Director, Head of Chemistry

In this role you lead the Organic and Medicinal Chemistry for Antibody Drug Conjugates within Genmab’s Discovery Department in Utrecht. You shape strategic direction for a wet-lab–driven team, advancing ADC programs from discovery to clinical development. You oversee synthesis, conjugation, analytics, and tech transfer to GMP, collaborating across disciplines to deliver impactful ADC candidates. You drive innovation, efficiency, and scalability while building a high‑performance, diverse team. This position offers the chance to influence cutting‑edge KYSO antibody medicines and Genmab’s mission to transform lives.

• Pension
• Health insurance and wellness benefits
• Paid time off
• Employee support programs

• Provide strategic direction for the synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry team in ADC discovery and development
• Lead the team of chemists responsible for design, synthesis, conjugation, and analysis of payloads, linkers, and conjugated ADCs
• Develop and implement innovative synthetic methodologies to improve efficiency, scalability, and project success
• Oversee bioconjugation strategy including site-specific and stochastic approaches, DAR control, and bioconjugate characterization (HIC, RP-HPLC, MS)
• Direct exploration of novel payload classes balancing potency, stability, and manufacturability
• Collaborate with biology, pharmacology, protein engineering, and manufacturing to meet milestones
• Lead tech transfer and scale-up of routes from discovery to GMP, coordinating with CMC and process chemistry for IND‑enabling steps
• Shape strategy for scouting and external collaborations on ADC chemistry with business development
• Support due diligence, CRO oversight, and evaluating in-licensing/out-licensing opportunities
• Contribute to patents, publications, and regulatory submissions
• Represent Genmab externally via conferences and publications
• Foster a culture of excellence, knowledge exchange, and continuous improvement
• Establish and supervise EHS/industrial hygiene for handling potent compounds
• Own budget and capex planning for wet lab build-out and equipment
• Recruit, mentor and manage performance and champion diversity and inclusion

• Ph.D. in organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, or related discipline
• Minimum 10 years of experience in early-stage biopharma/biotech, with 5+ years in a leadership role overseeing cross-functional teams
• Track record leading ADC chemistry projects from discovery to clinical development
• Strong knowledge of early-stage discovery chemistry and analytics for ADC, conjugation, and linker-payload chemistry
• Hands-on expertise in bioconjugation chemistries, DAR analytics, and bioconjugate characterization
• Experience with CMC/tech transfer of synthetic routes to GMP scale and IND-enabling expectations for ADCs
• Experience overseeing safety programs for handling highly potent compounds (EHS)
• Strategic planning skills and SAR experience
• Familiarity with computational chemistry and molecular modeling desirable
• Excellent English communication skills and ability to present to diverse audiences
• Adaptability to changing directions and multitasking across projects

• collaboration
• leadership
• strategic thinking
• synthetic organic chemistry
• medicinal chemistry
• bioconjugation chemistries