Executive Director, Respiratory in Stevenage

Key Responsibilities

• 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.
• 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.
• Define and drive biomarker and translational strategies to support proof of mechanism (Po M), target engagement, patient stratification, and proof of concept (Po C).
• 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.
• 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.
• Establish, lead and/or support external collaborations to access cutting‑edge model systems, biosamples, and translational technologies.
• Build a network of key opinion leaders and scientific advisors to maintain leadership at the forefront of respiratory biology and translational science.
• Partner with Business Development to identify, evaluate, and diligence external opportunities, contributing to portfolio expansion and innovation strategy.
• Ensure highest standards of experimental design, data quality, and reproducibility across internal and external work.
• Drive compliance with regulatory and quality standards across discovery and translational activities.
• Champion a culture of rigor, transparency, and data‑driven decision‑making.

Requirements

• Ph.

D. in a relevant scientific discipline (e. g., Cell/Molecular Biology, Genetics, Pharmacology, Physical Chemistry or related field) with extensive experience in respiratory biology and pharmaceutical research.

• Extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with a focus on respiratory therapeutics and remaining unmet need in asthma, COPD, and/or fibrotic lung disease.
• Experience leading and managing external collaborations and diligence of business development opportunities.
• Proven track record of successfully leading and managing a respiratory portfolio, including research contributions to product launches and lifecycle management.
• Strong knowledge of fibrotic respiratory diseases, pathways and mechanisms, treatment guidelines, and market dynamics.
• Preferred Qualifications
• Strategic mindset with the ability to work with the Head of Respiratory Biology, the Respiratory Disease Area Acceleration Team (DAAT), the Respiratory Clinical Research Head, and aligned Project Leaders in discovery, early and late clinical to help interpret complex data and commercial trends, using biological and clinical insights to make informed decisions and provide advice on indication expansion and business development acquisitions.
• Knowledge and experience in cardiovascular comorbidities of respiratory diseases.
• Strong business acumen and understanding of commercial aspects, including marketing, sales, and market access.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to effectively engage with internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast‑paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple priorities.
• Knowledge of regulatory requirements and compliance standards in the pharmaceutical industry.
• Equal Opportunity Employer

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

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