Senior Director Neurodegeneration, Translational Sciences

Role Summary

Senior Director Neurodegeneration, Translational Sciences. Responsible for innovative disease area translational initiatives to inform therapy area and programme biomarker strategies, increasing the probability of success of preclinical to clinical transitions and enabling earlier, higher-confidence project decisions. Lead biomarker development and validation to support PoM, PoC, and patient stratification in neurodegenerative diseases.

Responsibilities

• Translational Leadership: Provide strategic leadership to develop and execute translational research disease strategies to support discovery and development of novel therapeutics, including evaluation and diligence of business development opportunities.
• Translational Innovation: Evaluate novel techniques and technologies to inform translational initiatives and biomarker development; guide validation of human assays to enhance translation and predictive value.
• Disease Biomarker Strategy Development: Identify and validate disease biomarkers for decision making across clinical development, including patient stratification and differentiated response prediction.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaborate with Translational, Disease Teams, Human Genetics & Genomics, biology groups, biomarker platforms, Medicine Development Teams, data sciences, regulatory affairs, business development, and commercial teams to integrate translational research and biomarker strategies.
• External Partnerships: Establish and maintain collaborations with academia, CROs, and other external partners; build a network of experts and stay at the forefront of translational science and biomarkers.
• Matrix Leadership: Mentor and develop the team; manage resources, budgets, and timelines; represent RIITU at portfolio governance reviews to inform pipeline and investment decisions.

Qualifications

• Required: Ph.D. in a relevant scientific discipline (e.g., Cell/Molecular Biology, Genetics, Pharmacology, Physical Chemistry or related).
• Required: Extensive knowledge of neurodegenerative disease translational science and biomarker development; track record in translational research and biomarker implementation; recognized expert via publications and contributions.
• Required: Experience in clinical trial settings and oversight of clinical/regulatory documents; knowledge of regulatory requirements and industry best practices in translational research and biomarker work.
• Required: Demonstrated program decision-making through biomarker strategies; experience leading external collaborations and evaluating BD opportunities; strong executive and people management skills.
• Required: Ability to manage multiple projects, deliver high-quality work on timelines; inclusive matrix leadership and ability to foster collaboration and psychological safety; strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

Skills

• Strategic translational leadership
• Biomarker discovery, validation, and deployment
• Cross-functional collaboration in drug development
• External partnership development
• Matrix leadership and people management
• Advanced data interpretation and translational analytics

Education

• Ph.D. in a relevant scientific discipline (as listed above).

Additional Requirements

• Work Location: United Kingdom or United States with on-site presence and hybrid flexibility.