Director of Translational Biology

Position Description

Juvena Therapeutics is seeking a talented scientific strategist and experienced people leader to drive early development of lead candidates emerging from Juvena’s unique stem cell secretome-based platform. This individual will build a strong network across the organization within a very dynamic, fast-paced environment.

We are searching for an individual who is excited to work as a leader in a small, dedicated team of scientists focused on the discovery, preclinical validation, and clinical translation of novel biologics for chronic and rare degenerative diseases across multiple therapeutic areas, with a current focus broadly on metabolic and rare diseases, such as pulmonary, hepatic, and obesity- related diseases. As a member of Juvena’s leadership team, you will play a key role in developing, shaping, and implementing the overall strategy at Juvena. The candidate will work closely with the CSO and other leaders, immersed in scientific and operational elements of the early pipeline programs.

You would oversee the teams running the MoA evaluation studies, and validation efforts at Juvena, particularly in pre-clinical validation studies. The Director of Translational Biology will work closely with department heads across data science, discovery, pharmacology, and protein science teams to expand Juvena’s pipeline for unraveling secretome biology to develop novel disease-modifying biologics. The Director of Translational Biology will work collaboratively to establish a robust preclinical biologics pipeline for multiple indications, driving hit-to-lead selection, indication selection, and development of pre-IND data packages.
Reporting to the CSO, the Director of Translational Biology will be an integral member of the scientific leadership team and will be involved in all Juvena’s programs plus be involved in establishing external R&D partnerships with academic institutions and technology partners. The Director of Translational Biology will support grant applications, business development presentations, and manuscript preparations. The candidate should have industry experience in a startup drug discovery and development setting, expertise in protein signaling and regenerative biology, and have managed or been involved in high throughput screening, lead and indication selection, and IND-enabling studies for biologics.

Company Summary

Juvena Therapeutics, Inc. is a regenerative medicine biotechnology startup inviting applicants for Director of Translational Biology to assist in managing our drug discovery platform and preclinical development programs. Candidates should be excited to join a company focused on the discovery and validation of novel disease-modifying biologics that promote tissue regeneration by inducing tissue-specific rejuvenating phenotypes. We are discovering and developing various biologics that can promote disease-modifying effects such as increased stem cell activity, reduced chronic or localized inflammation, reduced fibrosis, improved differentiation, or increased mitochondrial function and metabolism. We are seeking experts in biologics, protein signaling, stem cells, proteomics, fibrotic diseases across tissue types, including pulmonary and hepatic, and metabolic-related diseases. The director of translational biology will have significant experience in drug screening, target validation and lead selection, and be problem solving and solution oriented with an ability to troubleshoot and help guide researchers in experimental design and planning.

The Director of Translational Biology will work closely with the CSO and senior management to guide and be hands-on in the discovery program projects that are core to Juvena’s mission, strategy and corporate objectives. This role serves as a bridge spanning from the corporate strategy to the lab bench. They will lead and mentor their department on achieving research excellence while driving project objectives, balancing resource planning, identifying and proactively seeking creative solutions to challenges, and providing key status updates and recommendations to senior leadership.

The position is full-time starting as early as possible. This is the perfect opportunity for someone interested in the exciting and fast-paced environment of a growing biotech startup company and looking to make a significant difference in improving human healthspan.

Major Responsibilities

• The candidate will drive, along with the project leaders and team, building the TPP, project 2-pagers, and project work plans for drug candidates across different therapeutic areas with a key focus on MOA as the foundation for go/no go decisions for lead selection to candidate nomination
• Interact with the in vivo pharmacology team to support target validation and efficacy assessment of potential developmental candidates. Support the work plan creation for in-house and outsourced pharmacology activities, and the analysis and presentation of the resulting data.
• Play an active role in ensuring the work plans are implemented and be able to identify and communicate project risks to various stakeholders (path from lead selection, target validation, lead optimization, animal model selection, to candidate nomination)
• Facilitate cross-team communication and collaboration in support of advancing assets through the pipeline from hit to lead and optimized drug candidate nomination
• Identify, source, and help recruit and manage preclinical and clinical KOLs and consultants to support Juvena’s scientific needs for therapeutic areas of interest
• Communicate scientific data internally and externally, supporting partnership and investor diligence and the creation and maintenance of data rooms, authoring/reviewing study reports, contributing to high impact scientific manuscripts, supporting grant applications
• Broad indication area exposure to guide in vivo model selection and POC data generation
• Strategic and individual contributor role with scope to transition to direct line management based on expertise
• Present regularly at group, company, and external meetings/conferences
• Contribute to a dynamic and exciting culture that embraces teamwork and innovation
• Keep current with preclinical and clinical advances in the company’s therapeutic interest areas

Position Requirements and Experience

• PhD with 10+ years of industry experience in drug discovery and development setting
• Demonstrated ability to advance programs from discovery through lead identification and IND with biologics such as fusion proteins, bispecifics, antibody or antibody drug conjugate molecules, preferably in the regenerative medicine space, and metabolic and fibrotic disease areas
• Deep understanding of bioinformatics and machine learning applications for drug discovery, target identification and validation, lead selection, lead optimization, and in vivo pharmacology and strong track record of driving research stage programs into the clinic
• Established track record of leadership in translational and preclinical development projects
• Established record of leading cross-functional development teams with both internal and external partners in multiple IND-enabling areas including protein engineering, antibody discovery, bioanalytical assay development, safety/toxicology and pharmacology
• Experience interfacing with multiple key stakeholders in a dynamic environment to enable real-time prioritization
• Clear, pithy communication skills
• Prior success with research in a hands-on, highly collaborative growth environment
• The ability to work effectively both independently and as part of multidisciplinary team in a fast-paced environment
• Organized, detail-oriented, and a self-starter who continuously seeks innovative solutions
• Intellectually curious; eager to brainstorm and test potential answers to tough technical questions

Preferred Qualifications

• Successful track record of target ID, validation, lead candidate selection, and optimization towards target product profiles through to developmental candidate designation
• Successful track record of indication selection and prioritization analyses
• Experience working cross-functionally with protein engineering and CMC
• Experience with pre-commercial process and analytical development

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive salary, Medical/Dental/Vision, paid holidays, and generous stock options
• The salary for the Director level is: $190,000 – $220,000

Apply for the Position

Apply to this Job through the following means:

• LinkedIn job posting
• Website job posting

Please email your CV and Cover Letter to apply@juvenatherapeutics.com with the title of the position as the subject line.