Associate Director/Director, Head of DEL Discovery Strategy and Informatics

About Us

Valo Health is a human-centric, AI-enabled biotechnology company working to make new drugs for patients faster. The company’s Opal Computational Platform transforms drug discovery and development through a unique combination of real-world data, AI, human translational models and predictive chemistry.

Our talented team of biologists, chemists and engineers, armed with advanced AI/ML tools, work together to break down traditional R&D silos and accelerate the speed and scale of drug discovery and development.

Valo is committed to hiring diverse talent, prioritizing growth and development, fostering an inclusive environment, and creating opportunities to bring together a group of different experiences, backgrounds, and voices to work together. We embrace new ways of learning, solve complex problems and welcome diverse perspectives that can help us advance patient-centric innovation.

Valo is headquartered in Lexington, MA, with additional offices in New York, NY and Tel Aviv, Israel.  To learn more, visitwww.valohealth.com.

The Role

Valo is seeking a Head of DEL, encompassing discovery strategy and selections, DEL chemistry and informatics to advance DNA-encoded library (DEL) technology as a core engine for initiating chemistry efforts across the portfolio. This leader will set the strategy for how DEL is deployed from target assessment and selection design through hit identification, off-DNA validation, and chemistry-start decisions. The role will lead a team DEL team and partner medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, biology, protein sciences, and data science to turn DEL outputs into high-quality, model-ready data and chemically tractable starting points for the Opal Computational Platform™.

What You’ll Do…

Set the strategic roadmap for using DEL as a first-line discovery approach to initiate chemistry campaigns across Valo’s portfolio

Lead and develop a team of 4 to 5 scientists spanning DEL informatics, on-DNA chemistry, analysis, and discovery strategy

Define DEL deployment strategy, including target tractability, library fit, selection design, controls, counterscreens, and project-start decision criteria

Translate DEL selection outputs into actionable chemistry starts through enrichment analysis, hit-family triage, SAR hypotheses, off-DNA validation, and analog prioritization

Partner with medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, biology, protein sciences, in vitro pharmacology and data science to advance DEL-derived hits into validated, chemically tractable series

Lead a team to build scalable DEL data workflows that generate high-quality, reusable, model-ready datasets for Opal and AI/ML-driven discovery

Scout, evaluate, and apply emerging DEL technologies, including next-generation library design, DNA-compatible chemistry, advanced selection methods, sequencing analytics, and ML-guided interpretation

Communicate strategy, tradeoffs, and recommendations to project teams and senior leaders to drive portfolio decisions

What You Bring...

PhD in protein sciences, chemistry, computational chemistry, chemical biology, or related field with 8+ years of relevant industry experience for the application of DEL in a drug discovery setting

Demonstrated deep expertise in identifying and executing strategies for successful DEL campaigns for a variety of targets, including protein classes which are typically challenging for DEL selections

Strong understanding of DEL strategy from library design and selection through data analysis, hit identification, off-DNA validation, and chemistry-start planning

Demonstrated track record using DEL-derived data to initiate or advance medicinal chemistry programs and generate validated chemical matter

Strong grounding in protein sciences, organic chemistry, on-DNA chemistry, medicinal chemistry principles, cheminformatics, and large experiment...