Director, Programme Management

Description

• Translational Portfolio Management
• Build and maintain a clear view of IMCB’s ophthalmology and neurology translational portfolio, covering projects from early discovery and target validation through to preclinical proof of concept and spinout-ready opportunities.
• Classify projects by maturity, strategic relevance, evidence strength, development readiness, risks, resource needs and next decision points.
• Develop leadership-facing portfolio dashboards to support prioritisation, resource allocation and continue, pause, stop, re-scope, accelerate, funding, partnership or spinout decisions.
• Identify common portfolio gaps, including disease models, translational biomarkers, clinical access, pharmacology, CMC, toxicology, regulatory input, computational support and external advisory needs.
• Project Maturation and PI Enablement
• Work with scientific leads to convert promising scientific ideas into structured translational project charters.
• Help define each project’s scientific premise, therapeutic hypothesis, disease relevance, target validation status, modality options, evidence gaps, milestones, risks, dependencies, budget needs and decision criteria together with scientific leads.
• Support PIs in designing milestone-based workplans that connect experiments to translational decisions, funding opportunities or spinout readiness.
• Act as an enabling partner to PIs by helping unblock dependencies, connect relevant expertise and prepare projects for leadership or external review.
• Stage-Gate and Decision Frameworks
• Establish and operationalise a practical stage-gate framework for early therapeutic projects in ophthalmology and neurology.
• Define progression criteria across stages such as discovery idea, target validation, translational entry, modality selection, preclinical proof of concept and BD/funding readiness.
• External Funding or Spinout Readiness
• Prepare selected projects, together with Tech-Biz team, for funding, partnership or spinout action by ensuring that project rationale, data package, development plan and next value-inflection milestone are clearly defined.
• Provide input into grant and funding proposals by ensuring that milestones, workplans, risks, deliverables and decision points are realistic and translationally meaningful.

Qualifications

• PhD, MD, PharmD, MBA with minimum 10 to 12 years of relevant experience in biomedical research, biotech/pharma, translational programme management, research commercialisation, R&D strategy, venture building, or innovation operations, with demonstrated experience working across scientific, operational and external-facing stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of the path from discovery biology to translational development.
• Demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous scientific opportunities into clear project plans with milestones, risks, dependencies, decision criteria and resource requirements.
• Experience working with scientists, clinicians, BD teams, project managers, external advisors, funders, industry partners or investors to advance early-stage biomedical opportunities.
• Familiarity with ophthalmology, neurology, neurobiology, retinal biology, neurodegeneration, regenerative biology, sensory systems, ageing biology or adjacent therapeutic areas would be advantageous.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific and development issues into clear decision-ready materials.