Senior Statistician, Research & Development

Loyal

13d • $107,000 - $164,000

About The Position

Loyal is a clinical-stage veterinary medicine company focused on developing longevity drugs for dogs. The company is seeking a Senior Statistician to join the Stats & Data Science team. This role will involve independent ownership of the preclinical statistical portfolio, including study design, power analysis, aging biomarker analytics, efficacy, target discovery, and dose and mortality modeling. The work will directly support drug development decisions and the company's path to FDA CVM approval. The ideal candidate will think critically about data, explore open-ended questions, and contribute to areas like Omics using differential abundance and pathway-level analysis. This is a senior role requiring independent leadership of preclinical statistical strategy and analysis, serving as the statistical point of contact for R&D programs. The position involves close collaboration with R&D scientists and the Stats & Data Science team, with opportunities to support clinical biostatistics in the future. The role reports to the Statistics Manager, Research.

Requirements

• MS or PhD in Statistics, Biostatistics, Pharmacometrics, or a related field
• 8+ years of relevant statistical experience, with a demonstrated track record operating independently on a preclinical or translational statistics portfolio
• Hands-on population PK/PD modeling experience (WinNonLin, NONMEM, nlmixr2, Monolix, or equivalent) – nonlinear mixed-effects models, exposure-response analysis
• Demonstrated experience in experimental design, survival/longitudinal analysis, and post-hoc statistical analysis
• A track record of exploratory, hypothesis-generating analysis – not just confirmatory statistics – with comfort sitting with ambiguous data and pushing back on poorly defined endpoints or targets
• Strong attention to detail and ability to adhere to regulatory requirements
• Demonstrated ability to learn new statistical methods, tools, or scientific domains independently, without needing structured training
• Strong writing and communication skills, including to non-statistical audiences
• Fluency in R and/or Python; experience with Rmarkdown/Quarto or Jupyter for reproducible reporting
• Fluency in AI tools (e.g., Claude code)

Nice To Haves

• prior work in veterinary, animal health, or translational aging research
• experience with data validation pipelines
• exposure to regulatory-facing statistical writing (FDA/CVM/EMA)
• interest in growing into clinical trial biostatistics over time

Responsibilities

• Independently leading statistical design and analysis for preclinical studies: dose-response and mortality projection modeling, aging biomarker studies, enrollment/attrition and survival modeling
• Building and applying population PK/PD models (nonlinear mixed-effects, exposure-response relationships) to support internal dose-justification and formulation decisions, extending the team's existing bioequivalence/crossover work
• Conducting exploratory analyses to support endpoint development and target/pathway discovery – thinking critically about what the data can and can't support, not just executing pre-specified analysis plans
• Serving as statistical point of contact for preclinical studies and cross-functional R&D projects, coordinating directly with scientists and program leads
• Applying survival analysis, longitudinal/mixed-effects modeling, and simulation-based power/sample size methods across preclinical programs
• Creating and contributing to internal documentation and reproducible reporting (Quarto/Rmarkdown) for preclinical analyses
• Supporting clinical biostatistics: assisting with SAP development, sitting in on regulatory strategy discussions, and drafting analysis sections for review by the Statistics Manager
• Cross-functional relationships – partnering with Statisticians, Clinicians, and Scientists to support CVM/FDA-ready data strategies and analysis outputs.
• Mentoring junior statisticians on the team
• Peer-reviewing methodology from external consultants, manuscripts, and cross-functional deliverables for statistical rigor
• Identifying opportunities to improve statistical workflows, tooling, or methods across the preclinical portfolio

Benefits

• Full-coverage health insurance – medical, dental and vision – for you and your dependents
• $1,000 home office equipment stipend
• $1,200/year learning budget for books, courses, etc.
• $250/month wellness budget for gym, cleaners, spa, food, etc.
• All 3-day weekends are turned into 4-day weekends
• Unlimited vacation and paid holidays
• Paw-ternity leave – adopt a dog and get a day off with your new family member
• Competitive salary
• Company equity options grant for new hires

What This Job Offers

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