* Exceptional problem-solving skills and ability to think critically and creatively.
* Extensive experience in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry is essential.
Interested? Apply and we will be in touch!