Senior Drug Discovery Manager - Biology

Our Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech is our flagship programme for creating new treatments for Parkinson’s, based on the needs and priorities of people living with Parkinson’s.

We are deploying £5M per year to fund preclinical and early clinical stage projects in biotechs and contract research organisations to bring new treatments to people living with Parkinson’s.

Please click here to find out more about the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech.

About the role 

You’ll bring expert knowledge of Parkinson’s pathophysiology, pharmacology and therapeutics development to all our VB activities.  These include primarily the sourcing and evaluation of new project proposals, and then the funding and management of the most promising ones.  You will liaise extensively with the Parkinson’s community and external partners, and maintain up to date knowledge in the field. 

With your years of preclinical disease-area expertise you will work alongside your colleagues with backgrounds in medicinal chemistry and biological aspects of Drug Discovery, clinical research and biotech finance.

What you’ll do:  

• Provide expert knowledge of Parkinson’s pathophysiology, in vitro and in vivo models of aspects of Parkinson’s and neurodegeneration, to all our activities.
• Solicit external proposals for new projects and develop internal project proposals, and bring new initiatives and working practices to the Virtual Biotech, as appropriate
• Critically review the target validation and preclinical pharmacology aspects of internal and external project proposals
• Participate in joint steering committees and other advisory meetings, providing expert scientific and strategic insight
• Interact with people with Parkinson’s and involve them in projects in order to increase the opportunities to deliver new drugs that meet unmet medical needs

What you’ll bring:

• Widely respected expertise in the study of Parkinson’s pathophysiology and preclinical pharmacology with at least 8 years post-doctorate experience in the field, and a track record of proposing new projects and securing the required funding
• Doctoral degree in a relevant discipline (Ph.D., M.D., D.Phil.)
• Familiarity with small molecule Drug Discovery principles and practices including use of Parkinson’s disease models
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present complex information in suitable formats, including project proposals/reports, for both scientific and lay audiences
• Significant experience in project management and leadership skills from initiation to completion/review, with the ability to lead cross-functional teams

This is an exciting time for Parkinson’s UK and we would love you to join us!

Please apply by sending us your CV, together with a detailed supporting statement which will fully demonstrate how you meet all the criteria of the role, as stated in the "What you'll bring" section of the job description.

Anyone can get Parkinson’s. It’s vital that the people who work for Parkinson’s UK are representative of our diverse community. We actively encourage people from all sections of the community to apply, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, disability, sexual orientation, or religion.