Vice President of Platform

About ScionxBio

ScionxBio is engineering the next generation of RNA medicines, combining synthetic chemistry and artificial intelligence to create xRNA — a platform for long‑acting therapeutics. By expanding RNA beyond nature's four‑letter alphabet, we engineer molecules that sustain protein expression for weeks to months rather than days, with a lower immunogenic burden and the durability that chronic disease demands. At the heart of the platform is our TERA® engine, a closed‑loop system in which deep‑learning design, proprietary combinatorial assembly, high‑throughput screening, and continuous model retraining work together to optimise each molecule for its payload. With an initial focus on cardiometabolic disease, we are working to turn transient treatments into durable therapies. A spin‑out from Eleven Therapeutics, we are an international team operating across Cambridge (UK), Tel Aviv, and Cambridge (MA), with our Cambridge (UK) site serving as our largest research and development hub.

Role Overview

The Vice President of Platform is the architect of ScionxBio's core technology engine. Reporting to the CEO and sitting within the company's senior leadership, this individual owns the entire upstream pipeline — from computational design and AI‑driven sequence optimisation through to the formulation and delivery systems that carry our molecules into the body, and onward into the evolution of our next‑generation xRNA modalities. This is a rare opportunity to lead, and continue to build, the platform that defines the company: to set its scientific direction, to shape a multidisciplinary team of exceptional scientists and engineers, and to translate a validated modality into a durable, defensible, and endlessly generative source of medicines. We are looking for a scientific leader who is equally comfortable setting long‑range strategy and engaging deeply with the technical substance of the work.

Core Responsibilities

• Computational Biology and AI Innovation: Lead the development of our proprietary AI/ML models and computational biology pipelines for sequence design, structural prediction, and codon optimisation, with the goal of maximising translation, stability, and tissue specificity. This work is conducted in close collaboration with our strategic advisor.
• Next‑Generation xRNA Evolution: Spearhead the continued strategic evolution of our modality, guiding the platform's advance into ever more sophisticated xRNA chemistries and ensuring that it remains firmly at the state of the art.
• Formulation and LNP Development: Oversee the formulation engineering team in optimising lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for targeted, safe, and efficient in vivo delivery, again working in collaboration with our strategic advisor.
• Platform Scalability: Ensure that platform discoveries are robust, reproducible, and engineered from the outset with manufacturing scalability in mind, so that what works at the bench translates reliably towards the clinic.
• Strategic Leadership: Own the resourcing, planning, and timelines for the platform team, and mentor and grow a multidisciplinary group of data scientists, biologists, and engineers into a high‑performing, collaborative whole.
• Intellectual Property Generation: Actively identify and protect novel sequence motifs, AI design algorithms, and proprietary LNP formulations, building and defending the intellectual property moat that underpins the company's long‑term value.
• Platform Interfacing: Serve as the pivotal bridge between Platform and Discovery, working closely with our chemistry and biology colleagues to transition optimised candidates smoothly from the Platform team into the Discovery team.

Qualifications and Experience

A PhD in a relevant discipline — for example computational biology, bioinformatics, RNA biology, biochemistry, chemical or biomedical engineering, or a closely related field — together with substantial and progressive experience in RNA, oligonucleotide, or nucleic‑acid therapeutics, gained over a senior industry career. A demonstrable track record of building and leading platform or technology functions in a biotech or pharmaceutical setting, including direct leadership of multidisciplinary teams spanning computation, biology, and engineering. Deep, hands‑on familiarity with the application of AI and machine learning to molecular design, together with a genuine understanding of the experimental science the platform serves. Strong knowledge of delivery technologies, in particular LNP formulation for nucleic acids, and of the considerations that carry a discovery‑stage platform towards manufacturable, scalable processes. A record of intellectual property generation, and the strategic instinct to recognise and protect what is defensible. Outstanding leadership, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to operate effectively across a geographically distributed, multicultural organisation and to translate between technical and strategic audiences.

What We Offer

The opportunity to own and shape the defining technology platform of an ambitious, well‑founded biotech at a pivotal moment in its story; a seat within the senior leadership team, with real influence over the company's scientific direction; and the chance to build something durable alongside a talented, international community at the heart of the Cambridge life sciences ecosystem.