Senior Director, Program Management

Reporting to the Chief Scientific Officer, the Senior Director, Program Management will be a strategic and operational leader responsible for driving the execution of our early stage- research and development programs. This individual will partner closely with cross-functional teams, including the Directors, VPs and SVPs of Discovery and Platform, Pharmacology, Bioanalytical Sciences, CMC, and Drug Development to ensure the successful advancement of our pipeline from early research to developmental candidate status.

You will help plan, coordinate, monitor and communicate R&D KPI progress to drive portfolio management processes of operational objectives. You will also play a critical role in managing and fostering relationships with strategic partners, ensuring that collaborations deliver value to all stakeholders.

The position is full-time, partly on-site. This is the perfect opportunity for someone interested in the exciting and fast-paced environment of a startup company and looking to make a difference in improving people’s lives through science. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in drug discovery and development, a proven track record of program management excellence in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry, and a passion for bringing transformative therapies to patients.

Company Summary

Juvena Therapeutics is a clinical stage, venture-backed biotech company leveraging its AI-enabled platform to discover and advance tissue restorative biologics to tackle chronic muscle and metabolic diseases. The company’s approach stems from mapping the therapeutic potential of stem-cell secreted proteins and translating them into a growing pipeline of engineered biologics. Juvena is achieving this through a fully integrated, end-to-end platform, JuvNET, that combines a compounding database leveraging quantitative proteomics, multi-omics, and high content imaging to map secreted proteins to specific disease phenotypes, utilizing in silico and in vitro human cell screening, pharmacology, and protein engineering capabilities.

Juvena is progressing multiple clinical and preclinical programs, including a clinical stage, muscle regenerative biologic and a novel preclinical lipolysis inducing obesity asset with a unique mechanism.

Juvena’s lead asset, JUV-161, is a muscle regenerating fusion protein with broad indication potential, currently in Phase 1 studies in healthy volunteers, with the aim of developing the drug candidate for Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1). Juvena’s obesity candidate, JUV-112, is based on a novel secreted protein with an orthogonal, non-appetite suppressing, energy expenditure based MOA (non-GLP-1/GIP mediated) for improved fat metabolism, including improved insulin sensitivity and adipose regulation.

JUV-112 is currently in lead optimization. Juvena is also identifying muscle targeting pro-metabolic and hypertrophic secreted proteins for Sarcopenic Obesity, with an active discovery collaboration with Eli Lilly. Additionally, Juvena has discovered and validated 55+ hits across 6 therapeutic areas including fibrotic, hepatic, pulmonary, metabolic, osteopathies and inflammatory diseases.

Juvena’s venture-backed preclinical programs were also supported by funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). At Juvena we embrace a diversity of backgrounds, experience and approaches that all combine to lead us to world-class scientific results in an inclusive environment. To learn more about Juvena Therapeutics, visit  or follow the company on Linked In @Juvena-Therapeutics .

Position Location and work permit requirement

640 Galveston Dr. Redwood City, 94063

Strong preference for onsite work at our office, but open to hybrid or remote working arrangements.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.

Key Responsibilities

• Working with senior leadership and other stakeholders to establish quarterly KPIs, R&D program plans, and portfolio governance processes that provide a foundation for achieving annual corporate objectives.
• This is a key leadership role within Juvena Therapeutics, Inc., facilitating communication…