Associate Director, Analytical Development; Oligonucleotide

Profoundly Improve People’s lives by Revolutionizing the Delivery of RNA Therapeutics

At Avidity Biosciences, we are passionate about the impact of every employee in realizing our vision of improving people’s lives by delivering a new class of RNA therapeutics. Avidity is revolutionizing the field of RNA with its proprietary AOCs, which are designed to combine the specificity of monoclonal antibodies with the precision of oligonucleotide therapies to address targets and diseases previously unreachable with existing RNA therapies.

If you are a committed, solution-oriented thinker, join us in making a difference and become part of our growing culture that is integrated, collaborative, agile and focused on the needs of patients.

Avidity Biosciences, Inc.'s mission is to profoundly improve people's lives by delivering a new class of RNA therapeutics - Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugates (AOCs™). Utilizing its proprietary AOC platform, Avidity demonstrated the first-ever successful targeted delivery of RNA into muscle and is leading the field with clinical development programs for three rare muscle diseases: myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).

Avidity is broadening the reach of AOCs with its advancing and expanding pipeline, including programs in cardiology and immunology through internal discovery efforts and key partnerships. Avidity is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information about our AOC platform, clinical development pipeline, and people, please visit  and engage with us on Linked In and X.

We are seeking a Associate Director to join the Analytical Development group who is experienced and committed to developing and running oligonucleotide methods to support our AOC research and clinical programs. This is a hands‑on position with responsibilities that require working with contract manufacturing organizations, cross‑functional teams, and key stakeholders.

• Defines the analytical strategy for early‑ and late‑stage oligonucleotide programs, ensuring phase‑appropriate development, control strategies, and lifecycle management from preclinical through commercialization.
• Provides strategic oversight for method development, transfer, qualification, validation, reference standard qualification, forced degradation studies, stability strategy, and impurity characterization across programs.
• Serves as subject matter expert (SME) in nucleic acid chemistry and oligonucleotide analytical technologies, including IP‑RP‑UPLC (denaturing and non‑denaturing), AEX, HILIC, and orthogonal separation approaches.
• Establishes and oversees advanced mass spectrometry strategies for oligonucleotide characterization and impurity identification (e.g., Orbitrap, QQQ, Single Quad).
• Supports analytical control strategies for identity, purity, assay, content, residual solvents, and degradation products to support release and stability specifications.
• Provides leadership and oversight of external CROs and CDMOs, ensuring high‑quality execution of method development, qualification, validation, transfer, and GMP release testing.
• Accountable for review and approval of analytical protocols, validation reports, regulatory documentation, and data packages to ensure scientific rigor, data integrity, and compliance.
• Drives innovation in analytical platforms, implementing novel technologies and continuous improvement initiatives to address emerging challenges in oligonucleotide characterization.
• Authors and provides strategic review of analytical sections for regulatory submissions (IND, CTA, BLA/NDA), and leads responses to health authority inquiries.
• Ensures adherence to global regulatory requirements (FDA, EMA, ICH, GMP) and internal quality systems, proactively identifying compliance risks and mitigation strategies.
• Builds, mentors, and develops high‑performing analytical teams to support in‑house method development and characterization activities.
• Embodies and reinforces the company's core values, promoting an agile, visionary, integrated, and inclusive culture.

• Minimum PhD in chemistry, biology,…