Location
Remote initially until venture incorporation and spin-out (circa end of 2027), location TBD.

Hours
Full Time

Salary
Not specified

About the Role
Join Deep Science Ventures to build a pioneering venture focused on solving one of the most durable and consequential challenges in medicine: systemic drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) for brain and CNS diseases. This unique Founder-in-Residence role offers the opportunity to lead a company that aims to make therapeutic delivery to the brain fundamentally easier, safer, and more broadly applicable. You will work at the forefront of CNS drug delivery, refining and advancing technical approaches that dramatically improve efficiency, safety, and modality breadth of drug delivery across the BBB.

CNS diseases affect over 1 billion people worldwide, yet effective disease-modifying treatments remain elusive due to the challenge of delivering drugs across the BBB. Current approaches such as receptor-mediated transcytosis (RMT) have limitations including haematotoxicity, receptor saturation, and lysosomal degradation of cargo. This venture seeks to redesign BBB drug delivery from first principles to unlock step-changes in delivery efficiency and safety, enabling therapeutic modalities previously considered undeliverable.

The role is embedded within a formal partnership between Deep Science Ventures and Medicines Discovery Catapult, providing unparalleled scientific access, translational infrastructure, and a strong route to early validation and partnerships. As a Founder-in-Residence, you will work closely with both teams to spin out the new company by the end of 2027, owning a significant stake and continuing to receive support post-spinout.

Key responsibilities include refining the technical thesis, developing IP strategy, market and regulatory positioning, fundraising strategy, and preparing for investment committee review. You will recruit advisory and co-founding team members and lead efforts to secure pre-seed investment and spin out the company.

Experience
Deep expertise in at least two of the following areas is essential:
- Protein Engineering: protein design, structural analysis, lead generation, antibody optimization, synthetic biology.
- Biologics Drug Development: diverse modalities, discovery and pre-clinical development, developability, pharmacology.
- Cell Biology & Neurobiology: intracellular trafficking, BBB biology, CNS disease biology, translational BBB models.
- Medicinal Chemistry: small molecule conjugates, CNS-penetrant design, efflux transporter biology.

Proven track record translating scientific concepts to in vivo proof-of-concept or IND, managing CRO/CDMO or Pharma programs, and building regulator- or investor-ready data packages.

Highly motivated by CNS drug delivery challenges, entrepreneurial mindset, impact-driven, able to work in ambiguous, fast-paced environments, and collaborative in cross-functional teams.

About you
You have a strong entrepreneurial spirit demonstrated through impactful innovation and the ability to think from first principles. You are driven to challenge the status quo in brain disease treatment and take initiative to make things happen. You thrive in demanding and pressurized environments and work effectively with diverse teams.

Qualifications
Preferred qualifications include:
- CNS preclinical or clinical drug development experience.
- Single-cell transcriptomic data analysis.
- Target and biomarker identification.
- Deep understanding of IP, freedom to operate, and patentability with a track record of patents.
- Publications or thought leadership in CNS delivery or related fields.
- Previous biotech founder or C-suite leadership experience.
- Fundraising experience (VC, dilutive or non-dilutive).
- Experience building and leading scientific or cross-functional teams.
- Established network across CNS pharma, biotech, or academic institutions.