Associate Director​/Director, In Vivo Pharmacology

Are you ready to lead the in vivo function at the center of Gordian’s target-discovery engine — from the screens that generate novel targets, through the studies that decide which ones advance, to the pharmacology that turns them into drugs?

Gordian is the leader in applying in vivo screening for target discovery. Almost everything we know that our competitors do not, we learned inside a living animal. As Head of In Vivo Pharmacology, you will decide which models and experiments can answer the company’s most important questions, lead a nine-person team, and turn rigorous in vivo pharmacology into clear portfolio decisions across our cardiometabolic portfolio.

Gordian Biotechnology is a therapeutics company designed as a machine that systematically

reveals the right way to cure age-related diseases: a machine for creating time.

To do that, we built Mosaic Screening, which makes causal validation both grounded in human

But there are still many diseases left to cure, and expanding the machine to tackle them starts with its most important resource: its people and culture. We work as a team , using clear goals, open communication, and direct feedback to make autonomous decisions with the bigger picture in mind. We aim for extraordinary outcomes , continually improving how we work and acting on what will create the most progress, even in unknown territory.

We have deliberately designed an environment to sustain that standard: few standing meetings, hands‑on experimentation and pre‑mortems, weekly team lunches, and unlimited vacation that people are encouraged to use. You can dive deeper into our culture here.

This way of working has been crucial to Gordian’s success.

Your mission is to make three connected in vivo work streams succeed:

• Screens . Ensure the in vivo experiments that generate novel target hits are executed cleanly and on schedule.
• Target validation. Own the validation of screen hits with indication and ex vivo experts, define defensible evidence standards, and recommend which targets are strong enough to enter drug discovery.
• Drug discovery. Design pharmacodynamic and efficacy studies for targets in discovery, including small‑molecule programs, and establish the evidence needed for program decisions.

Across all three you are Gordian’s design authority: model, modality, dose, route, controls, time points, group size, and statistical power. You will use pilots to retire risk, establish exposure and pharmacodynamics before efficacy, and — when a proposed experiment cannot answer its question — explain why and help the team build a better plan.

You will choose among oligonucleotides, AAV, and small molecules according to what each question requires, and you will bring in or build new disease models, delivery routes, and readouts when existing capabilities are insufficient. You do not need deep hands‑on experience with every modality, but you must understand their in vivo strengths and limitations well enough to choose correctly and challenge a specialist's design.

You will lead a team of nine scientists, research associates, and a Vivarium Manager, with four direct reports. You will develop team members from strong executors into scientists who can design and own studies independently. You will also own vivarium performance and IACUC compliance through the Vivarium Manager, including capacity planning, husbandry standards, protocol maintenance, and inspection readiness.

One thing to be clear about:
This is a leadership role with real laboratory presence . Roughly 80% of your value is strategy, design, troubleshooting, and management — but the remaining 20% is your presence on the floor, and it is not a formality. You will not be running studies yourself; you…