Sr. Director, New Product Planning, Autoimmune

ModernaTX • Cambridge, MA

7d • Hybrid

About The Position

Moderna is seeking a Senior Director of New Product Planning to shape strategy for its autoimmune programs and translate the company’s 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 influence treatment decisions. It translates opportunities into target product profiles, indication and development choices, and portfolio prioritization recommendations.

Working with program leaders and colleagues across Research, Development, Commercial, and Manufacturing, the Senior Director leads strategic discussions from discovery through clinical proof of concept. The role requires a deep understanding of autoimmune disease biology and the ability to independently evaluate mechanisms and clinical evidence. It applies systems thinking across scientific evidence, patient populations, treatment decisions, regulatory requirements, and market and competitive dynamics, and provides an independent perspective under uncertainty. The Senior Director presents recommendations to senior leaders about which opportunities to advance and where to focus investment and resources before development and commercial paths are fully defined.

The position develops scientific, disease, market, and competitive understanding; leads disciplined product and development strategy with program teams; defines evidence needed to reduce risk and justify further investment; and develops recommendations for prioritization across the autoimmune portfolio. It also develops and refines target product profiles, including efficacy, safety, durability, dosing, and administration requirements needed to differentiate programs and change treatment choices as standards of care evolve.

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 the 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 the 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 the 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, mechanisms of action, and 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 influence of clinical evidence, physician judgment, patient preferences, and access.
• Evaluate approved therapies, emerging mechanisms, and competitor programs, including evidence, development timelines, strengths, and limitations.
• Develop scenarios for how standards of care and treatment pathways may evolve, including treatment sequencing and future differentiation requirements.
• Use discussions with KOLs, treating physicians, and internal and external experts, together with scientific and market evidence, to test assumptions and resolve questions affecting development choices.
• Lead disciplined strategy processes with program teams by framing choices, identifying needed information, structuring debate around alternatives and tradeoffs, and making the rationale for decisions explicit.
• Apply a biotech investment mindset to identify efficient paths to reduce key risks and reach proof of concept; define evidence needed to justify further investment and adapt recommendations as data emerge.
• Shape strategy and prioritization across the autoimmune portfolio and present senior leaders with recommendations on opportunities, investment, and resource allocation, including alternatives, tradeoffs, and evidence gaps.
• Integrate scientific, disease, market, and competitive insights to define where programs can succeed and prioritize indications, patient populations, treatment settings, and lines of therapy.
• Develop and refine target product profiles with program teams, connecting mechanisms of action and disease biology to defined patient populations, treatment settings, and clinical benefit.
• Define efficacy, safety, durability, dosing, and administration requirements, and the 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.
• Generous 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.
• May be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, other incentive compensation, or an equity award, subject to plan eligibility criteria and individual performance.

What This Job Offers

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