Director, Biology Group Lead

Bristol Myers Squibb San Diego - RayzeBio - CA Updated 24 August 2026
Pharma

Job description

At RayzeBio, every day is an opportunity to ignite meaningful change. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bristol Myers Squibb, RayzeBio blends the nimble, pioneering spirit of an emergent biotech with the global expertise and resources of a leading innovator in oncology. Our mission is to develop transformative radiopharmaceutical therapies that offer new hope for patients living with cancer. Here, you’ll join a multidisciplinary team where your ideas are valued, your expertise is amplified, and collaboration is at the heart of everything we do. From day one, expect to make an immediate impact—on our science, on our teams, and most importantly, on patients. Learn more about RayzeBio: https://careers.bms.com/rayzebio/ We are seeking an accomplished scientific leader to lead our biology organization. This individual will oversee target discovery, target validation, pharmacology, and candidate selection activities across our radiopharmaceutical discovery portfolio. The successful candidate will provide scientific vision, organizational leadership, and strategic direction while fostering a collaborative, innovative, and execution-focused research environment. Position Summary: The Director, Biology Group Lead will lead biology organization responsible for discovering and validating novel targets and advancing differentiated radiopharmaceutical candidates from target identification through IND-enabling studies. This individual will establish biology strategies across the discovery portfolio, integrating molecular biology, pharmacology, translational science, imaging, radiochemistry, medicinal chemistry, and DMPK to drive successful candidate nominations. The successful candidate will possess deep expertise in oncology drug discovery, strong scientific leadership, outstanding people management skills, and a demonstrated track record of delivering clinical development candidates. The role will also provide strategic leadership in the development of quantitative pharmacology and target engagement platforms, ensuring robust biochemical and cellular characterization of drug–target interactions to support target validation, lead optimization, and candidate selection across the radiopharmaceutical portfolio. Key Responsibilities: Scientific Leadership Develop and execute biology strategy supporting discovery and development of novel radiopharmaceutical therapies. Build and lead a high-performing biology organization encompassing target identification, target validation, pharmacology, translational biology and mechanism-of-action studies. Drive scientific strategy from target nomination through candidate selection and IND-enabling activities. Establish rigorous target validation frameworks incorporating biological relevance, target accessibility, internalization, biodistribution, imaging, dosimetry, and translational considerations unique to RPT. Champion innovative approaches to identifying first- and best-in-class oncology targets. Drug Discovery Leadership Lead biology groups supporting multiple discovery programs simultaneously. Define biology screening funnels and candidate selection criteria for radiopharmaceutical programs. Partner closely with Radiochemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Imaging Sciences, DMPK, Toxicology, Clinical Pharmacology, Regulatory, and CMC teams. Ensure biology data are integrated with chemistry, imaging, and pharmacokinetic data to enable informed portfolio decisions. Guide mechanism-of-action studies and translational strategies supporting clinical development. Assay Development, Quantitative Pharmacology & Platform Leadership Establish and lead quantitative pharmacology and assay development strategies that support target discovery, validation, lead optimization, and candidate selection across the radiopharmaceutical portfolio. Provide scientific leadership for the development and implementation of robust biochemical and cell-based target engagement platforms, including radioligand binding, flow cytometry, TR-FRET/HTRF, and high-content imaging assays. Oversee quantitative characterization of drug-target interactions using equilibrium and kinetic pharmacology approaches to define affinity, binding kinetics, receptor occupancy, residence time, and target density. Drive integration of biochemical and cellular binding data to inform target biology, mechanism of action, and candidate optimization while accounting for receptor biology and assay context. Ensure implementation of rigorous experimental design, quantitative analysis, and statistical methods to generate reproducible, high-quality data that support portfolio decisions. Evaluate and implement emerging quantitative pharmacology and target engagement technologies to strengthen internal discovery capabilities. Target Discovery & Validation Lead biology activities including: Target identification using genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, spatial biology, and literature mining. Target validation using in vitro and in vivo pharmacology. Development of biochemical and cellular assays supporting target engagement. Evaluation of receptor density, internalization, retention, trafficking, and target biology. Integration of imaging and dosimetry data into target prioritization. Portfolio & Project Leadership Serve as Biology Lead on cross-functional project teams and provide strategic recommendations to governance committees regarding program prioritization and resource allocation. Drive milestone achievement from discovery through IND candidate nomination. Evaluate external opportunities including licensing, collaborations, and acquisitions. Leverage AI to drive program, portfolio, or functional performance through prioritization and scaled adoption People Leadership Recruit, mentor, and develop exceptional scientists. Foster an innovative, collaborative, and scientifically rigorous culture. Establish organizational goals, priorities, and performance expectations. Build capabilities supporting future portfolio growth. External Scientific Leadership Build productive collaborations with academic investigators, biotechnology companies, CROs, and strategic partners. Represent the company at scientific conferences and advisory boards. Publish high-impact scientific work where appropriate. Maintain awareness of emerging technologies relevant to radiopharmaceutical drug discovery. Qualifications: PhD in Cancer Biology, Pharmacology, Molecular Biology, Immunology, or related scientific discipline. 12+ years of biotechnology or pharmaceutical or similar industry experience. Demonstrated leadership in oncology drug discovery and proven track record of advancing discovery programs from target identification through development candidate selection. Significant experience leading multidisciplinary research teams with strong understanding of oncology biology, pharmacology, and

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