​ Associate Director, Cancer Biology

Agios (agios.com) is a biopharmaceutical company driven to discover and develop transformative therapies for cancer and rare genetic disease. Agios is growing rapidly, having recently secured approval of a first-in-class oncology precision medicine, with multiple additional novel investigational therapies in development and a robust drug discovery pipeline. We continue to build upon our scientific leadership in dysregulated metabolism as we seek precision medicines in metabolism and adjacent biology areas. In oncology, Agios strives to uncover, characterize and drug novel targets with robust patient selection strategies and potential for rapid, biomarker-driven clinical development.

In this role, you will bring your project and people leadership to our dynamic company.  We are looking for a highly motivated and skilled leader with a strong background in oncology and drug discovery to join our team.

Key Responsibilities

• Devises and oversees the cell biology efforts for novel oncology therapeutic program(s)
• Ensures timely delivery of incisive and actionable biology data that defines/refines drug discovery strategy
• Serves as a target champion and internal expert in disease biology for one or more oncology drug discovery programs
• Devises and executes cancer biology experiments to support projects from validation to clinical candidate selection
• Leads cross-functional team efforts for hit-to-lead and lead-op stage drug discovery program(s)
• Manages the work of multiple internal biologists and leverages CROs and academic collaborators effectively to drive program science forward
• Propagates a development-oriented culture & champions the growth of a talented and aspirational team of cancer biologists
• Maintains high-functioning and synergistic cross-functional relationships across the Agios discovery organization
• Communicates science and strategy effectively in a variety of internal and external settings

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in cancer biology or related field with 8+ years of industry experience
• Demonstrated success as a lead biologist advancing novel, first-in-class therapeutics through hit-finding and lead optimization. Experience with IND-enabling studies is desired
• Expertise in cancer epigenetics is highly preferable
• Prior experience managing and mentoring direct reports and working with international CROs
• Excellent verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills to work across functions and within external collaborations, and a demonstrated ability to organize and communicate complex data sets in a clear and concise manner to cross-functional audiences
• Strong organizational and time-management skills and demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional collaborations including managing relationships with academic collaborators and CROs
• Desire and capacity to participate in a dynamic and fast-paced research setting
• Recognized scientific innovation and accomplishment evidenced by strong record of publication and conference presentations in cancer biology