Director, Cancer Vaccines Technologies

AstraZeneca • Waltham, MA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Are you ready to lead the charge in transforming cancer treatment? As the Director, Cancer Vaccines Technologies in Early Vaccines and Immune Therapies. Here you will be responsible for leading efforts to develop and deliver a portfolio of the new modalities to train the immune system to recognize and eliminate malignant cells. The Director will build on previous experience in cancer vaccines to exploit various vaccine platforms to drive long-lived, robust immune responses to prevent, treat, and drive long-lived surveillance of tumors. Building on the current state of the field, the Director will be tasked with developing preclinical strategy, guiding antigen discovery, supporting vaccine design, and developing combinatorial approaches to amplify clinical impact. The candidate will lead work across cross-functional teams to build programs. The director will be responsible for driving collaboration and influencing internal stakeholders. In addition, the Director will develop and build a cutting-edge portfolio of intellectual property— guiding a team that fosters high-performance and innovation; building capabilities across immunology, oncology, and translational sciences; and establishing clear operating mechanisms to accelerate decision-making and delivery Accountabilities - Develop a preclinical pipeline for the design, testing, and delivery of cancer vaccine programs - Implement a strategy to explore multiple vaccine modalities to train immunity to eliminate tumors - Create an approach to evaluate combinatorial modalities to maximize control, clearance, and surveillance - Develop a strategy to drive target discovery and evaluation - Work with cross-disciplinary teams to guide iterative antigen design and preclinical evaluation - Establish strategic relationships across the organization and functions - Build animal models for rapid evaluation of emerging modalities - Support the development of a regulatory strategy to translate programs to clinic - Create and foster effective relationships with senior and executive stakeholders in Research, Bioprocess Development, Clinical and Translational Medicine and Global Project Teams to ensure alignment across functions - Pioneer AI based strategies to accelerate the pace of innovation at all levels of research - Collaborate and guide the evaluation of novel business development opportunities - Communicate results internally and externally, as well as their associated risks, uncertainties and limitations - Define the training standards for junior colleagues in line with best practices and principles

Requirements

• PhD or equivalent in immunology, oncology, molecular biology, biochemistry or a related discipline with 10+ years industry experience
• Proven experience developing novel immunological approaches to deploy immunity to fight tumors
• Proven experience with immune profiling, tumor modeling, systems biology, and/or immune oncology
• Experience working in a cross-functional team to maximize expertise and accelerate success
• Experience developing and implementing novel methods to support vaccine development
• Experience supporting or leading interdisciplinary vaccine discovery or development programs
• Proven experience leading and managing junior colleagues
• Proven experience developing and controlling budgets
• Excellent written and verbal communication, business analysis, and consultancy skills

Nice To Haves

• PhD or MD degree in immune-oncology
• Comfortable working with and leading lab and computational scientists across disciplines
• Familiarity with animal tumor models
• Proven track record of publishing relevant results and tools in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and other scientific proceedings
• Experience in life sciences and healthcare
• Experience in novel methods development and application
• Experience in a complex global organization

Responsibilities

• Develop a preclinical pipeline for the design, testing, and delivery of cancer vaccine programs
• Implement a strategy to explore multiple vaccine modalities to train immunity to eliminate tumors
• Create an approach to evaluate combinatorial modalities to maximize control, clearance, and surveillance
• Develop a strategy to drive target discovery and evaluation
• Work with cross-disciplinary teams to guide iterative antigen design and preclinical evaluation
• Establish strategic relationships across the organization and functions
• Build animal models for rapid evaluation of emerging modalities
• Support the development of a regulatory strategy to translate programs to clinic
• Create and foster effective relationships with senior and executive stakeholders in Research, Bioprocess Development, Clinical and Translational Medicine and Global Project Teams to ensure alignment across functions
• Pioneer AI based strategies to accelerate the pace of innovation at all levels of research
• Collaborate and guide the evaluation of novel business development opportunities
• Communicate results internally and externally, as well as their associated risks, uncertainties and limitations
• Define the training standards for junior colleagues in line with best practices and principles

Benefits

• short-term incentive bonus opportunity
• eligibility to participate in our equity-based long-term incentive program (salaried roles)
• to receive a retirement contribution (hourly roles)
• commission payment eligibility (sales roles)
• qualified retirement program [401(k) plan]
• paid vacation and holidays
• paid leaves
• health benefits including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees