Head of Translational Medicine

The Role:

Moderna is seeking an enterprise-minded Head of Translational Medicine to lead and integrate translational medicine, translational research, and clinical pharmacology & pharmacometrics into a unified, high-impact organization. This senior leadership role is at the core of Moderna’s ability to translate its mRNA platform into transformative medicines.

Enterprise & Portfolio Strategy

• Define and lead an integrated, end-to-end translational strategy across Translational Medicine, Translational Research, and Clinical Pharmacology/Pharmacometrics, spanning discovery through lifecycle management.
• Establish a unified framework connecting biological insights, biomarkers, and quantitative pharmacology to enable rapid, data-driven decision‑making.
• Ensure alignment of translational strategies with overall program and portfolio objectives, including development pathways, target product profiles, and regulatory strategies.
• Lead translational input into governance, ensuring rigorous, data-driven go/no‑go decisions across the pipeline.

Organizational & Scientific Leadership

• Lead and unify a high-performing, multidisciplinary translational organization, connecting scientific, clinical, and quantitative capabilities into a cohesive, highly integrated model.
• Serve as a senior leader and thought partner across Research and Development, influencing strategy, prioritization, and execution.
• Represent Moderna’s translational strategy externally, engaging regulators, scientific leaders, and partners to shape scientific direction and advance best‑in‑class approaches across the portfolio.

Translational Medicine

• Execute early clinical translational plans, including biomarker implementation, endpoint operationalization, and data interpretation to enable clear proof‑of‑concept decisions.
• Partner with clinical development to translate scientific hypotheses into actionable clinical strategies and high-quality study execution.
• Define and validate novel endpoints and patient stratification approaches to enable early decision-making and differentiation.
• Serve as a senior clinical leader in internal and external settings, including study teams, governance, and interactions with investigators and key opinion leaders.

Translational Research

• Build and advance differentiated translational capabilities (e.g., molecular assays, sequencing, immune monitoring, CDx) to enable patient selection and mechanistic insight.
• Oversee generation and delivery of stage‑appropriate translational data packages to support IND readiness and early clinical development.
• Drive forward and reverse translation, ensuring clinical insights inform discovery, platform innovation, and next‑generation therapeutics.
• Lead development of patient identification, pharmacodynamic, and disease monitoring strategies to support clinical entry and advancement.

Clinical Pharmacology & Pharmacometrics

• Drive quantitative integration of PK/PD, exposure‑response, and modeling & simulation into program‑level decision‑making and trial design.
• Lead pharmacology contributions to regulatory strategy, including authorship and defense of clinical pharmacology components in health authority interactions.
• Ensure innovative application of pharmacometrics to dose prediction, first‑in‑human studies, and lifecycle optimization across the pipeline.
• Represent clinical pharmacology in governance and partner cross‑functionally to inform critical dose and development decisions across programs.

• Advanced degree (PhD, MD, Pharm
  
  D, or equivalent) in a relevant scientific discipline.
• 15+ years of experience across translational science, clinical pharmacology, and/or drug development, with at least 10 years in a leadership role.
• Deep expertise spanning translational medicine, biomarker strategy, experimental medicine, and quantitative pharmacology.
• Demonstrated ability to develop scientific hypotheses on human disease and translate this between the clinic and the laboratory.
• Demonstrated success influencing development strategy, including dose selection, study design, and regulatory interactions.
• Strong understanding of the end‑to‑end drug development process, from discovery…