Vice President, Bioscience in Newtown

Reporting to the SVP, Drug Discovery, you will set the vision and lead a ~45-strong Bioscience team, accelerating breakthrough therapies into clinical development. As a key Leadership Team member, you will shape the wider strategic direction of CRH Therapeutic Innovation and foster an innovative oncology biology function, driving projects from early target validation through to pre-clinical candidates with clear clinical positioning. You will champion innovation (including novel modalities), build impactful internal science, and leverage external partnerships to advance the portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Define the strategy for, and implementation of, underlying biology to support and drive drug discovery from target validation through to delivery of pre-clinical candidates with defined clinical positioning.
• Be a recognised and passionate scientific leader in the Oncology space, able to represent the department across a broad range of therapeutic projects and cross-site initiatives, and externally.
• Exploit a strong personal network to impact on innovation and future directions.
• Accountable for managing performance, and leading and developing an inclusive and high-functioning bioscience department (~45 colleagues).
• Communicate effectively to influence multiple stakeholders and collaborate across projects and sites.
• Promote scientific excellence through external publication, presentations, and membership of conference committees and Scientific Advisory Boards.
• Ensure equality and diversity is celebrated and considered as part of all decisions taken.
• Support the mission by contributing as a passionate and dedicated scientific professional with extensive experience in pre-clinical drug discovery in an industrial setting.

Qualifications

• PhD in Biology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry (or equivalent) with extensive industry experience in pre-clinical oncology drug discovery.
• Proven track record of delivering innovative pre-clinical candidates across diverse and challenging target classes.
• Experience (or strong awareness) of cutting-edge AI technologies in drug discovery.
• Recognised leader in oncology, with a strong professional network, publications, and external visibility.
• Demonstrated success in building, leading, and developing high-performing, diverse teams in matrix environments.
• Extensive experience driving external academic/industry collaborations and technology innovation.
• Strong track record of delivering across complex portfolios, balancing scientific, strategic, financial, and people priorities.
• Strategic, forward-thinking leader with sound judgement, integrity, and a commitment to equity, diversity & inclusion.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do. Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination; Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism; Human: Act to have a positive impact on people; Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively. We are looking for people who can embody these organisation values and use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

As the world's biggest medical research charity, we have helped bring fourteen new cancer drugs to market. Cancer Research Horizons (CRH) is CRUK's internal translation engine. CRUK's established drug discovery teams operate under one organisation and leadership team. Our unique combination of cancer biology expertise and access to CRUK's world-class academic network, coupled with cutting edge technology platforms and clinical expertise enables us to 1) bring new treatments to patients faster and 2) tackle the biggest challenges in discovering cancer drugs by seeking out more radical ideas and embracing risk in our bid to achieve success. Based at sites in Cambridge, the CRUK Scotland Institute in Glasgow, and Newcastle University, Cancer Research Horizons employs ~180 staff from both industrial and academic backgrounds.