Lead, Preclinical Cardiometabolic RNA Therapeutics

The RNA Society; Indiana (PA); On-site; USD 188,000 - 329,000; Full time

Job summary

The RNA Society seeks a Preclinical Programme Leader for Cardiovascular & Metabolic diseases to drive discovery and preclinical development of oligonucleotide therapies. You will own end-to-end programs from target validation to Preclinical Candidate selection, building in vitro and in vivo workflows and managing CROs to ensure timely, cost-effective data generation.

You will lead cross-functional efforts, mentor scientists, and guide translational strategies while coordinating with senior

Qualifications

• PhD in Molecular Biology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, or related discipline.
• Minimum of 4+ years (Scientist), 8+ (Senior Scientist), 12+ (Principal Scientist) leading siRNA/ASO discovery programmes, ideally CVMD.
• Strong hands-on expertise in cell-based screening, in vivo PK/PD, obesity and MASH models.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end scientific and project strategy for siRNA/ASO discovery programmes from target validation to Preclinical Candidate selection in MASH, obesity, and musculoskeletal diseases.
• Establish and execute integrated in vitro and in vivo workflows to generate robust data for decision-making.
• Drive go/no-go decisions based on biology, PK/PD, and disease-relevant endpoints.
• Ensure scientific rigour, reproducibility, documentation, and transparency across activities.
• Actively contribute hands-on laboratory operations to establish platforms, assays, and workflows.
• Lead discovery & screening of siRNA/ASO programmes across metabolic tissues.
• Develop and deploy mechanistic and functional cell-based assays linking knockdown to pathway modulation.
• Support discovery and optimization of delivery platforms for extrahepatic uptake and functional knockdown.
• Lead hit identification and prioritization with translational hypotheses.
• Establish assay transferability for internal and CRO deployment.
• Oversee in vivo PK/PD and efficacy studies with robust datasets.
• Establish exposure-response relationships to guide lead optimization.
• Select disease-relevant in vivo models for MASH, obesity, and skeletal muscle.

Skills

Cell-based screening

In vivo PK/PD

Obesity models

MASH models

Programme management

Leadership

CRO partnerships

Data-driven

Education

PhD in Molecular Biology

Tools

CRO management

Animal models

Job description

The RNA Society seeks a Preclinical Programme Leader for Cardiovascular & Metabolic diseases to drive discovery and preclinical development of oligonucleotide therapies. You will own end-to-end programs from target validation to Preclinical Candidate selection, building in vitro and in vivo workflows and managing CROs to ensure timely, cost-effective data generation.

You will lead cross-functional efforts, mentor scientists, and guide translational strategies while coordinating with senior