Counsel, Research & Development Jobs

The Role:
The role is an exciting opportunity to become a critical component of the legal and business operations of a leading high-growth company in the biotech industry. We need a pragmatic, business-minded professional with a deep understanding of the concepts customarily addressed in contracts for the life sciences industry to structure, draft, and negotiate the full gamut of research and development agreements, including collaborations, licenses, clinical trial agreements, and sponsored research. The successful candidate will be responsible for managing and strengthening the company’s legal support processes and supporting internal business partners by interpreting complex contractual terms, providing risk assessments and recommendations, and negotiating and closing agreements with third parties. The person will be joining a Legal team who prides themselves on being businesspeople with law degrees. This individual must be able to interact closely with their stakeholders, understand the concerns, and deliver on fast-paced, highly visible contracts.
Here’s What You’ll Do:
Serve as the main point of contact on research and development contracting matters, collaborating closely with business partners on the drafting, review, and negotiation of term sheets and agreements, supporting early-stage discovery, late-stage research, clinical development, strategic collaborations, in-bound and out-bound license agreements, clinical trial agreements, sponsored research agreements, informed consent forms, and strategic transactions.
Manage and support the day-to-day legal and business needs across the risk spectrum (e.g., applying advanced critical thinking to pursue options in parallel, and serving as a strategic legal business partner and escalation point for contracting issues and a wide variety of legal matters) for the research and development teams.
Foster strong collaborative working relationships with the business teams, travelling to company satellite sites as appropriate.
Deliver advice and legal counsel to a high standard, within the timeframes required by the business and in a manner that meets the business’ needs.
Identify/anticipate risks and operational opportunities across interconnected areas of the business and help to drive and foster pro-active behaviors and practices.
Provide post-execution relationship support by interpreting contract language for internal clients, drafting amendments and working to help avoid/resolve potential issues.
Support the ethics, compliance, and governance processes; fostering and exemplifying a culture of integrity, credibility and best business practices.
Here’s What You’ll Bring to the Table:
JD from an accredited law school.
Must be eligible to practice law in-house in Massachusetts and licensed in at least 1 jurisdiction.
A minimum of 5 years’ experience with US and global legal requirements in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry required.
Capability to drive strategy and also leverage hands-on experience to execute.
Strong communication and collaboration skills and intellectual curiosity to look at problems in new ways.
Ability to collaborate effectively in a dynamic, fast-paced, cross-functional, regulated matrix environment managing multiple projects and priorities
Moderna is pleased to provide you and your family with a comprehensive and innovative suite of benefits, including:
Highly competitive and inclusive medical, dental and vision coverage options
Flexible Spending Accounts for medical expenses and dependent care expenses
Lifestyle Spending Account funds to help you engage in personal enrichment and self-care activities
Family care benefits, including subsidized back-up care options and on-demand tutoring
Free premium access to fitness, nutrition, and mindfulness classes
Exclusive preferred pricing on Peloton fitness equipment
Adoption and family-planning benefits
Dedicated care coordination support for our LGBTQ+ community
Generous paid time off, including:

• Volunteer time to participate within your community
• Vacation, sick time and holidays
• D iscretionary year-end shutdown
• Paid sabbatical after 5 years; every 3 years thereafter

Generous Paid Leave offerings, including 18 weeks of 100% paid parental leave for all new parents
401k match and Financial Planning tools
Moderna-paid Life, LTD and STD insurance coverages, as well as voluntary benefit options
Complimentary concierge service including home services research, travel booking, and entertainment requests
Free parking or subsidized commuter passes
Location-specific perks and extras!
About Moderna
In over 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across seven modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant that allows for rapid clinical and commercial production at scale. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna's capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use and approval of one of the earliest and most effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moderna's mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and autoimmune diseases. Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past seven years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com.
Moderna is a smoke-free, alcohol-free and drug-free work environment.
Moderna is a place where everyone can grow. If you meet the Basic Qualifications for the role and you would be excited to contribute to our mission every day, please apply!
Moderna is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer.
Moderna is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, ancestry or citizenship, ethnicity, disability, military or protected veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, or any other personal characteristic protected under applicable law. Moderna is an E-Verify Employer in the United States. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.
Belonging, Inclusion, and Diversity are critical to the success of our company and our impact on society. We’re focused on attracting, retaining, developing, and advancing our employees and believe that by cultivating diverse experiences, backgrounds, and ideas, we can provide an environment where every employee is able to contribute their best.
Moderna is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants with disabilities. Any applicant requiring an accommodation in connection with the hiring process and/or to perform the essential functions of the position for which the applicant has applied should make a request to the Talent Acquisition Partner or contact the Accommodations team at [email protected]. (EEO/AAP Employer) #LI-DP1
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