Senior Director Neurodegeneration, Translational Sciences

Overview

Senior Director Neurodegeneration, Translational Sciences

Site Name: UK - Hertfordshire - Stevenage; USA - Massachusetts - Waltham; USA - Pennsylvania - Upper Providence

Posted Date: Oct

At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. Our R&D focuses on discovering and delivering vaccines and medicines, combining our understanding of the immune system with cutting-edge technology to transform people's lives. We're uniting science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together.

Position Summary: Reporting to the Vice President of Translational Sciences, Respiratory, Immunology and Inflammation Translational Unit (RIITU), the Senior Director Neurodegeneration, Translational Sciences will be responsible for innovative disease area translational initiatives to inform therapy area and programme biomarker strategies that will increase the probability of success of preclinical to clinical transitions and allow for earlier and higher confidence project-related decisions. This will include generation of foundational data as well as disease biomarker development and validation that allow timely deployment of tools/biomarkers that can support detection of PoM, signs of clinical efficacy, PoC, and pairing MOAs with patient subtypes to predict rapid or complete responder populations in neurodegenerative diseases.

The successful candidate will work closely with the RIITU leadership team and the overarching research unit leadership teams, GSK matrix and external partners and will represent RIITU at governance level. The individual will spearhead initiatives to increase portfolio value through the application of cutting-edge single cell technologies, techniques and analytics aligned to complex in vitro models, tissue biopsies and organ models, to develop deeper disease knowledge to inform target pathways and candidate molecule packages/rationales rooted in human disease pathological relevance.

Responsibilities

• Translational Leadership: Provide strategic leadership contributing to deep understanding of disease areas enabling the development and execution of translational research disease strategies to support the discovery and development of novel differentiated therapeutics including evaluation and diligence of business development opportunities.

• Translational innovation:

  Evaluate novel techniques and technologies (e.g. spatial transcriptomics) to inform translational initiatives, biomarker development and validation in collaboration with platform teams within a multi-functional matrix environment.

• Disease Biomarker Strategy Development: Partner with the Disease Teams, Research Technologies and the Development organisation to identify, establish disease biomarkers for decision making throughout clinical development phases and aligned with overall goals. This includes identification, prioritisation and validation of disease-relevant biomarkers, mechanistic/surrogate biomarkers, patient stratification, and differentiated response prediction through deployment into clinical studies.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaborate with Translational, Disease Teams, Human Genetics & Genomics, biology groups, biomarker platforms, Medicine Development Teams, HBSM, data-sciences, regulatory affairs, business development and commercial to ensure seamless integration of translational research and biomarker strategies across the drug development lifecycle.

• External Partnerships: Establish and maintain strategic collaborations with academic institutions, CROs, and other external partners to access cutting-edge technologies, tools, reagents, biosamples, biomarker expertise, and research capabilities. Foster a network of external experts and key opinion leaders to stay at the forefront of translational science and biomarker advancements. Contribute to evaluation and diligence of business development opportunities.

• Matrix Leadership: Provide mentorship, guidance, and professional development opportunities to ensure a high-performing and motivated team. Manage disease and project level resources, budgets, and timelines to ensure successful execution of projects and achievement of milestones and RIITU objectives. Represent RIITU at portfolio governance reviews providing critical input to pipeline and investment decision making.

Basic Qualifications

• Ph.D. in a relevant scientific discipline (e.g., Cell/Molecular Biology, Genetics, Pharmacology, Physical Chemistry or related field)

• Extensive Neurodegenerative disease knowledge and translation/biomarkers implementation

• Extensive experience in translational science and biomarker development within the pharmaceutical or biotech industry with broad knowledge of technologies and methods used in translational research

• Recognised translational/biomarker expert in the scientific community through publications and contributions to the field

• Experience in a clinical trial setting, authoring and oversight of clinical and regulatory documents

• Knowledge of regulatory requirements, industry standards, best practices and compliance considerations in Translational Research and biomarker development and validation

• Proven track record of program decision making through implementing biomarker strategies and delivering translational science insights to support drug progression through clinical milestones

• Experience leading/managing external collaborations and evaluation of business development opportunities

• Strong executive and people management skills with ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects to meet timelines

• Excellent inclusive matrix leadership skills, with the ability to create psychological safety, inspire and motivate a team towards achieving common goals

• Adaptability to a fast-paced and evolving research environment with strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Awareness of bioinformatic / computational methods supporting integrated analysis and interpretation of translational and biomarker-related data sets

Work Location: This role is based in the United Kingdom or United States and will require on-site presence with flexibility for hybrid working arrangements.

Join us in shaping the future of neurodegeneration research and making a meaningful impact on patients' lives.

Why GSK? Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases. We are committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, explore opportunities with our hiring team.

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