Associate Director, Pharmacology

Cytokinetics is a late-stage, specialty cardiovascular biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing first-in-class muscle activators and next-in-class muscle inhibitors as potential treatments for debilitating diseases in which cardiac muscle performance is compromised. As a leader in muscle biology and the mechanics of muscle performance, the company is developing small molecule drug candidates specifically engineered to impact myocardial muscle function and contractility.

As the Associate Director, Pharmacology, you will work alongside and supervise a small team (1-2 research associates) providing hands on oversight and day-to-day support of the execution of in-vivo pharmacodynamic disease area. This position requires an ability to define the therapeutic context into which specific programs are being developed and a demonstrated track record of successful innovative thinking and leadership in the advancement of new drug discovery programs.

Responsibilities

• Provide scientific leadership in the area of cardiac or skeletal muscle biology and function from program conception to candidate nomination for clinical development as well as ongoing translational studies for compounds once clinical studies begin
• Provide functional line management in pharmacology for respective programs, including design and execution of lead optimization paradigm, experimental planning, oversight in the development of new experimental protocols and procedures, and management and analysis of resulting experimental data
• Present experimental results at internal meetings and scientific conferences
• Propose and articulate the scientific and therapeutic hypotheses for new drug discovery programs
• Provide scientific leadership and management of both internal resources and external collaborations to characterize the action of small molecules on their targets and place the results into a therapeutic context.
• Management of budget and resources to conduct internal and CRO-based studies to drive projects forward

Qualifications

• A PhD with 8+ years of direct drug discovery experience
• Demonstrated record of achievement in bringing discovery programs from concept through to selection of IND candidate
• Significant hands-on prior experience with the execution of animal studies related to the evaluation of cardiac or skeletal muscle function, including contractility, metabolism, or growth in disease model
• Excellent leadership and mentorship skills with experience leading a successful team of research scientists and demonstrated ability to mentor junior PhDs and associates working in collaborative, multidisciplinary drug discovery programs
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work in multidisciplinary project teams

Our employees come from different backgrounds, and we celebrate those differences. We are looking for the best candidates for our open roles, but do not expect applicants to meet every qualification in order to be considered. If you are excited about what you could accomplish at Cytokinetics and believe you can add value to our team, we would love to hear from you.

Please review our General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) policy PRIOR to applying.  

Our passion is anchored in robust scientific thinking, grounded in integrity and critical thinking. We keep the patient front and center in all we do – all actions and decisions are in service of the patient and their caregivers. We champion integrity, ethics, doing the right thing, and being our best selves.

Fraud Warning: How to Identify Impersonated Cytokinetics Job Postings and Offers

Recently, there have been fraudulent employment offers being sent to candidates on behalf of Cytokinetics. Please be advised that all legitimate offers from Cytokinetics will come directly from our official email domain (Cytokinetics.com) and will only be made after completing a formal interview process.

Here are some ways to check for authenticity:

• We do not conduct job interviews through non-standard text messaging applications
• We will never request personal information such as banking details until after an official offer has been accepted and verified
• We will never request that you purchase equipment or other items when interviewing or hiring
• If you are unsure about the authenticity of an offer, or if you receive any suspicious communication, please contact us directly at talentacquisition@cytokinetics.com

Please visit our website at: www.cytokinetics.com

Cytokinetics is an Equal Opportunity Employer