Role Overview
The Principal Scientist serves as a module lead within the Early Discovery team, independently driving target biology research, early validation strategies, MOA hypothesis development, and target assessment. The role requires strong scientific judgment, project ownership, and effective communication with CROs and scientific collaborators. The successful candidate will also contribute scientific insights across projects and help strengthen best practices for early discovery.
Key Responsibilities
Target Discovery & Biological Rationale
- Independently evaluate novel targets using literature, public datasets (TCGA, DepMap, omics), internal data, and competitive intelligence.
- Build strong biological rationales, risk–benefit assessments, and mechanistic hypotheses.
- Propose target advancement strategies and deliver scientifically grounded go/no-go recommendations.
Early Validation Strategy & MOA Development
- Design early biology plans including KO/OE systems, pathway interrogation, functional assays, and data quality standards.
- Integrate internal and external findings to refine MOA hypotheses and strengthen biological confidence.
CRO Management & External Collaboration
- Lead end-to-end CRO project execution: study design, oversight, troubleshooting, and data interpretation.
- Represent the company in scientific discussions with academic collaborators and external partners.
Cross-functional Collaboration
- Work efficiently with pharmacology, bioinformatics, and AIDD teams to support early discovery progress.
- Contribute to cross-project scientific discussions by offering expertise, data interpretation, and mechanism-driven insights.
- Demonstrate strong teamwork to deliver shared research milestones.
- Support platform capability development, including SOP creation, target evaluation frameworks, and data-integration workflows.
- Contribute to scientific preparations for internal reviews and collaborative discussions.
- Provide informal scientific mentoring to junior team members, helping raise the overall scientific standard of the group. (Non-managerial.)
Qualifications
Education & Experience
- PhD with 5+ years of biotech/pharma experience, with evidence of independent project leadership in early discovery.
Scientific Expertise
- Strong understanding of oncology or metabolic disease biology, signaling pathways, and disease mechanisms.
- Ability to independently design early validation strategies and interpret complex biological datasets.
Communication & Collaboration
- Demonstrated scientific communication skills, including concise data presentation and clear mechanistic reasoning.
- Ability to collaborate effectively across functions and contribute scientific insights in cross-team settings.
- Experience interacting with CROs and external scientific experts.