Director of Translational Medicine

Deciphera is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing important new medicines to improve the lives of people with cancer. We are leveraging our proprietary switch-control kinase inhibitor platform and deep expertise in kinase biology to develop a broad portfolio of innovative medicines.

Enabled by our proprietary drug discovery platform, Deciphera has developed a diverse pipeline of wholly-owned drug candidates. QINLOCK® (ripretinib) is Deciphera’s switch control inhibitor developed for the treatment of fourth-line GIST. QINLOCK is approved in Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.  We wholly own QINLOCK and all of our drug candidates with the exception of a development and commercialization out-license agreement for QINLOCK in Greater China. In addition to QINLOCK, we have identified and advanced multiple product candidates from our platform into clinical studies, including vimseltinib and DCC-3116.   

See here for more details on our portfolio.

We are seeking an experienced, highly-motivated and engaged Director of Translational Medicine.  The successful candidate will have extensive experience as a Translational Medicine lead for clinical trials ranging from Phase 1 through Phase 3.   This person will have an understanding of clinical development and experience developing clinically-relevant biomarkers.  The successful candidate will work closely with our Preclinical Research Team and our Clinical Development Team to develop clinical biomarker strategies for development candidates.  The Director will be a mentor and will build strong and supportive relationships with direct reports.  He/she will be an excellent communicator within the Translational Medicine Team as well as across functions.  He/she will be engaged and aligned with corporate and functional area goals and able to independently direct not only their own responsibilities but also those of their direct reports.

This position will be located in Waltham, MA and will report to the Executive Director, Translational Medicine located in the Waltham, MA office.

Key Responsibilities:

• Reporting to Executive Director, Translational Medicine, this role will drive translational medicine strategy across multiple early-stage programs.
• Develop and implement scientifically-driven yet practical clinical biomarker plan  to address key program-level questions in alignment with cross-functional team.
• Direct or indirect involvement as Translational Medicine lead for multiple programs and studies.
• Provide oversight of assay development and validation activities of multiple CROs from a technical, budget and timeline perspective.
• Represent Translational Medicine on cross-functional teams and make strategic contributions to the clinical development plan.
• Provide mentoring and support for direct reports.
• Oversee biomarker data collection, analysis and interpretation for various presentations and publications.
• Contribute to authoring/review of clinical study protocols, investigator brochures and additional documents as needed.
• Responsible for budget and timeline across multiple studies/programs.
• Establish effective communication with cross-functional colleagues including those from medical, clinical pharmacology, preclinical biology and biometrics.
• Commitment to help the team achieve deliverables and meet aggressive timelines.

• PhD in Cancer Biology, Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology or related field
• Over 10 years in the BioPharma industry, with at least 5 years in Translational Sciences or Translational Medicine working on clinical biomarkers.
• Experience in oncology is a must, ideally in both solid tumor and hematologic oncology.
• Involvement in both early and late state clinical trials.
• Prior management of contract research organizations (CROs) for clinical biomarker assay development and qualification.
• Strong biomarker data analysis experience including experience working with Biostatisticians, Programmers, Bioinformaticians and data visualization software is strongly preferred.
• Broad technical expertise/knowledge including with flow cytometry, ELISA, immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR, NGS and RNA Seq.
• Prior experience implementing precision medicine approaches in clinical trials including companion diagnostic (CDx) development experience in liquid-based and tumor tissue-based approaches.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills and ability to build collaborative relationships in a cross-functional environment is a must.
• Strong leadership and strategic thinking skills.
• Prior management experience.

We are proud to be Great Place to Work Certified 2023 and rank #25 on Fortune’s Best Places to Work Small and Midsized Biotech Companies in 2023. Find more details about our award-winning culture here.

We offer an outstanding culture and opportunity for personal and professional growth based on our “PATHS” Core Values:

• Patients – We are committed to improving the lives of patients living with cancer. They are the driving force behind everything we do.
• Accountability – We demand accountability for our actions, behaviors, and performance. We recognize our duty to maintain a culture that embraces the uniqueness of our people and finds strength in our differences.
• Transparency – We strive to provide full visibility to internal and external stakeholders for a complete picture of what we are doing and why.
• Honesty and Integrity – Trust and mutual respect are essential aspects of our culture. We act with honesty and integrity in all facets of our business, and this serves as the foundation of our work and interactions with others.
• Stewardship – We are respectful of the resources entrusted to us by the investment community. We act thoughtfully and allocate resources responsibly in seeking to create value for our shareholders.  

“How” we work together and the behaviors that we show up with each day are critical to maintaining our positive culture. Our behavioral expectations align with our values to elevate and drive individual and team performance:  

• Lead from where you are – regardless of role or level, we motivate each other to achieve common goals.
• Drive business results – we navigate forward with our eye on the highest priorities.
• Partner and collaborate – we cultivate relationships and value ideas, regardless of where they are coming from, to achieve more together.
• Continuously evolve and improve – we try, we learn, we revise and try again.

Deciphera offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes but is not limited to the following:

• Non-accrual paid time off
• Summer vacation bonus
• Global, company-wide summer and winter shutdowns
• An annual lifestyle allowance
• Monthly cell phone stipend
• Internal rewards and recognition program
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Life and Supplemental life insurance for family
• Short and Long Term Disability insurance
• ESPP offering
• Health savings account with company contribution
• Flexible spending account for either health care and/or dependent care.
• Family planning benefit
• Generous parental leave
• [if applicable] Car allowance

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY INFORMATION

Deciphera is committed to equal employment opportunity and values diversity. To ensure that we comply with reporting requirements and to learn more about how we can increase diversity in our candidate pool, we invite you to voluntarily provide demographic information in a confidential survey at the end of this application. Providing this information is optional. It will not be accessible or used in the hiring process, and has no effect on your opportunity for employment. This information will also be treated confidentially.  Our commitment to increasing diversity in our candidate pool does not affect our commitment to equal employment opportunity, including our ongoing commitment to make all hiring and other employment decisions solely on a nondiscriminatory basis.