Director, Oncology Translational Medicine, Clinical Biomarkers

GSK; Upper Providence (Delaware County); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 316,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health care and other insurance

Retirement benefits

Paid holidays

Paid vacation

Paid caregiver/parental and medical  |

Job summary

GSK seeks a Director of Oncology Translational Medicine, Clinical Biomarkers to lead biomarker strategies and translational medicine programs across late-stage oncology assets. You will collaborate with executive leadership to align biomarker plans with clinical development, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to optimize patient stratification and decision-making in trials.

As part of a Clinical Biomarker Matrix Team, you will validate target engagement and pharmacodynamic biomarkers, drive

Qualifications

• Ph.D. or equivalent with 7+ years of drug development experience in oncology.
• Strong expertise in cancer biology and clinical development including solid tumors and hematology.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and biomarker plan development.
• Experience in translational biomarker plans for clinical trials.
• Onboard innovative technologies for translational research and data analysis.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate to design and align biomarker strategies for predicting clinical success.
• Validate and implement biomarker strategies for dose selection and go/no-go decisions.
• Participate in tumor-specific Biomarker Matrix teams.
• Represent Translational Medicine to integrate biomarker data into study designs.
• Identify tech advances to guide indication selection and patient enrichment.
• Deliver high-quality biomarker data packages for regulatory strategy.

Skills

Analytical Thinking

Clinical Data Interpretation

Clinical Data Review

Clinical Development

Matrix Leadership

Hematology and Oncology

Executive Presence

Education

Ph.D. or equivalent with 7+ years in oncology drug development

M.D., Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree

Tools

NGS

FISH

PCR

IHC/IF

Liquid biopsy

Job description

For candidates seeking to be located at our Stevenage site, this role will temporarily be based at Stevenage, UK. However, the Company plans to relocate its offices to Cambridge, UK. The location of this role will therefore subsequently change to Cambridge, UK in accordance with timelines to be set by the Company. The relocation is currently proposed to take effect by early 2029.

Director, Oncology Translational Medicine, Clinical Biomarkers Job Purpose

The Director, Oncology Translational Medicine, Clinical Biomarkers is responsible for the development and effective implementation of biomarker and translational medicine strategies to support the clinical development of late-stage oncology assets. As a key member of a Clinical Matrix Team (CMT), the Clinical Biomarker Director will collaborate with the Clinical Biomarker Executive Director to establish clear decision‑making criteria, define patient segmentation strategies, and integrate these into clinical development plans. You will leverage cutting‑edge technologies and methodologies to discover and clinically validate biomarkers, ensuring the biomarker strategy is fully aligned with the clinical plan. This integration will optimise decision‑making in drug development and enable the identification of the right patient populations for our medicines.

Key responsibilities

• Collaborating closely with the Clinical Biomarker Executive Director to drive the design, alignment, and execution of clinical biomarker and translational medicine strategies focused on identifying predictive biomarkers that enable clinical success.
• Validating and implementing biomarker strategies, including target engagement, pharmacodynamic, and proof‑of‑mechanism biomarkers, for clinical‑phase programs to support patient stratification, dose selection, and enable clinical go/no‑go decisions.
• Participating in tumour‑specific Biomarker Matrix teams, with responsibility for executing clinical biomarker strategies for late‑stage oncology programs, while working closely with internal and external stakeholders, as well as disease area strategy teams.
• Representing Translational Medicine at Clinical Development Matrix Teams (CMT) to establish biomarker‑driven decision‑making criteria and their seamless integration into clinical study designs, aligning with clinical study objectives supporting disease area strategies and translational objectives by defining biomarker priorities, areas of interest, and generating decision‑enabling evidence packages informed by real‑world datasets, internal and external data and partnerships (For e.g., research collaborations, KEE consultations).
• Identifying cutting‑edge science and technological advances to incorporate into biomarker strategies for guiding indication selection, patient enrichment, and combination strategies.
• Overseeing and/or developing sample testing plans and delivering high‑quality biomarker data packages to inform clinical development and regulatory strategies.
• Managing effective relationships with clinical and scientific operations, diagnostics, medical science, medical affairs, regulatory, portfolio management, and commercial functions.
• Supporting the expansion of mechanism and disease understanding to generate insights for indication expansion and scientific exchange as needed.
• Defining and studying mechanisms of resistance to enable reverse translation, inform next‑line strategies, support patient enrichment, and influence life cycle management of assets.
• Contributing to the company’s scientific credibility through publications and presentations.

Basic Qualifications

• Ph.D. or equivalent with 7+ years or M.Sc. with 10+ years of drug development experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with a solid background in Oncology clinical biomarkers, expertise in late‑phase oncology studies, and translational research within clinical development.
• Strong expertise in cancer biology, and clinical development, including the therapeutic landscape, approved and investigational agents, and diagnostic approaches in solid tumor and haematological malignancies.
• Experience in leading cross‑functional teams and designing and executing strategic biomarker plans including development of regulated biomarker assays.
• Experience conducting clinical trials and working as part of clinical study teams.
• Experience designing and executing translational biomarker plans for clinical trials.
• Explores and onboards innovative technologies to advance translational research and new biomarker development Experience collaborating effectively with Data Sciences to analyze high‑dimensional pre‑clinical and clinical data to guide clinical decisions and inform asset strategy.
• Hands‑on experience implementing a broad range of biomarker platforms such as flow cytometry, molecular diagnostics including NGS, FISH and PCR, IHC/IF, liquid biopsy / ctDNA approaches, and multi‑omic biomarker analyses.
• undefined Direct successful translation of pre‑clinical research to human clinical trials, leveraging learnings from genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses of both pre‑clinical models and patient samples.
• Experience influencing teams and key leaders, with a track record of success.

Preferred Qualifications

• M.D., Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a relevant scientific discipline.
• Experience with high‑dimensional dataset analysis.
• Prior experience with diagnostic development and regulatory interactions.
• Experience with digital pathology, AI/ML‑enabled biomarker analyses, external scientific partnerships, and mentoring or developing scientific colleagues.
• Strong sense of urgency and excellent skills in prioritisation, planning as well as timely execution in a very fast‑paced environment.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to thrive in a matrixed environment.
• Dependable and trustworthy, willing to take ownership and responsibility.
• Excellent communication, problem‑solving, matrix project‑management, and presentation skills.

LI-GSK* LI-Hybrid*

Skills

• Analytical Thinking
• Clinical Data Interpretation
• Clinical Data Review
• Clinical Development
• Clinical Trial Designs
• Clinical Trials Monitoring
• Digital Fluency
• Drug Regulatory Affairs
• Executive Presence
• Hematology and Oncology
• Learning Agility
• Matrix Leadership
• Real World Evidence (RWE)
• Scientific Presentations

If you are based in Cambridge, MA; Waltham, MA; Rockville, MD; or San Francisco, CA, the annual base salary for new hires in this position ranges $189,750 to $316,250.

Available benefits include health care and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, paid holidays, vacation, and paid caregiver/parental and medical leave.

If salary ranges are not displayed in the job posting for a specific country, the relevant compensation will be discussed during the recruitment process. Please visit GSK US Benefits Summary to learn more about the comprehensive benefits program GSK offers US employees.

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines.

We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most.

Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

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We are a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together – so we can positively impact the health of billions of people and deliver stronger, more sustainable shareholder returns – as an organisation where people can thrive.

Getting ahead means preventing disease as well as treating it, and we aim to impact the health of 2.5 billion people around the world in the next 10 years. Our success absolutely depends on our people.

While getting ahead of disease together is about our ambition for patients and shareholders, it’s also about making GSK a place where people can thrive. We want GSK to be a place where they feel inspired, encouraged and challenged to be the best they can be. A place where they can keep growing and look after their wellbeing. So, if you share our ambition, join us at this exciting moment in our journey to get Ahead Together. Find out more on our career site.