Sr. Director, New Product Planning, Autoimmune

Moderna • Cambridge, MA

8d • $196,700 - $353,400 • Hybrid

About The Position

Moderna is seeking a Senior Director of New Product Planning to shape strategy for its autoimmune programs and help translate its mRNA platform into medicines for patients. The role shapes product and development strategy across the autoimmune portfolio, connecting each program’s mechanism of action with disease biology to identify potential clinical benefit and impact on treatment decisions. It translates opportunities into target product profiles, indication and development choices, and portfolio prioritization recommendations.

The Senior Director works with program leaders and colleagues across Research, Development, Commercial, and Manufacturing, leading strategic discussions from discovery through clinical proof of concept. The role requires independent evaluation of autoimmune mechanisms and clinical evidence, systems-level thinking across science, patient populations, treatment decisions, regulatory requirements, and market and competitive dynamics, and presentation of recommendations to senior leaders on program advancement and investment before development and commercial paths are fully defined.

The position follows Moderna’s 70/30 work model, with 70% in-office collaboration. It is based in a smoke-free, alcohol-free, and drug-free work environment. The listed salary range is $196,700 to $353,400, with potential eligibility for an annual discretionary bonus, other incentive compensation, or an equity award, subject to plan criteria and individual performance.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a scientific, medical, business, or related field.
• At least 10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry, including significant experience in new product planning, research strategy, program leadership, global marketing, portfolio strategy, or a related function.
• Demonstrated experience leading product and portfolio strategy across multiple programs in discovery and early clinical development, including influencing senior decisions on program advancement, investment, and resource allocation.
• Deep understanding of autoimmune disease biology and ability to independently evaluate mechanistic, translational, and clinical evidence.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in autoimmune or immune-mediated diseases, including familiarity with treatment pathways, clinical endpoints, patient segmentation, and the evolving competitive landscape.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to build, challenge, and communicate assumptions.
• Demonstrated ability to use AI-supported evidence workflows to investigate program questions, test competing explanations, evaluate underlying sources, and identify when expert input or additional data is needed.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including ability to present concise recommendations to senior leaders and defend them objectively.
• Ability to influence across functions without direct authority and establish productive working relationships with scientific, clinical, and commercial colleagues.

Responsibilities

• Develop a deep understanding of Moderna’s platform and its application to autoimmune diseases.
• Assess autoimmune disease biology, patient heterogeneity, biomarkers, and how each program’s mechanism of action could affect disease.
• Assess clinical, translational, and biomarker evidence, including diagnosis, disease progression, and clinical endpoints.
• Engage with scientific evidence and external experts to evaluate competing hypotheses and identify unresolved biological questions.
• Understand patient journeys from diagnosis and referral through treatment selection, assessment, switching, and discontinuation, including the people and factors influencing decisions.
• Evaluate approved therapies, emerging mechanisms, and competitor programs, including clinical evidence, timelines, strengths, and limitations.
• Develop scenarios for how standards of care and treatment pathways may evolve, including treatment sequencing and future differentiation requirements.
• Use conversations with KOLs, treating physicians, and other internal and external experts, alongside scientific and market evidence, to test assumptions and resolve questions affecting development choices.
• Lead a disciplined strategy process with program teams, framing choices, identifying needed information, structuring debate around alternatives and tradeoffs, and making decision logic explicit.
• Apply a biotech investment mindset to identify efficient paths to reduce risks and reach proof of concept, define evidence needed for further investment, and adapt recommendations as data emerge.
• Shape strategy and prioritization across the autoimmune portfolio and present recommendations to senior leaders on opportunities, investment, and resource allocation.
• Integrate scientific, disease, market, and competitive insights to define where each program can succeed and prioritize indications, patient populations, treatment settings, and lines of therapy.
• Develop and refine target product profiles that link mechanism of action and disease biology to patient populations, treatment settings, and clinical benefit.
• Define the efficacy, safety, durability, dosing, and administration requirements and supporting evidence needed for differentiation and to change treatment choices as standards of care evolve.

Benefits

• Competitive healthcare and voluntary benefit programs.
• Fitness, mindfulness, and mental health support.
• Family planning benefits, including fertility, adoption, and surrogacy support.
• Paid time off, including vacation, volunteer days, sabbatical, global recharge days, and a discretionary year-end shutdown.
• Savings and investment programs.
• Location-specific perks and extras.
• Potential eligibility for an annual discretionary bonus, other incentive compensation, or equity award, subject to plan eligibility criteria and individual performance.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior