Director, Translational Sciences

A-Alpha Bio is an early-stage and rapidly growing drug discovery company headquartered in Seattle, WA. We are enabling the next generation of high-impact therapeutics by combining high-throughput synthetic biology to measure protein-protein interactions at scale with state-of-the-art machine learning to predict how proteins bind. We partner with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to enable the discovery of antibodies, molecular glues, and other protein interaction-related drugs. In parallel, we use our wet-lab and computational platforms to discover and develop an internal pipeline of biologics and molecular glues to improve human health.

This role is not open to remote applicants and would require relocation to Seattle, WA.

Starting Salary Range: $190,000 - $220,000 annually

Exemption Status: Exempt

Location Expectations: Onsite

Reporting To: Sr. Director, Biologics Discovery

Role Description

At A-Alpha Bio, we’re on a mission to improve human health by unlocking the potential of protein-protein interactions – and we’re now seeking a Director, Translational Sciences to establish our clinical translational drug development capabilities.

This role will initially encompass executing preclinical disease modeling for the company’s immunocytokine program, identifying pharmacodynamic and toxicity biomarkers, as well as investigating pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic relationships for lead programs. Upon clinical lead nomination, the incumbent will initiate subsequent IND-supporting drug development activities, including rat or cynomolgus toxicology studies, clinical dose determination pharmacokinetic studies, and patient stratification or pharmacodynamic biomarker identification. This unique position reflects a highly dynamic biotech startup environment where this initial strategical position will lead to the buildout of a broader translational team – leading to numerous near-term growth opportunities. Expertise in regulatory filing requirements and supporting data will be required to enable our therapeutic goals. 

Key Responsibilities

• Manage CRO mouse pharmacokinetic and disease modeling.
• Coordinate internal and external ex vivo sample experimentation and data analysis.
• Explore dose concentration and regimen strategies to optimize pharmacodynamic effects.
• Formulate clinical lead candidate drug development strategy.
• Support scientific input and review of all translational medicine aspects of regulatory documents.
• Manage external rat and non-human primate toxicology studies.
• Formulate and execute translational biomarker strategies.
• Communicate data and strategies effectively to key stakeholders, including internal team members, senior management, and external partners.
• Perform other duties as assigned. 

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• PhD in a related field with 10+ years of commercial drug development experience; or Bachelor’s degree in a related field with 15+ years of commercial drug development experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Mastery of preclinical animal disease modeling and pharmacology.
• Familiarity guiding late discovery lead characterization towards seamless development activities.
• Demonstrated history of successful design and oversight of IND-enabling pre-clinical studies for biologic therapeutics.
• Experience with identification and validation of pharmacodynamic and patient selection biomarkers and clinical implementation.
• Experience providing scientific oversight and timeline management of CROs executing non-GLP and GLP compliant IND enabling studies.
• Ability to support regulatory writing, editing, and filing activities.
• Demonstrated strategic and critical thinking skills, with the ability to analyze, interpret, and clearly communicate complex data and its impact on program and regulatory strategy. 

Preferred

• Familiarity with Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) management in both the Biologics and small molecule setting.
• Demonstration of program management leadership in coordinating internal and external development functional teams.
• Experience coordinating drafting of regulatory documents. 

We offer competitive compensation, including benefits, flexible time off, and equity in a fast-growing start-up. Applicants must have legal authorization to work in the United States. At this time, A-Alpha Bio is unable to offer visa sponsorship in any form.

About A-Alpha Bio 

A-Alpha Bio is a biotechnology company that leverages synthetic biology and machine learning to measure, predict, and engineer protein-protein interactions. Our AlphaSeq platform applies synthetic biology to experimentally measure millions of protein interaction affinities simultaneously. Protein binding data is incorporated into our AlphaBind platform to train machine learning models that predict binding from sequence. We use both platforms to discover and optimize high-impact therapeutics for our pipeline and in partnership with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

In 2018, A-Alpha Bio spun out of the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design and Center for Synthetic Biology – both communities filled with brilliant and highly entrepreneurial scientists. Since the company’s inception, we have focused on an oncology-centered internal pipeline along with pharma and biotech partnerships to collaboratively train predictive machine learning models and discover and optimize drugs for therapeutic areas ranging from infectious disease to neurodegeneration. New members of the team should expect a fast-paced, highly dynamic, and interdisciplinary work environment. We are building a diverse, meritocratic, and supportive team that shares our values of speaking the truth, shooting for the moon, taking the reins, playing for the team, and improving the world.

A-Alpha Bio is headquartered in a custom designed lab and office space in downtown Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. While the startup lifestyle occasionally requires grueling hours, we strongly value the need for a work-life balance. We are fortunate to be situated in a region that is renowned for its premier outdoor activities, including hiking, biking, climbing, skiing, kayaking, sailing, and more. At A-Alpha, you’ll find many who love the outdoors, but also gamers, amateur chefs, explorers, sports fans, bakers, crafters, photographers, brewers, jetsetters, animal lovers, and artists. Whatever your passions, you belong at A-Alpha Bio!