Principal Scientist, Lab Head, Metabolism Drug Discovery

Roche•South San Francisco, CA

About The Position

A healthier future. It’s what drives us to innovate. To continuously advance science and ensure everyone has access to the healthcare they need today and for generations to come. Creating a world where we all have more time with the people we love. That’s what makes us Genentech. The Opportunity Are you passionate about revolutionizing treatments for obesity, cardiovascular, renal and metabolic disorders? Do you want to help build and shape a growing metabolism biology group at Genentech? Are you driven by connecting human biology to therapeutic development? The Metabolism Drug Discovery Unit (M-DDU) within Genentech Research and Early Development (gRED) is seeking a Principal Scientist, Lab Head to lead our groundbreaking efforts in metabolic disease research. This is a key role responsible for making significant contributions to the early stage cardiometabolic pipeline, including obesity and its comorbidities. The successful candidate will drive efforts spanning early target identification through clinical candidate advancement, while expanding disease-area biology. The Principal Scientist will be able to work alongside world-class scientists, computational biologists, therapeutic engineers and clinicians across the Genentech/ Roche organization. This position reports to a Group Leader / Distinguished Scientist in the M-DDU and offers the opportunity to build a lab team focused on key biological questions, drug pharmacology, and clinical translatability. The incumbent will implement and shape the target and drug discovery portfolio in cardiovascular, renal and metabolic disease.

Requirements

PhD, MD, or MD/PhD in Metabolism, Cardiovascular Research, Neuroscience, Endocrinology, Physiology or a related discipline.
Minimum 4 years post-Ph.D. of productive postdoctoral training and/or industry experience.
Proven track record of driving innovative research in metabolic disease.
Strong hands on lab experience in the latest state-of-the-art techniques applied to metabolic disease research.
Demonstrated impact through high-quality publications, patents, and/or successful program advancement.
Expertise spanning basic and translational research focusing on metabolic disease including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, renal disease, heart disease, MASH, and related indications.
Exceptional leadership potential and a track record of working with multidisciplinary teams, excellent written and verbal communication skills, and a collaborative spirit.

Nice To Haves

Experience in human genetics
Application of AI/ML based methodologies to biological research
Hands-on experience with in vivo CVRM models and techniques

Responsibilities

Lab focused and biology driven, building and managing a team (approximately 2 direct reports) of expert experimental biologists focused on metabolic disease biology, target and drug discovery.
The incumbent will conduct experimental biology, with their team, in support of disease biology, target discovery and validation.
Apply expertise of biological pathways of metabolism, appetite regulation, energy homeostasis, nutrient flux and their dysregulation in disease. The incumbent is able to utilize this knowledge to design, run and interpret experiments at the molecular, cellular and organismal level.
Establish and leverage experimental models of disease, including models applicable to genetic or drug screening, to more complex models that capture key aspects of human metabolic disease.
Serve as biology lead in preclinical metabolism drug discovery programs, guiding the evaluation and development of novel therapeutics for cardiometabolic diseases including obesity and its comorbidities.
Drive biology strategy through a practical understanding of drug discovery optimization and screening cascades, and a hands-on understanding of key biology experiments to conduct in support of go/no-go decisions.
Partner closely with internal teams across departments and disciplines, including Drug Development, Translational Medicine, Computational and Clinical Science , to drive innovative therapeutic strategies, formulate new therapeutic hypotheses and advance transformative medicines.
Communicate findings to internal meetings and governance boards, author documents including IND reports, and publish impactful scientific discoveries.
Manage day-to-day lab operations, ensure best practices and compliance for ELN and documentation, and oversee external collaborations or outsourcing as needed.
Foster a collaborative, high-performance team culture, mentor and motivate team, and provide career development for scientists and research associates.