Senior Director, AIRx Discovery Biology Lead

Senior Director, AIRx Discovery Biology Lead Responsibilities / Accountabilities

• Own disease biology and target validation strategy across the AIRx portfolio; ensure mechanistic rationale, differentiation, and clinical line of sight.
• Define translational biomarker strategies for go/no-go decisions and future clinical development.
• Design and provide strategic oversight of CRO-executed in vitro and in vivo biology studies; critically evaluate data packages for quality and decision-readiness.
• Integrate biology data into AI-enabled DMTA cycles with medicinal/computational chemists, DMPK, safety, and structural biology.
• Challenge scientific assumptions to ensure biological integrity and mechanistic depth in program decisions.
• Represent biology at governance forums; contribute to IND-enabling biology packages.
• Stay current with disease biology and the competitive landscape; proactively inform the team.
• Shape and role‑model how biology is practiced in the AIRx operating model.

• PhD in cell biology, molecular biology, pharmacology, or related field.
• 12–15+ years drug discovery experience with strong target validation and disease biology track record.
• Proven IND contributions; experience supporting IND-enabling biology packages.
• Experience designing/managing externalized CRO biology programs; ability to scope, oversee, and interpret study data.
• Ability to connect target biology to clinical hypothesis and translational strategy.
• AI/ML data integration experience; comfortable with large multi-source datasets.
• Experience in at least one therapeutic area in the Takeda Research portfolio.
• Excellent cross‑functional collaboration; effective in lean, fast‑paced teams.