Vice President, Translational Biology

THE OPPORTUNITY

We are seeking an experienced Vice President, Translational Biology, reporting to the CSO, with a background in Immunology and Clinical Biomarker Science for immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases to join our team.

You will oversee VIR’s Translational Biology department, including leading an established team of translational and clinical biomarker scientists, overseeing clinical biomarker strategy and execution across all stages of development. You will lead a multidisciplinary team of scientists and operational experts, providing strategic direction, mentorship, and support to foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and excellence. You will work closely with Research, Clinical Development, Regulatory Affairs, and Program Teams to ensure seamless integration of translational activities into clinical trial protocols that are needed to address key biological questions about mechanism of action, identify patient populations most likely to benefit, evaluate therapeutic combinations, and generate novel biomarkers of response, and to ensure program execution.

The role requires interaction with a broad range of stakeholders, both internal and external partners including academic research centers, CROs, CDMOs, and scientific and clinical advisory board members. You will also contribute significantly to our research and clinical development efforts as a core member of our research governance committees, and function as a core team member of our CSO Leadership Team and CSO Strategy Team to provide scientific input for translational and clinical biomarker strategy of all our pipelines.

This is an onsite position in our San Francisco, CA office.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Leadership: Provide strategic leadership for the Translational Biology Group and promote a culture of collaboration, innovation, and excellence.
• Strategy: Develop overarching translational strategies across programs to support the pre-clinical and clinical development of infectious disease and immunotherapy product candidates, ensuring alignment with corporate goals.
• Execution: Work closely with cross-functional teams to design and execute biomarker-driven clinical trials. Lead teams in the development and validation of biomarker assays for clinical use, including proficiency testing, analytical validation, and clinical validation. Analyze biomarker data and generate reports to support clinical decision-making. Participate in the preparation of regulatory submissions related to biomarkers for infectious disease and immunotherapy programs.
• Stakeholder and Risk Management: Represent translational biology internally, externally, and with regulatory authorities. Oversee and manage the team who partners with external collaborations such as academic institutions, contract research organizations, and other partners in the field of biomarker discovery and translational biology. Provide updates to senior leadership on the status of biomarker activities/strategies, identify potential risks and challenges related to clinical translational activities, and develop mitigation strategies to ensure successful execution of clinical programs.
• Scientific expertise/innovation: Stay abreast of the latest developments in immunology, translational medicine, and regulatory landscape, incorporating relevant insights into program strategies. Establish new and innovative assays and methods for assessing biomarker discovery to further our understanding of our therapeutics in the clinic.
• Budgeting: Ensure financial resources are effectively allocated and managed to support achievement of the priority objectives for the translational biology group.

WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU BRING

• Ph.D. or equivalent advanced degree in a relevant scientific discipline (immunology background preferred) with 15+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry, with a focus on biomarker science for infectious disease and immunotherapies as for oncology.
• Technical expertise in immunology, biomarker discovery and development in clinical trials, including assay development, validation, and data analysis. Demonstrated experience in leading clinical biomarker development for innovative early clinical development, particularly in immunotherapy.
• Experience in bringing drug candidates from pre-IND through PI/II and, ideally, to BLA/NDA.
• History of building relationships and promoting engagement across all partners, including the senior management, scientific and clinical advisory boards, academic and biopharma partners, and CROs.
• Sound business acumen with a pragmatic, results-oriented leadership style that can translate innovation, creative strategies, and conceptual thinking into plans.
• Prior experience leading large teams and management skills to inspire and develop individuals.
• Strong communication and presentation skills with the ability to generate scientific reports and presentations.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE OFFER

The expected salary range for this position is $290,000 to $340,000. Actual pay will be determined based on experience, qualifications, geographic location, and other job-related factors.

Vir’s compensation and benefits are aligned with the current market and commensurate with the person’s experience and qualifications. All full-time employees receive a package that includes: compensation, bonus and equity as well as many other Vir benefits and perks such as: health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance benefits, non-accrual paid time off, company shut down for holidays, commuter benefits, child care reimbursement, education reimbursement, 401K match and lunch for all onsite employees!