Why Patients Need You

Pfizer’s purpose is to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. Research and Development is at the heart of fulfilling Pfizer’s purpose as we work to translate advanced science and technologies into the therapies and vaccines that matter most. Whether you are in the discovery sciences, ensuring drug safety and efficacy or supporting clinical trials, you will apply cutting edge design and process development capabilities to accelerate and bring the best-in-class medicines to patients around the world.

ROLE SUMMARY

We are seeking a computational chemist to join the Engineering Sciences group within Chemical Research and Development (CRD) in Chennai India. CRD, as part of Pfizer Research and Development (PRD) in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Small Molecule organization, is responsible for the development of process technology to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). CRD scientists and engineers engage in all facets of development from small scale synthesis in support of Discovery programs, to the development of the commercial synthetic route. CRD colleagues partner with manufacturing specialists for API synthesis in kilo-lab and pilot plant facilities, as well as provide support for technology transfer to Pfizer manufacturing sites and third party facilities.

We are looking for a candidate with a background in computational chemistry or physical organic chemistry. The selected candidate will support small molecule, synthetic route development through the application state-of-the-art computational tools. They will use knowledge to apply tools to key challenges, including stereoselectivity, regioselectivity, reaction mechanism, solvent effect analysis and catalysis development. Developing computational workflow and tools and can utilized from the experimental teams. The selected candidate will interact closely with interdisciplinary project team members and other members of the Computational Chemistry, Statistics and Cheminformatics ecosystem. They will have access to state-of-the-art hardware, software, and infrastructure support in a fast-paced and creative environment.

The Pfizer computational ecosystem is in a rapid growth phase, and we anticipate the selected candidate will be part of enhancing the impact of computational approaches within Pfizer, both by direct application to the portfolio, but also through technology and tool development. This may include advancing new technology in Quantum Mechanics, QSPAR modelling, and Machine Learning, amongst others. This is a tremendous opportunity for someone interested in continuous development of their skills in these and related areas.

• Good experience in computational chemistry, along with a solid foundation in physical organic chemistry
• A working experience of assessing organic chemistry reaction mechanisms especially DFT calculations of intermediates and transition states, using modern computational chemistry software such as Gaussian, ORCA and solvation models like COSMO-RS.
• Develop and publish computational workflow and tools for supporting process development
• Motivation to develop skill sets that evolve with the growth of computational technology.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills
• Scientific programming experience, especially in Python, is desirable.
• Knowledge of data science, machine learning, and deep learning approaches is desirable.
• Collaborate and author novel ad impactful publications and presentations.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Ph.D. or equivalent in Computational Chemistry, Chemistry or Chemical Engineering.
• Experience with implicit and explicit solvation models is desired.
• Experience with Gaussian, ORCA/Weasel, COSMO-RS, RDKit is desirable.
• Experience with calculating molecular descriptors or QSPR modelling is desirable

Pfizer is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable equal employment opportunity legislation in each jurisdiction in which it operates.