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- 🐺 A Caltech chemistry professor's AI startup just landed Takeda.
🐺 A Caltech chemistry professor's AI startup just landed Takeda.
A role we didn't expect at a company we already featured, plus a fintech rewriting home equity.
Tom Miller taught chemistry at Caltech for twelve years. Five years after he left to start Iambic, Takeda signed a deal that could pay out more than $1.7 billion.
Then there’s Splitero, the San Diego fintech handing homeowners cash today for a share of their home's future value.
Plus an AI mineral exploration startup looking for an engineer, and an interesting new role we found at a previously featured company.
Howl yeah, let's dive in.
Iambic Therapeutics — 13 Open SD Roles
San Diego AI drug discovery company designing small molecules for oncology, and their pipeline is now in the clinic. Two Big Pharma partnerships signed in the last six months.
Why they matter:
Iambic built a generative AI platform for drug discovery. Their models design molecules from scratch, and their wholly-owned pipeline is now in clinical trials.
In November 2025, Iambic closed an oversubscribed financing round the company describes as over $100 million, with support from Sequoia, Mubadala, ARK, Regeneron Ventures, and 13 other named investors.
In February, Iambic signed a multi-year drug discovery collaboration with Takeda, initially in oncology and GI/inflammation. Iambic is eligible for success-based payments that could exceed $1.7 billion.
In May, Iambic was named to the CNBC Disruptor 50 list for the second consecutive year.
In June, Iambic announced a small-molecule discovery collaboration with Bayer, providing Bayer access to Iambic's Enchant and NeuralPLexer AI models.
Their lead asset, IAM1363, is a HER2 inhibitor currently in a Phase 1/1b clinical trial. Two additional wholly-owned programs are advancing toward the clinic.
Founded in 2020 by CEO Tom Miller and CTO Fred Manby. Headquartered in San Diego.
Open roles across:
Medicinal Chemistry (Sr Associate through Sr Director)
GPCR Biology
Discovery ML and Computational Chemistry
Clinical Development (Oncology)
Immunology
Regulatory Affairs (CMC)
Alliance Management and FP&A
Splitero — 4 Open SD Roles
San Diego fintech that gives homeowners cash today in exchange for a share of their home's future value. Home equity investment (HEI) provider with 17-state coverage and two rated securitizations.
Why they matter:
Splitero built an alternative to home equity loans and HELOCs. No monthly payments, no income requirements. Their Maturity Match™ structure aligns the HEI term with the homeowner's remaining mortgage timeline.
In August, Splitero expanded to Idaho, Missouri, Montana, and Wyoming. They now operate in 17 states.
In May, Splitero closed a $296 million rated HEI securitization, their second, which the company says priced at the tightest spreads for any public-rated HEI deal to date.
In December 2024, Splitero secured a commitment of up to $350M from Blue Owl Capital's alternative credit funds.
Founded 2021 in San Diego by CEO Michael Gifford and co-founder David Zvaifler, both real estate veterans.
Open roles across:
Legal (Associate General Counsel)
Vendor Operations
Sales (Manager of Sales)
Closing (Senior Closer, Manager of Closing)
Also worth knowing
San Diego mineral exploration startup rewriting the stack with AI-designed drill targeting.
Founded by Stanford PhD geoscientists Alex Miltenberger and Tyler Hall, backed by Primary Venture Partners.
In February, Giant Mining, since rebranded as Copper One, re-engaged them for 2026 drilling at Majuba Hill in Nevada. In June the company started its first ExploreTech-designed hole in an up to 10,000-foot program.
Virtual cardiometabolic care clinic for weight, diabetes, and heart health.
One new role stands out: Workplace Experience Manager owning day-to-day operations for their San Diego office.
Worth a flag when a mostly remote company invests locally in workplace experience.
Still on the Radar
Three companies from last week still hiring and worth your time:
Neomorph — 7 open SD roles. Molecular glue degrader company going after "undruggable" proteins. First patient dosed in a Phase 1/2 kidney cancer trial in February.
Natilus — 6 open SD roles. Blended-wing-body aircraft startup with a 570+ aircraft pre-order book the company values at $24 billion.
Biolinq — 11 open SD roles. First fully autonomous, needle-free glucose sensor to win FDA De Novo authorization. Founded by UCSD-trained bioengineers.
Let's help good people find great San Diego teams.
Jonah 🐺
