Principal Scientist, Retinal Degeneration

Role Summary

Principal Scientist to drive preclinical drug discovery programs for blinding retinal diseases, including age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. Develop innovative experimental approaches and advanced disease models to validate neuroprotective therapeutic strategies and discover promising drug candidates. Collaborate in matrixed, cross-functional teams to generate high-quality data packages to nominate and advance therapeutic candidates toward clinical development, shaping the future of ophthalmology therapeutics.

Responsibilities

• Apply scientific expertise and judgement to initiate, design, direct, and execute research studies to translate new targets from discovery to therapeutic disease programs and preclinical development
• Work independently, proactively and be an impactful contributor and leader of research projects and pipeline programs in a matrixed team environment to achieve go/no-go decisions
• Design, conduct, and direct in vitro mechanism-of-action, proof-of-concept, and biomarker studies to validate targets and evaluate neuroprotective therapeutic strategies
• Collaborate cross-functionally to screen preclinical candidates of diverse modalities using target- and disease-relevant functional readouts that inform on pharmacology and efficacy
• Actively contribute to interdisciplinary research programs in a highly collaborative manner across internal groups and with external partners
• Prepare high-quality analyses, interpretation, documentation, and presentations to support project milestones, publications, patent filings, and regulatory (IND/CTA) filings
• Present project data packages at governance meetings
• Grow a reputation in the internal and external scientific community through high impact publications, productive scientific collaborations and active participation in conferences

Qualifications

• Required: Earned Ph.D. or equivalent degree in cell biology, neuroscience, or other relevant scientific discipline, and 5+ years of research experience in biopharmaceutical or academic setting
• Required: Demonstrated experience (1 year or more ideally) in drug development at a biopharmaceutical company
• Required: Experience evaluating and validating new therapeutic targets, preferably for retinal or neurodegenerative diseases
• Required: Extensive cell culture experience, including work with primary cells, iPSC-derived cells, or 3D in vitro models
• Required: Comprehensive experience with a broad range of molecular, cellular, and biochemical methods, assay development, and in vitro disease modeling
• Required: Experience preparing high-quality documents including experimental protocols, SOPs, technical reports, and presentations
• Required: Track record of significant contributions to research projects and scientific publications
• Preferred: Experience in retinal disease and degeneration or neurodegeneration research
• Preferred: Experience using computational approaches (e.g., R, Python) to analyze data
• Preferred: Program leadership experience in an industry setting
• Preferred: Experience authoring regulatory documents to support IND or CTA applications with agencies like the FDA and EMA
• Preferred: Experience managing studies at CROs
• Preferred: Familiarity with wide range of therapeutic modalities including biologics, small molecules, and/or genomic medicines
• Preferred: Experience in high-throughput assay development and using automated screening platforms and robotics
• Preferred: Experience with animal models of retinal disease and degeneration

Skills

• Ability to weigh and integrate information from a broad range of stakeholders with diverse backgrounds
• Ability to capture and translate complex data, concepts, and information into clear, well-articulated messages to guide and drive decision-making
• Ability to multi-task and adapt to rapidly changing priorities and deadlines
• Excellent critical thinking, analytical, and problem-solving skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively in a multidisciplinary team as well as to senior leadership
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build excellent working relationships and mentor cross-functional team members
• Resourceful and proactive in managing cross-functional research project plans to achieve objectives and forecast resource requirements
• Exceptional organizational and time-management skills, lab notebook practices, and attention to detail

Education

• Ph.D. or equivalent in cell biology, neuroscience, or related field