Vice President, Preclinical & Translational Development

This role is based either in the East Coast of the USA (remote) or in our Paddington office in the UK (office based)

Job Description

Vice President, Preclinical & Translational Development

Our Destination

“Computing the future of medicine”

We are integrating the latest advances in data science and artificial intelligence to develop life-transforming RNA interference (RNAi) medicines.

We combine cutting-edge computation and AI with RNAi to make better medicines faster. Our unique approach enables us to differentiate, de-risk, and rapidly deploy our enabling platforms (HepNet™ and GalOmic™) to create novel GalNAc-siRNA therapies, improving upon traditional approaches to drug discovery.

Our rapid and reproducible process has produced a broad therapeutic pipeline of GalOmic™ RNAi therapies targeting novel genes that have demonstrated disease-modifying potential in preclinical disease models. We are advancing our pipeline towards the clinic, with our most advanced asset (ETX-312, for the treatment of MASH) currently undergoing IND-enabling studies, the final stage of preclinical development.

It is an incredibly exciting time for ETX, as we get closer to delivering on our mission of delivering life-transforming medicines to patients and ultimately realising the full potential of our AI-enhanced approach to drug discovery.

Our Journey

Great progress demands great people. We aim to make the impossible, possible with a healthy dose of fun along the way. We prize creative thinkers who like to join the dots and love to recognise those that do. Everyone has potential; here, you will be able to realise it fully.

In joining us, you're not just joining a company, you're taking up an opportunity to pioneer change and to shift the paradigm in biotech. Our dynamic environment and team will empower you to take the initiative, explore new ideas, and drive ground-breaking results. 

Your Adventure

This position offers an exciting opportunity to lead e-therapeutics’ pre-clinical and translational strategy, driving GalNAc-siRNA assets from target validation through IND-enabling studies into first-in-human trials.

Reporting into the Chief Scientific Officer, the Vice-President, Pre-clinical & Translational Development will work closely with cross-functional teams, external partners and scientific and clinical advisers to deliver data-driven milestones on time and within budget.

What you will do

• Portfolio leadership – direct all pre-clinical and non-clinical programmes, setting scientific vision, budgets, resource requirements and timelines across multiple therapeutic areas.
• Target validation & candidate generation – integrate HepNet™ computational insights with laboratory data to validate gene targets, design GalNAc-siRNA drug candidates with our AI tools and chemistry team (GalOmic™ platform) and generate decisive PoC packages.
  
• Translational strategy & TPP ownership – define and maintain Target Product Profiles with input from clinical development, competitive intelligence and key opinion leaders; translate pre-clinical findings into clear go/no-go criteria that guide clinical design, IP and resource allocation.
• CMC & non-clinical toxicology – set strategy and oversee process development, manufacturing scale-up and IND-enabling safety studies; integrate outputs into regulatory submissions.
• Early-phase clinical design – lead the scientific rationale and design parameters for first-in-human/Phase Ib studies, ensuring alignment with GalNAc-siRNA pharmacology, TPP objectives and executive guidance.
• Regulatory contribution – provide scientific content and justification for briefing books, IND/CTA modules and other interactions.
• Budget, timelines & milestones – define scientific milestones that drive operational planning, resource allocation, expenditure tracking and decision points.
• Data interpretation & reporting – review and interpret pre-clinical and emerging clinical data to confirm translational hypotheses and steer next steps.
• Team leadership – establishing a cross-functional collaborative environment, manage project leaders, chemists, pharmacologists and project managers; embed cross-programme learnings to improve speed and cost-efficiency.
• Cross-functional integration – work with Computational Discovery, Clinical Operations, Competitive Intelligence and Scientific and Clinical Advisers to ensure seamless hand-offs from discovery to clinic.
• External engagement – establish and manage relationships with CROs, academic collaborators, consultants and KOLs; represent the company in scientific forums.
• Continuous improvement – champion new methodologies (e.g. AI-driven target selection or in-silico toxicology) and leverage innovative statistical approaches to enhance decision quality and reduce cycle times.

Skills & qualifications

Essential:

• PhD (or equivalent doctorate) in pharmacology, molecular biology, medicinal chemistry or related discipline.
• ≥ 10 years’ leadership in pre-clinical and non-clinical development within biopharma, with a strong track-record in oligonucleotide and GalNAc-siRNA programmes.
• Demonstrated ownership of IND-enabling packages, translational strategy and input to early clinical study design.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary teams and external partners/CROs to time and budget.
• Direct contribution to regulatory submissions (IND/CTA) and health-authority interactions.

Nice to have:

• Practical application of AI or machine-learning tools in target discovery, lead optimisation or toxicology prediction.
• Prior experience in a venture-backed biotech environment.
• Publications or presentations in translational research, oligonucleotide therapeutics or drug-delivery innovation.

Our culture & values

Our success starts & ends with our team – the passionate, curious and collaborative individuals who work here.  All are committed to pushing technology to the limit to make a difference to patients, to R&D and to each other – we call this our PACT.

We’re not looking for people who are exactly like us.  We’re looking for people who care about and value the same guiding principles while bringing different ideas, perspectives & opinions.

Our benefits

If USA based

We invest in your success

• Competitive salary
• Discretionary performance related bonus
• PACT awards (monthly recognition scheme)

We care about you

• Private medical cover with United Healthcare
• Dental plan with Delta Dental
• Vision plan with VSP Vision Care

We help you protect your future

• 2% contribution to 401(k) up to maximum of $6,900/annum with 3% salary enhancement to help you increase your retirement plan contributions
• Life insurance (2 x annual salary up to maximum $400,000)

We unlock your potential

• Personal development time
• Departmental learning and development budget (including attending external training, conferences, etc.)

We make it fun

• Bi-annual social events
• 22 days PTO + 11 US public holidays 

If UK based

We care about you

• Private medical cover with Bupa
• Medicash Health Cash Plan
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Reward Gateway (deals & discounts and wellbeing centre)
• Annual season ticket loan

We help you protect your future

• 10% employer pension contribution (you can also make your own contributions via salary sacrifice)
• Life insurance (4 x annual salary)

We unlock your potential

• Personal development time
• Departmental learning and development budget (including attending external training, conferences, etc.)

We make it fun

• Social and well-being events throughout the year such as a newly created ETX Summer dodgeball team, bouldering, pizza making sessions and we even have a basketball court on our roof terrace!
• 25 days of annual leave + public holidays 

EDI Statement

Our ambition is to have a positive impact on society at a global level by discovering and developing novel therapeutic targets in areas of high unmet need. 

We believe that providing equal opportunities, valuing diversity, and promoting a culture of openness and inclusivity are vital in the journey to realise our ambition. We therefore aim to create an environment where people are free to be themselves regardless of their identity or background.