Senior Director, External Innovation

Eisai•Boston, MA

55d

About The Position

At Eisai, satisfying unmet medical needs and increasing the benefits healthcare provides to patients, their families, and caregivers is Eisai’s human health care (hhc) mission. We’re a growing pharmaceutical company that is breaking through in neurology and oncology, with a strong emphasis on research and development. Our history includes the development of many innovative medicines, notably the discovery of the world's most widely-used treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. As we continue to expand, we are seeking highly-motivated individuals who want to work in a fast-paced environment and make a difference. If this is your profile, we want to hear from you. General Summary: Eisai has been dedicated for decades to the pursuit of novel therapeutics to improve the lives of people suffering from dementia and their families. Recognizing the potential for human genetics, data sciences and precision chemistry to disrupt the drug discovery paradigm, Eisai launched the Eisai Center for Genetics Guided Dementia Discovery (G2D2) in 2019 to accelerate the discovery of innovative therapeutics. G2D2 is a unique drug discovery organization driven by a diverse group of passionate, dedicated and collaborative scientists committed to one goal: delivering breakthroughs for patients and their families. All Eisai employees, as part of the company’s human health care (hhc) mission, spend at least 1% of their working time with patients and families to ensure that the innovation we drive is based on an understanding of their real needs. A historical strength of G2D2, driven by insights from human genetics, is immunodementia: targeting immune-related targets for dementia. Expanding from this strength to additional themes in the biology of neurodegenerative disorders, we focus not only on how human genetics and other human biology data may identify and validate therapeutic targets with increased likelihood of success in clinical trials, but also how this data guides selection of the best approaches to design new therapeutics and deliver them to the right patient at the right time. Recognizing the obvious alignment between human genetics and nucleic acid modalities, our precision chemistry strategy is to validate human biology hypotheses by utilizing our unique RNA-targeting therapeutic platform. G2D2’s expertise in harnessing molecular complexity (stereochemistry and topology) to successfully discover and develop natural product based therapeutics has been applied to create an evolving unique nucleic acid therapeutic platform that is being employed globally in multiple clinical and preclinical programs at Eisai. G2D2’s cutting-edge 50,000-square-foot facility is strategically located in Cambridge, MA, to accelerate collaborations with leading research institutes in this world-class biotech hub. Our facility is designed around an open-lab concept, enabling scientists with multi-disciplinary backgrounds to work together in a single integrated lab space. Our labs include state-of-the-art capabilities that support the variety of disciplines located at the site, including medicinal and process chemistry, invitro and in-vivo biology, microscopy, DMPK, drug safety, chemical and structural biology, automation and screening, and more. G2D2 is home to Eisai’s global capabilities in neurology discovery data science as well as other global Eisai functions, including global health, DMPK, Safety, and IP, thus providing a rich environment for cross-functional interaction. Our office is designed to foster an atmosphere of mission-driven and collaborative science, using new collaboration tools and technologies, and is being optimized to support a hybrid work environment. At Eisai, we highly value both internal and external collaboration and pursue flexible research models with a range of external scientific partners to accelerate delivery of innovative medicines. To this end, the G2D2 facility includes the Eisai Innovation Center Biolabs, which provides space and infrastructure to start-up/spin-out companies conducting high-risk but potentially transformative research that can impact the discovery of breakthrough neuroscience therapeutics. More information about G2D2 is provided here at Eisai Inc. to Launch Center for Genetics Guided Dementia Discovery in Cambridge, Massachusetts - Jun 12, 2018 and here at Genetics Guided Dementia Discovery (G2D2) | Eisai US and about Eisai's Neurology strategy and pipeline are provided here Latest Major R&D Pipeline | Research and Development (R&D) | Eisai Co., Ltd. The Senior Director, Head of US External Innovation, will provide oversight and leadership of all of the Eisai R&D external discovery-focused collaborative relationships and some clinical collaborative relationships involving US partners. This includes relationships with partners at academic institutions, global consortia, other life sciences companies, and community institutions near Eisai’s sites in Cambridge, MA and Nutley, NJ. The person in this role will have the opportunity to identify promising potential collaborative partners and to connect those partners with Eisai colleagues to explore opportunities of mutual interest. In addition, this person will lead and manage a variety of high-priority ongoing scientific collaborations, including a multi-project industry-academia collaboration, to ensure their impact on Eisai’s portfolio. The role holder will serve as a key member of the G2D2 leadership team, contributing to all aspects of overall site strategy and culture, project selection and prioritization, and resource allocation While this role is situated within the G2D2 organization, this person will also work closely with Global functions including Collaboration & Incubation Japan, Academia & Industry Alliance Japan and UK, Business Development, Discovery, Translational, and Clinical teams. Importantly, this person will act as US Regional External Innovation Lead on the Global External Innovation Task Force team, which unifies Eisai R&D’s external strategy, alliance management and scouting activities across the Global Discovery R&D sites In addition to traditional research-based partnerships, this person will build and lead relationships with the community near Cambridge, MA. Responsibilities include identifying and organizing opportunities for Eisai employees to interact directly with patients and their families, particularly in underserved local communities impacted by dementia, as part of Eisai’s human health care (hhc) mission. These efforts are critical to ensuring that Eisai employees develop therapeutic and other solutions based on an accurate understanding of peoples’ true needs. This role necessitates expert knowledge of relationship management, project management and resource management as pertains to drug discovery. In addition, experience successfully leading external alliances (including industry-academic collaborations) and business development in a drug discovery setting is essential. Strong experience in guiding resource allocation and prioritization is required. Excellent interpersonal and communication are critical for this role. As this role manages 3 members in 3 different locations, successfully leading and mentoring teams is also a prerequisite. The role will also involve significant interaction with colleagues and counterparts in the UK and Japan, so experience In addition to traditional research-based partnerships, this person will build and lead relationships with the community near Cambridge, MA. Responsibilities include identifying and organizing opportunities for Eisai employees to interact directly with patients and their families, particularly in underserved local communities impacted by dementia, as part of Eisai’s human health care (hhc) mission. These efforts are critical to ensuring that Eisai employees develop therapeutic and other solutions based on an accurate understanding of peoples’ true needs.

Requirements

PhD in a scientific discipline related to drug discovery
10+ years of experience in a drug discovery setting
Expertise and experience in business development/external scientific research/collaboration management, including negotiating and executing external research agreements in drug discovery setting.
Expertise and experience of establishing and reducing to practice project/program management systems in drug discovery. Previous "hands on" experience of drug discovery in addition to project management preferred.
Working knowledge of all drug discovery components and functions. Able to interact effectively with multiple scientific stakeholders (eg, biology, chemistry, data sciences, screening, DMPK, safety) and business stakeholders (eg, legal, compliance, technology transfer) to drive drug discovery programs.
Exceptional communication, negotiation and organizational skills.
Able to effectively supervise direct reports.
Able to accurately reflect an excellent external image of Eisai science.

Responsibilities

Develop external research strategy
Identify and execute external opportunities aligned with the scientific mission of Eisai’s R&D strategic goals. Explore novel and entrepreneurial collaborative models relevant to G2D2 & other research sites’ business and strategy:
Implement systems for effective operational management of external agreements and partnerships.
In partnership with all relevant internal and external stakeholders, oversee negotiation and execution of external agreements.
Participate as US Regional Lead in the global External Innovation task force:
Work with the team to shape the Global External Innovation strategy
Participate in the review and evaluation of new Discovery external innovation opportunities.
Effective reporting of collaboration outcomes to R&D stakeholders.
Create opportunities for G2D2 employees to make meaningful hhc connections:
Identify and partner with community organizations representing patients and their families.
Organize opportunities for hhc interactions.
Facilitate post-interaction innovation sessions and impact.
Serve on G2D2 organization leadership team:
Together with leaders of all scientific functions, set the strategic, organizational and operational priorities of G2D2.
Liaise with project management, finance, operations and other related functions within the broader Eisai organization. Work in close concert with NBG project management and planning functions to ensure strong alignment of organization with overall end-to-end NBG strategy.

Benefits

Employees are eligible to participate in Company employee benefit programs. For additional information on Company employee benefits programs, visit https://careers.eisai.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.
Certain other benefits may be available for this position, please discuss any questions with your recruiter.

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