Director, Translational Lead Respiratory

Business Introduction

At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. Our R&D focuses on discovering and delivering vaccines and medicines, combining our understanding of the immune system with cutting‑edge technology to transform people’s lives. GSK fosters a culture ambitious for patients, accountable for impact, and committed to doing the right thing, making sure that we focus our efforts on accelerating significant assets that meet patients’ needs and have the highest probability of success.

We’re uniting science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together.

The Respiratory, Immunology and Inflammation Translational Unit (RIITU), within RIIRU therapy area is accountable for end‑to‑end disease area translational science to inform therapy area and program level biomarker strategies (from preclinical to launch) to increase the probability of success from preclinical to clinical transitions and enable earlier and higher confidence asset related decisions. This includes generation of foundational data as well as disease biomarker development and validation that allow timely deployment of tools/biomarkers to support Proof of Mechanism (PoM), signs of clinical efficacy, Proof of Concept (PoC), and pairing Mechanisms of Action (MoAs) with patient subtypes to predict responder populations.

We are looking for a dynamic individual to excel in the following responsibilities.

• Partner with Clinical, Research Technologies and Development teams with focus on Respiratory portfolio to identify, establish biomarkers for decision making throughout clinical development phases and aligned with overall R&D goals. This includes identification, prioritization and validation of disease relevant biomarkers, mechanistic/surrogate biomarkers, patient stratification, and differentiated response prediction, their deployment into clinical studies and interpretation of data/results.
• Provide strategic leadership contributing to deep understanding of disease areas enabling the development and execution of translational research disease strategies to support the discovery and development of novel differentiated therapeutics including evaluation and diligence of business development opportunities.
• Evaluate novel techniques and technologies (i.e. spatial transcriptomics) to inform translational initiatives, biomarker development and validation working in collaboration with platform teams and within a multi‑functional matrix environment.
• Identify and guide validation of human assays (cells, tissues and organs) to enhance human translation and predictive value through the application of resources such as the Human Cell Atlas, disease tissue multi‑omics data and genetic resources.
• Collaborate closely with cross‑functional teams including Translational, Disease Teams, Human Genetics & Genomics, biology groups, biomarker platforms, Medicine Development Teams, HBSM, data‑sciences, regulatory affairs, business development and commercial to ensure seamless integration of translational research and biomarker strategies across the drug development lifecycle.
• Establish and maintain strategic collaborations with academic institutions, CROs and other external partners to access cutting‑edge technologies, tools, reagents, biosamples, biomarker expertise, and research capabilities.
• Contribute to evaluation and diligence of business development opportunities.
• Provide mentorship, guidance, and professional development opportunities to ensure a high‑performing and motivated team.
• Manage disease and project level resources, budgets, and timelines to ensure the successful execution of projects and achievement of milestones and RITU objectives.
• Represent RITU at portfolio governance reviews providing critical input to pipeline and investment decision making.

• Ph.D. in a relevant scientific discipline (e.g., Cell/Molecular Biology, Genetics, Pharmacology, Physical Chemistry or related field)
• Extensive experience in translational science and biomarker development ideally within the pharmaceutical or…