Early Development Team Leader

Arvinas is a clinical-stage biotechnology company leading the way in targeted protein degradation therapeutics. Arvinas is the first company to focus solely on protein degradation and its platform technology is the most advanced in the field. Since its founding in 2013, Arvinas’ PROTAC® Discovery Engine has been driving the most significant breakthroughs in the industry. Arvinas’ pipeline encompasses a range of validated and undruggable targets in oncology, immuno-oncology, and neuroscience. This includes three clinical-stage programs: bavdegalutamide (ARV-110) and ARV-766, which are being developed as potential treatments for men with late-line metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, and ARV-471, which is being co-developed and commercialized by Arvinas and Pfizer as a potential treatment for patients with breast cancer.
#TeamArvinas is made up of more than 400 passionate and curious employees, whose diverse thoughts and perspectives are highly valued. Arvinas employees embrace the freedom to pursue innovation, think creatively, and give back. They are driven by the company’s values and mission – to improve the lives of patients with serious diseases by pioneering therapies created with our revolutionary PROTAC® protein degradation platform. We’re really excited about the work we’re doing inside and outside of Arvinas, and think you will be, too. But don’t just take our word for it – learn more about life at Arvinas and what employees have to say. For more information, please visit www.arvinas.com.
Position Summary
As the early development portfolio at Arvinas grows and diversifies, we are excited to add an experienced Early Development Team Leader to our organization! This key role will lead cross- functional, matrixed teams accountable for building integrated development plans to support execution of objective and strategies for pre-clinical/pre-IND and early clinical programs. The successful candidate will work in close coordination with the Research, a cross-functional team and Clinical team to enable the execution of timelines to IND filing and phase I and phase II studies. The ideal candidate will have knowledge of effective clinical development strategies in oncology and a good understanding of clinical product development in the pharmaceutical industry.
This position reports to the Head of Early Clinical Development and can be located at our headquarters in New Haven, CT or work with a hybrid or remote work arrangement within the United States with quarterly travel to our headquarters and for key meetings.
Principal Responsibilities
Key responsibilities of this role include, but are not limited to:

• Coordinate and lead team efforts to develop impactful presentations to summarize complex topics into critical points to facilitate strategic planning and drive decision-making; preparing program status updates, phase gates, and governance presentations to Arvinas leadership and executives.
• Collaboration with finance stakeholders to support tracking of actuals to budget, communicate deviations and identify variations;
• Creation of overall development strategy and integrated development plan and coordination of budget for Development Programs
• Implement initiatives to support development and scaling of capabilities, tools and processes.
• Working with the Finance group to implement and track program budget.
• Developing program strategy and modifying program strategy in response to changing business needs;
• Oversight and coordination of all activities associated with achieving Development Team goals;
• Provide input into performance assessment of program team members in matrix environment;
• Build relationships with key stakeholders (team members and leadership) to ensure alignment of functional and corporate objectives; meeting regularly with the line function representatives to ensure the program remains on track and within budget.
• Modeling scenario plans and building presentations to support recommendations to senior leadership;
• Develop and track cross-functional activities against program timelines and budget
• Administer the day-to-day activities, including facilitating cross-functional team meetings, leading discussions to drive decision-making, preparing agenda and meeting minutes, defining and resolving actions items.
• Monitoring external scientific information and competitor activity related to Development Program(s) and modifying program strategy as appropriate; key link to external Key Opinion Leaders in area(s) of focus, and represent Arvinas at external scientific meetings as necessary
• Communication and engagement with key stakeholders to ensure transparency and alignment on project plans
• Identification of all critical path activities, inter-linkages between activities as well as critical decision points;
• Building high-level operations plans for program strategy, including alternative and back-up scenarios;
• Collaborate with functional leads to define program strategy and proactively identify and escalate gaps and challenges and managing risks through detailed scenario planning.
• Line management /mentorship of Development Program team members; lead communicator and presenter at all key external business meetings with stakeholders (e.g. regulatory authorities, Regulatory advisory committees, Board of Directors)
• Shape program clinical strategy and execution plan.
• Contributing to corporate strategic planning and working with the Leadership Team to define an overall strategy for Program leadership. Planning solutions related to balancing resources.
• Leads the development of program timeline for annual operating plan;
• Tracking progress against goals and composing monthly reports outlining key strategic events for program(s), progress against milestones, strategic imperatives, and financials
• Partnering with Research to move programs out of exploratory research and into development

Qualifications

• Ability to effectively lead a cross-functional team in a matrix organizational structure
• Awareness of changing trends in pharmaceutical drug development, and experience in applying new approaches
• Strong knowledge and understanding of regulatory requirements for product approval and compliance in US, Europe, and Pac Rim experienced in global drug development
• Experience as an effective mentor. Line management experience highly preferred
• 12+ years’ industry experience, with deep experience managing early Clinical Development projects in pharmaceutical or Biotech Company
• Proven track record of successful program management experience preferably supporting early- stage drug development programs, ideally having led the transition of novel candidates from discovery through first in man studies, including IND-enabling studies.
• 5+ years of experience leading multi-disciplinary development teams in the execution of operational plans; ideally across multiple functional areas and various development phases
• Extensive team leadership in a matrix and virtual environment
• High analytical skills, especially with regard to understanding and interpreting scientific research and literature are essential
• Experience with drugs at all stages of Clinical Development and presenting data to regulatory agencies/Advisory Committees
• Ability to work cooperatively within a cross-functional, partially virtual team setting is critical, as are strong interpersonal communication skills
• Experience of drug development in oncology strongly preferred
• Strong publication record and experience with external Scientific Advisory Boards preferred

Education

• M.D., Ph.D., or significant and relevant BS/MS experience in small and large pharma

Arvinas is proud to offer a competitive package of base and incentive compensation as well as a comprehensive benefits program designed to support the health, wellness and financial security of our employees and their families. Benefits include group medical, vision and dental coverage, group and supplemental life insurance, and much more. To learn more about Arvinas, please visit www.arvinas.com
Arvinas is an Equal Opportunity Employer