---
title: 'Scientist, Induced Proximity Drug Discovery at Birdwood Therapeutics'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/scientist-induced-proximity-drug-discovery-birdwood-therapeutics-san-carlos-4hfz63ymf8qe'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Scientist, Induced Proximity Drug Discovery at Birdwood Therapeutics

- **Company:** Birdwood Therapeutics
- **Location:** San Carlos, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2025-06-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.gem.com/birdwood-therapeutics/am9icG9zdDpiZKbk4O7MAd7_0IVmgNBI

## Job description

Modern chemistry has failed us.

Yes, it’s delivered many remarkable medicines — a cure for hepatitis C, small molecules that enable people with cystic fibrosis to live full lives, and cancer drugs that have turned once-terminal diagnoses into manageable conditions. But these represent still just a fraction of what’s possible.

Most diseases — especially the most complex, like neurodegeneration — remain completely untreatable. The problem isn’t that we lack targets. It’s that conventional small molecules can’t engage them, or modulate them in the ways biology demands.

We need new chemistry — modalities that don’t just inhibit or activate, but rewire biology through induced proximity to create entirely new functions. This is the future of small molecules. And we need to bring this future into the present, fast.

At Birdwood, we’re building a discovery engine for cooperative small molecules that unlock mechanisms traditional chemistry simply can’t touch. We’re a small team of chemical biologists working ambitiously at the edge of what’s possible. Backed by top-tier investors like Fifty Years, we’re moving fast to scale our platform, validate new recruitment pairs, and unlock new classes of proximity-based therapeutics for historically intractable diseases.

We’re now hiring our first scientist to help build this future. You’ll take the lead on developing an executing key discovery assays, validating proximity-inducing compounds, and driving our lead programs forward. You’ll work side by side with the founder to help lay the scientific foundation of a company aiming to redefine what small molecules are capable of.

You must move fast.

Our mission requires operating at 3x the speed that most competent people think possible.

This role may be perfect for you if:

- You thrive while building from the ground up — where progress depends on creativity, speed, and a high tolerance for ambiguity
- You think the pace of drug discovery today is entirely unacceptable — and you’re here to make it 10x faster
- You’re driven by impactful science, not titles or publications

## What you’ll do

- Develop, optimize, and scale our core platform — an ultra high-throughput, lysate-compatible screening assay for discovering proximity-inducing small molecules
- Design and execute biochemical and cell-based experiments to evaluate and develop novel induced proximity mechanisms
- Quantify ternary complex formation using a range of techniques such as TR-FRET, qPCR, and other biochemical readouts
- Work with CROs and internal team members to support hit validation and follow-up studies

## What you need to succeed

- Strong track record in assay development, protein interaction biology, or molecular screening
- Proficiency in core molecular biology and cell culture techniques
- Experience with biochemical assays, genetic perturbation methods in cells, and cell-based phenotypic screening
- Extreme scientific rigor: reproducibility, documentation, clear interpretation, and attention to controls
- Ability to operate highly independently and drive programs forward in high ambiguity environments
- Familiarity with induced proximity pharmacology, or a strong motivation to master it quickly

## Nice to have

- Direct experience working with molecular glues, PROTACs, or related systems
- Experience with CNS-relevant model systems (e.g., neuronal cell culture, iPSC or organoid models)
- Demonstrated ability scaling experimental platforms — building high-throughput or multiplexed workflows from scratch

## Benefits

- Competitive pay and strong equity incentives: we believe deeply in ownership. If you’re helping to build Birdwood from the ground up, you deserve to participate meaningfully in its success.
- Full health, dental, and vision coverage
- Lab and office space at MBC BioLabs, San Carlos
- We move fast, care deeply, and aim for impossible goals

## About Birdwood Therapeutics

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Birdwood Therapeutics is building a high-throughput discovery platform combined with biophysical AI foundation models to design cooperative small molecules for induced proximity pharmacology and drug intractable diseases.
- **Entity Type**: Private (pre-revenue, early stage; funding status is conflicting – job posting mentions backing by Fifty Years, but other sources report no disclosed funding rounds)
- **Headquarters**: San Carlos, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Zachary Rosenthal, Ph.D. (CEO), Christian Choe, Ph.D. (Co-founder, Head of ML), Ralph Mazitschek, Ph.D. (Co-founder, CSO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Biotechnology Research / Drug Discovery (induced proximity therapeutics, molecular glues, PROTACs)
- **Target customers**: B2B (pharma/biotech partners) and internal pipeline for therapeutic development
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Drug anything" — developing modalities that rewire biology through induced proximity to create entirely new functions.

## Products & Services
- **High-throughput kinetic characterization platform**: Technology to rapidly quantify full binding kinetics (association and dissociation) across 10⁶ constructs simultaneously, yielding high-fidelity biophysical data at unprecedented scale.
- **Programmable molecular diversity**: DNA-encoded scaffolds providing programmable access to millions of potential binders (small molecules, peptides, oligonucleotides) generated and tested simultaneously.
- **Biophysical AI models**: Kinetic measurements across millions of binders and perturbation screens (pH, ionic strength, temperature, buffer composition) train models that learn the physics of molecular recognition and enable predictive design across modalities.
- **Binder discovery for any target**: Screening millions of candidates using diverse encoded scaffolds and high-throughput measurement technologies to discover functional binders across a wide range of targets and molecular modalities.
- **Kinetic profiling at scale**: Rapid measurement of association and dissociation rates across millions of constructs simultaneously to unlock high-throughput SAR and shorten medicinal chemistry campaigns from years to weeks.
- **High-throughput induced proximity discovery**: Discovery of cooperative small molecules directly in cell lysates at unprecedented scale, enabling next-generation induced proximity medicines (degradation, stabilization, activation, relocalization).
- **AI-guided design of next-generation binders**: Large-scale interaction and kinetic data power AI models that learn the underlying physics of molecular recognition, enabling predictive and generative design of binders across modalities.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (no confirmed funding rounds; job posting cites backing by Fifty Years, but no valuation or round size publicly available)
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding – conflicting reports: job posting states "backed by top-tier investors like Fifty Years"; third-party sources (Prospeo, Gosset) report "no funding data available" or "has never raised funding before". No seed, Series A, or other rounds publicly disclosed.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Fifty Years (mentioned in job posting as a backer; also connected via 5050 founder program); MBC BioLabs (lab space in San Carlos).
- **Growth Signals**: Founded in 2024, currently 3 employees (+100% YoY growth from 1 to 3). Active recruitment for first scientist role (June 2025). Presented at 2025 TPD & Induced Proximity Summit. Platform proof-of-concept work ongoing.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Ultra-high-throughput, lysate-compatible screening**: Proprietary platform capable of screening millions of constructs simultaneously in cell lysates, enabling discovery of proximity-inducing small molecules at unprecedented scale.
- **DNA-encoded scaffold technology**: Programmable access to vast chemical diversity across small molecules, peptides, and oligonucleotides.
- **Biophysical AI models trained on kinetic data**: Models learn the physics of molecular recognition and solvent effects, enabling predictive and generative design across modalities (not just one target class).
- **Focus on induced proximity**: Targeting mechanisms (molecular glues, PROTACs, etc.) that can rewire biology in ways traditional small molecules cannot, addressing historically intractable diseases like neurodegeneration.

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Scaling the discovery platform, validating new recruitment pairs, unlocking new classes of proximity-based therapeutics, and advancing lead programs toward preclinical development.
- **Direction for growth**: Building a discovery engine for cooperative small molecules; hiring first scientists to develop and execute key assays and drive programs forward; aiming to operate at "3x the speed" to bring the future of small molecule therapeutics into the present.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture highlights**: Small, ambitious team of chemical biologists working at the edge of what's possible; extreme scientific rigor; high ownership and independence; mission-driven to redefine small molecule capabilities.
- **Remote/hybrid policy**: Not specified; likely on-site due to lab work (lab and office space at MBC BioLabs, San Carlos, CA).
- **Notable perks/engineering culture**: Competitive pay and strong equity incentives (deep ownership philosophy); full health, dental, and vision coverage; fast-paced environment with "impossible goals"; direct collaboration with founders to lay scientific foundation of the company.

## Sources
1. [birdwoodtherapeutics.com](https://www.birdwoodtherapeutics.com/)
2. [birdwoodtherapeutics.com/team](https://www.birdwoodtherapeutics.com/team)
3. [linkedin.com/company/birdwood-therapeutics](https://www.linkedin.com/company/birdwood-therapeutics)
4. [biobase.whitefordresearch.com](https://biobase.whitefordresearch.com/companies/birdwood-therapeutics)
5. [jobtarget.com](https://www.jobtarget.com/jobs/jt-ne7ijyqdvp/scientist-induced-proximity-drug-discovery-san-carlos-california)