Executive Director, Respiratory

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Discover more about our company wide benefits and life at GSK on our webpage Life at GSK | GSKExecutive Director, Respiratory Reporting to the Respiratory and Immunology Research Unit (RI RU) leadership, the Executive Director, Head of Translational Biology (Respiratory) will lead a line of laboratory-based biologists to define and execute human-centric translational biology strategies that increase the probability of success from discovery through clinical transition.

This role is accountable for building and leading an integrated biology and translational capability rooted in human disease understanding, spanning target identification, validation, and progression across key respiratory indications, including COPD, bronchiectasis, allergy, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), interstitial lung disease (ILD), and pulmonary hypertension (PH/PAH).  The successful candidate will combine deep expertise in respiratory biology with translational science leadership to ensure that therapeutic hypotheses are grounded in human-relevant biology, with early deployment of predictive model systems, biomarkers, and patient-derived data to enable confident decision-making.  

Operating within a matrixed global environment, this individual will lead internal and external scientific teams, partner across research, clinical, and precision medicine, and shape a forward-looking respiratory portfolio grounded in mechanistic insight and translational rigor.

For candidates seeking to be located at our Stevenage site, this role will temporarily be based ever, the Company plans to relocate its offices to Cambridge, UK. The location of this role will therefore subsequently change to Cambridge, UK in accordance with timelines to be set by the Company. The relocation is currently proposed to take effect by early 2029

Key Responsibilities:

Translational Biology & Human-Centric Scientific Leadership:

Provide strategic leadership to define and execute a human-first translational biology strategy, ensuring all programs are grounded in human disease biology and patient-relevant mechanisms

Lead the end-to-end integration of biology and translational science to enable high-confidence target validation and clinical translation

Drive development and deployment of advanced human-relevant model systems (e.g., primary human cells, organoids, tissue systems, biopsies) to increase predictive value from preclinical to clinical stages

Advance disease area strategies across inflammatory and fibrotic respiratory diseases, including COPD, bronchiectasis, allergy, IPF, and ILD, with strong mechanistic insight into disease progression

Integrate multi-omics, human tissue data, and clinical insights to deepen disease understanding and inform target and asset differentiation

Leadership of Biology Line & Resourcing Model:

Build, lead, and inspire a high-performing line of biologists, spanning in-house laboratory teams and externally resourced capabilities (e.g., CROs, academic partnerships)
Define and implement a flexible resourcing strategy, leveraging internal expertise and external partnerships to accelerate delivery and access specialized capabilities

Establish clear scientific priorities, ensuring alignment of biology resources to portfolio needs and delivery milestones

Foster a culture of scientific excellence, accountability, innovation, and inclusivity, with strong focus on talent development and succession planning

Biomarker & Translational Integration:

Define and drive biomarker and translational strategies to support proof of mechanism (PoM), target engagement, patient stratification, and proof of concept (PoC)
Ensure early embedding of translational endpoints to enable rapid learning and decision-making in clinical development

Partner closely with the RII clinical and the clinical biomarker teams for alignment of translational strategies and seamless preclinical to clinical biomarker execution

Portfolio & Cross-functional Leadership:

Serve as a key scientific leader within the respiratory portfolio, ensuring strong biological rationale underpins target selection, progression, business development, and lifecycle strategies

Collaborate across biology, translational science, clinical, and commercial teams to integrate insights across the drug development continuum

Support progression and expansion of the clinical portfolio, including combination strategies and indication development aligned with governance bodies and Disease Area teams

External Innovation & Business Development:

Establish, lead and/or support external…