Sr. Director, Assays & Platform Technologies

Cell Signaling Technology•Danvers, MA

About The Position

The Sr. Director, Assays & Platform Technologies defines and executes the company’s immunoassay platform strategy and supports commercial and business development partnerships. Working across research, product development, and commercial execution, the role oversees portfolio leadership, guides cross-functional collaboration, and leads four immunoassay platform sub-teams from concept through commercial success. The role sets strategic and operational objectives, work plans, budgets, and portfolio health metrics across the sub-teams. It develops platform-specific product development roadmaps for traditional and emerging immunoassays, single-cell analysis, spatial biology, and mass spectrometry-based proteomics; governs the product pipeline; makes recommendations on platform onboarding and resource allocation; and manages resource trade-offs between R&D development and scientific support activities. The Sr. Director maintains deep scientific expertise in priority platform areas and leads product conceptualization and design for biotech, pharmaceutical, and CRO workflows in drug discovery, biomarker development, and clinical or translational research. The role uses customer intelligence to inform platform priorities and represents CST’s scientific and platform leadership through publications, white papers, application notes, conference presentations, and engagement with scientists and key opinion leaders. As the primary R&D interface for the Platform Commercial segment, the role collaborates with commercial, marketing, sales, business development, and field application teams to align platform development with customer needs and business objectives. It contributes to partnership identification, deal objectives, and scientific due diligence; engages key pharma accounts and KOLs; and helps translate bespoke client innovations into catalog products. The role directly manages four platform sub-team leaders, develops talent and succession plans, and holds leaders accountable for milestones and laboratory informatics data integrity. The work environment is an office that is typically quiet with some background noise. The position involves extended periods at a desk and computer, occasional standing and walking, and infrequent lifting of light objects up to 15 pounds. Occasional travel may be required for conferences, partner-site visits, or meetings with external partners.

Requirements

Ph.D. in a relevant life science discipline.
Strong record of peer-reviewed publications.
At least 10 years of related experience.
At least 8 years of direct people management experience.
Expertise in two or more platform areas: immunoassays, single-cell technologies, or spatial biology.
Experience in preclinical R&D, drug discovery, biomarker development, or clinical research applications.
Proven track record leading platform product development from concept through commercial launch.
Experience at the R&D and commercial interface in tools, diagnostics, or biopharma services.
Demonstrated experience incorporating AI-enabled scientific tools into research, translational, or development workflows to improve scientific decision-making.
Ability to innovate applications to drive product development and solve customer needs and problems.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Exceptional organizational skills and ability to manage multiple projects and prioritize efforts.
Effective verbal and written communication skills.
Demonstrated ability to generate novel scientific hypotheses and design complex experiments to test them.

Nice To Haves

Leadership experience in academic institutions and biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry settings.
Ability to build and manage business development partnerships.
Experience with complex solution development.
Pre- and post-sales scientific engagement expertise.

Responsibilities

Define and execute the company’s immunoassay platform strategy and translate company strategy into platform-specific roadmaps.
Set strategic and operational objectives, work plans, budgets, and portfolio health metrics across four platform sub-teams.
Develop innovative products and solutions for established and emerging immunoassay platforms, single-cell analysis, spatial biology, and mass spectrometry-based proteomics.
Govern the product pipeline and make go/no-go recommendations on platform onboarding and resource allocation.
Collaborate with product development groups, including antibody and protein technologies, antibody discovery, application and validation groups, and Custom Solutions.
Manage resourcing trade-offs across sub-teams and between R&D platform development and pre- and post-sales scientific support.
Drive adoption of new assays and platforms in support of pre- and post-sales activities, publishing, and customer engagement, with priority focus on biotech, pharma, and CRO customers.
Conceptualize and design products for customer workflows in drug discovery, biomarker development, and clinical or translational research.
Use customer intelligence from custom engagements to inform platform development priorities and roadmaps.
Develop external scientific publications, white papers, application notes, and conference presentations to establish platform leadership and credibility.
Attend industry conferences to gather intelligence and engage with scientists and key opinion leaders.
Hire and develop scientific expertise within the immunoassay platforms core, particularly for biopharma workflow support.
Serve as the primary R&D interface for the Platform Commercial segment and align platform development with commercial pipelines and customer needs.
Collaborate with Biopharma Marketing, Business Development, and Sales leaders to define business and revenue objectives.
Partner with Field Application Scientists to define technical support capabilities and provide scientific direction for training.
Work with Business Development on partnership identification, deal objectives, and scientific due diligence for platform-adjacent opportunities.
Engage key pharma accounts and KOLs to understand workflow needs, validate platform positioning, and identify unmet needs.
Partner with the Custom Solutions Group to translate bespoke client innovations into broad-market catalog products and support product launch, positioning, and lifecycle management.
Directly manage four platform sub-team leaders, setting expectations, coaching, conducting performance reviews, and ensuring milestone delivery and data integrity.
Build and execute talent and succession strategies, develop individual development plans, and hire for new biopharma workflow and platform expertise.