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Head of Medical Affairs

Princeton New Jersey

About Us 

Kardigan is a heart health company working to make cardiovascular disease preventable, curable and no longer the leading cause of death in the world.

It is Kardigan’s mission to develop multiple targeted treatments in parallel that bring people with cardiovascular diseases to the cures they deserve.
 
Led by Tassos Gianakakos, Jay Edelberg, M.D., Ph.D., and Bob McDowell, Ph.D., Kardigan’s co-founders have reunited after leading MyoKardia to discover and develop mavacamten, the first cardiac myosin inhibitor, resulting in an acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2020.
 
We have a cutting-edge discovery and translational research platform, a pipeline of late-stage candidates, and an industry-leading team that is driven to improve the lives of patients.
 
At Kardigan, we are motivated by our values which guide how we work, interact, and achieve our goals. Driven by patients and their families, we are deeply committed to improving the lives of patients and prioritizing their needs above all else. We believe in being authentic—leading with truth to bring out the best in others by creating an environment where every person knows they will be fully accepted. With an eagerness to learn, we encourage the highest levels of curiosity and are open to changing our minds. We are committed to winning as a team with urgency, excellence, and intention, and support each other no matter what role we play or where we sit. Lastly, we strive to enable the impossible because patients are counting on us. We are not afraid to take risks to unlock innovation and advance scientific discoveries.
 
These values are the foundation of our work, empowering us to make a real difference, every day.
 
 

Job Overview

Kardigan is seeking a Head of Medical Affairs to lead, unify, and scale our Medical Affairs organization as we advance a portfolio of investigational cardiovascular therapies through late-stage development toward potential registration and launch readiness. Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, this leader will partner closely with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team to create and execute Kardigan’s Medical Affairs strategy across prioritized cardiovascular indications.

Medical Affairs at Kardigan is already taking shape, with strong talent in place or being recruited across disease-area medical leadership, program-dedicated Medical Affairs leads, scientific communications, publications and medical information, and congress strategy. The Head of Medical Affairs will bring this team together under a unified strategy and operating model while designing and building the capabilities still ahead — including field medical (MSLs), integrated evidence generation (HEOR and real-world evidence), medical review, and medical operations and governance — and will own the function’s budget, headcount plan, and organizational design as Kardigan grows.

Early priorities include aligning the existing team and Executive Leadership Team around a cohesive Medical Affairs strategy and organizational blueprint, making key hires to enhance capabilities, expanding KOL and scientific advisory engagement for the lead indication, scaling publication and congress planning ahead of late-stage data readouts, establishing launch-readiness workstreams with Commercial, Regulatory, and Safety, and strengthening the compliance and governance framework for scientific exchange.

The Head of Medical Affairs will serve as a strategic partner across the business, particularly with Clinical Development and Commercial, and will establish and maintain critical relationships across the medical and scientific communities. Kardigan is deeply committed to the patient journey and to developing medicines with the potential to meaningfully improve the lives of people living with cardiovascular disease.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

  • Lead, unify, and scale Kardigan’s Medical Affairs organization, positioning the function to drive value for patients, healthcare providers, and the broader business.
  • Develop and execute the Medical Affairs strategy for Kardigan’s prioritized cardiovascular indications, in partnership with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team.
  • Ensure Medical Affairs readiness for potential future launches and establish the function as a critical source of scientific insight on the key questions raised by Kardigan’s investigational pipeline.
  • Own the Medical Affairs budget, headcount plan, and operating model; build out remaining capabilities — including field medical, integrated evidence generation, and medical operations and governance — as Kardigan’s portfolio and organization continue to grow.
  • Lead, develop, and retain the existing Medical Affairs team while recruiting high-caliber talent to close capability gaps, building an organization recognized as trusted experts and influential partners to internal and external stakeholders.
  • Establish and strengthen relationships with key opinion leaders, investigators, scientific advisory groups, professional societies, patient advocacy organizations, and other important members of the external medical and scientific community.
  • Build strong cross-functional partnerships, with particularly close alignment to Clinical Development, Commercial, Regulatory, and Safety, bringing the external medical voice into trial design, evidence planning, and portfolio decisions.
  • Lead an integrated evidence-generation strategy — spanning HEOR, real-world evidence, and epidemiology — that serves regulators, payers, clinicians, and internal partners including Clinical Development.
  • Oversee medical and scientific communications — including publication planning, congress strategy, and medical information — to contribute to the scientific literature and support potential future commercialization and patient access.
  • Provide high-quality, meaningful medical input into medical, scientific, and promotional materials, and establish Medical Affairs’ role in the company’s material review process.
  • Establish and maintain the compliance framework governing scientific exchange and external engagement — including advisory boards, investigator-initiated studies, and grants — consistent with applicable regulations and industry codes of practice.
  • Provide hands-on leadership, coaching, and mentorship while empowering the Medical Affairs team to take ownership and deliver results.

Qualifications and Preferred Skills

  • MD or PharmD with substantial expertise in cardiovascular disease.
  • For appointment at Vice President: 12+ years of biopharma industry experience, including 5+ years leading Medical Affairs teams or functions.
  • For appointment at Senior Vice President: 15+ years of biopharma industry experience, including prior executive-level leadership of a Medical Affairs function.
  • Proven Medical Affairs leadership in the U.S. biopharma industry across cardiovascular indications, spanning both small and large organizations, including fast-growing companies.
  • Product launch leadership in new and competitive markets; candidates without a complete launch will be considered only with demonstrably equivalent late-stage evidence-generation and launch-readiness leadership.
  • Experience leading core Medical Affairs capabilities, including field medical, medical communications and publications, evidence generation (HEOR/RWE), medical information, and medical governance, with broad knowledge of the regulations and industry codes governing scientific exchange.
  • Scientific rigor and credibility, with the ability to evaluate and debate detailed scientific and clinical issues with confidence and curiosity, both internally and externally.
  • Track record of recruiting, developing, and unifying high-performing teams through growth and organizational change, combining hands-on coaching with clear direction and empowerment.
  • Collaborative and pragmatic partner who builds trusted cross-functional relationships and scales infrastructure in step with portfolio expansion.
  • Executive presence with strong communication, negotiation, and influencing skills; sound judgment, humility, and high emotional intelligence, including in high-stakes conversations; able to articulate a compelling Medical Affairs vision that inspires action internally and externally.
  • Strong patient-centric orientation, ensuring Medical Affairs strategies ultimately serve patients and their families.

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