Vice President, Research & Non-Clinical Development

Role Summary

Kiniksa is seeking a Vice President of Research & Non-clinical Development to join our innovative team and accelerate drug candidates to approval. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the incumbent will drive pre-clinical and translational activities for Kiniksa’s pipeline of biologics programs within autoimmune and cardiovascular therapeutic areas. A successful candidate will bring extensive experience providing strategic and scientific leadership for research teams spanning preclinical, biomarker and early clinical development. The ability to lead multiple, different workstreams with a focus on teamwork and ownership in a fast-paced and agile environment will be essential. Operational leadership, often with a hands-on approach to effectively execute on project plans in a lean organization, is essential for this position.

This role is based in our Lexington, MA headquarters, five days in the office.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with leaders across the company to plan and execute on the R&D strategy
• Lead, manage, develop, and retain a high-performance team, and provide development opportunities and mentoring to the team
• Provide strategic and scientific leadership to develop integrated research plans
• Lead translational research across research and development groups, collaborating with medical directors, clinical pharmacologists and nonclinical research scientists; ensure early definition of clinical development strategy and biomarker plans
• Guide execution of drug discovery research and preclinical (IND-enabling) activities to enable robust, timely and compliant IND submissions with clear development paths
• Oversee DMPK/ADME and toxicology studies supporting the advancement of pre-FIH development programs into clinical stage as well as other non-clinical activities in support of ongoing clinical development programs
• Plan, resource and prioritize in-house and outsourced pharmacology activities
• Provide support and guidance for in vivo work with several exciting external academic/industry collaborators and with CROs
• Evaluate new therapeutic opportunities, and initiate additional pipeline programs in close collaboration with business development and medical affairs
• Manage a portfolio of therapeutics across diverse disease areas
• Communicate scientific data internally and externally by overseeing messaging for study reports and regulatory documentation, contributing to high impact scientific manuscripts, identifying & managing external research collaborations, and engaging with scientific advisors and consultants
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, discovery, and cutting-edge research focused on scientific excellence, open communication, and continual improvement

Qualifications

• Requires a PhD with 15+ years of industry experience in translation research and drug discovery
• Demonstrated ability to transition program from preclinical stage through IND into early clinical development; specific experience with biologics preferred
• Deep understanding of in vivo pharmacology and strong track record of driving research stage programs into the clinic
• Track record of excellence and innovation as demonstrated by multiple peer reviewed publications and co-inventorship on patents
• Ability to work productively with and influence diverse project leads on cross functional project teams
• Engaging personality and strong leadership, mentoring and people management skills
• Ability to think strategically and execute tactically
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, strong presentation skills, and demonstrated ability to manage by influence and problem solve in a highly matrixed organization
• Prior success with research in a hands-on, highly collaborative growth environment, the ability to work effectively both independently and as part of multi-disciplinary team in a fast-paced environment
• Experience working in cultures where courage, commitment and excellence are the backbone of the leadership profile