Vice President, Clinical Development; Pain

Who We Are:

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) is a neuroscience-focused biopharmaceutical company dedicated to drug discovery, clinical development, and commercialization of life-changing therapeutics for patients in need. We are looking for great people who thrive in a respectful, collaborative, inclusive, and productive culture to join the Xenon team.

We are advancing an exciting product pipeline to address indications with high unmet medical need, including epilepsy, depression and pain. Our Phase 3 azetukalner program represents the most advanced, clinically validated potassium channel modulator in late-stage clinical development for multiple indications. In March 2026, we announced positive topline data from our Phase 3 X-TOLE2 study of azetukalner in focal onset seizures (FOS), and we submitted a New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration in the third quarter of 2026.

Our Phase 3 epilepsy program also includes a second FOS study, X-TOLE3, which would support regulatory submissions outside the U.S., and the X-ACKT study in primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures, which would support regulatory submissions for an additional epilepsy indication. We also have multiple Phase 3 azetukalner clinical trials underway in major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar depression (BPD), based on topline data from our Phase 2 X-NOVA clinical trial.

In addition, we are proud of our strong heritage in human genetics, deep understanding of ion channel biology, and expertise in novel chemistries to enable potent, selective ion channel targeting. We continue to advance an early-stage pipeline of novel therapeutic candidates, including Phase 1 studies for XEN
1701 and XEN
1720 (targeting Nav
1.7) and XEN
1120 (targeting Kv7), which are being developed for pain. Backed by a strong balance sheet to support our growth plans, we continue to build a fully integrated, premier neuroscience company with strong discovery, clinical development, corporate, and commercial operations.

We are seeking a Vice President, Clinical Development (Pain) to join our team. The Vice President, Clinical Development for Pain will lead all aspects of the development of the company’s pain program’s, including the current Phase 2 and future Phase 3 programs across both the Kv7 agonist and Nav 1.7 inhibitor programs. The Vice President, Clinical Development will be responsible for therapeutic development expertise in pain and will establish and maintain relationships with key internal stakeholders across the organization, including, but not limited to Biostatistics, Data management, Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety, Trial Operations, Medical Writing, Regulatory, Quality, Medical Affairs and Commercial and key external stakeholders, including Clinical Research Organizations (CROs), key opinion leaders (KOLs), and Health Authorities.

This position reports to the Senior Vice President, Clinical Development and will have flexibility to be based out of Boston, MA or remote locations. Boston based candidates will require a minimum of two onsite days per week.

• Develop and propose the clinical development strategy in all pain development programs in compliance with global regulatory standards and in collaboration with other key functional areas, external vendors, and advisors
• Collaborate with Program Management to run efficient and productive drug development program teams across all pain drug development programs
• Provide scientific and drug development expertise to the cross-functional development team through due diligence of scientific literature and indication knowledge
• Maintain a high degree of awareness of external research and regulatory environments and track emerging study data to ensure the appropriateness of clinical development plans
• Identify and build relationships with KOLs to promote scientific discussions in accordance with overall KOL engagement strategies and plans
• Assemble expert panels and take the lead in management and hosting advisory boards, and other scientific consultant meetings to advise on clinical development[A1]
• In collaboration with Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance, establish and manage DSMBs as required
• In collaboration with Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance, oversee the analysis of any potential safety events within a given study and across studies
• Participate in the review and interpretation of clinical trial data and provide insight into the clinical relevance of trial results
• Provide…