R&D Project Manager

Locus Biosciences; North Carolina; On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus pool eligibility

Health, dental, vision, and life insurance

401(k) with company matching

Free access to fitness center and classes

Job summary

Locus Biosciences is looking for a full-time R&D Project Manager in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The role demands strong project management skills, leadership, and the ability to manage multiple teams across the drug development pipeline.

The ideal candidate will have a BS or MS degree in physical or life sciences, with extensive experience in project management. The successful applicant will work closely with senior leadership and external partners to ensure project goals are met efficiently.

Qualifications

• 5 years of project management experience preferred.
• Must be goal-oriented and able to anticipate problems.
• Demonstrated team leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of activities and timelines.
• Perform project management functions for assigned projects.
• Plan and coordinate activities including procedures and training.

Skills

Project management skills

Problem-solving

Leadership

Communication skills

Education

BS or MS degree in physical or life sciences

PhD or MBA preferred

Tools

Microsoft Project

Job description

Locus Biosciences is seeking a highly motivated and entrepreneurial applicant to join our team as a full‑time R&D Project Manager responsible for developing, maintaining, and executing research plans across Locus Biosciences. The incumbent will be able organize and drive projects across Locus Biosciences to completion, including cross-departmental projects spanning the drug development pipeline. This role requires an ability to interact with technical staff, senior leadership, and strategic partners and effectively translate drug development activities across our teams. This person will be responsible for managing detailed project plans across multiple programs, including developing and updating Project Gantt charts, leading status update meetings, and ensuring good cross‑team communication. This position is well suited for those that have demonstrated leadership, interpersonal, technical aptitude and problem‑solving skills. Experience with agile projection management, as well as experience working in a start‑up environment is preferred.

Why Locus?

• Change the future of medicine and address a serious and unmet patient need by developing completely novel therapeutic modalities.
• Fasttrack your career by tackling large & meaningful projects.
• Work with a team of exceptionally talented and hardworking individuals while striving to achieve a common mission.
• Partner with the most highly respected pharmaceutical companies in the world.
• Bonus pool eligibility.
• Health, dental, vision, life insurance, 401(k) with company matching, and PTO.
• Free access to fitness center and classes.

Responsibilities will include:

• Lead development of the activities and timelines and ensure proper integration and alignment of managed projects across the company. Projects will include those within and across our R&D, GMP Manufacturing and Clinical Operations units.
• Perform project management functions for assigned projects and programs, ensuring project goals, timeframe, accountability and budget are achieved.
• Plan, coordinate, and administer activities of assigned projects to include developing and implementing procedures, processes, and systems; coordinating training employees to ensure project continuity and quality.
• Provide direction and oversight to cross‑functional project teams, including internal and third‑party vendors.
• Plan, lead, and facilitate regular cross‑functional project team meetings.
• Develop detailed task lists and work effort assessment and short and long‑term resource allocation plans based on input from stakeholders and team members in alignment with company resourcing plans a program priorities.
• Creative problem‑solving to resolve programmatic issues and mitigate risks, leveraging subject matter experts to resolve new challenges.
• Collaborate with functional representatives to anticipate and identify project risks and develop action and resolution plans. Communicate issues and risks, develop plans to remove or mitigate them, and elevate as warranted.
• Assist in the definition of project scope and objectives working closely with relevant project stakeholders. Manage project scope, including identifying and negotiating changes in scope with project stakeholders.
• Establish and maintain effective communication channels to provide accurate information to the leadership team.
• Prepare weekly status reports, internal team documents, and other project governance documents.
• Assist with the development and administration of project‑specific budgets.

Candidate must possess:

• A BS or MS degree in physical or life sciences or a related field; a PhD or MBA is preferred.
• 5 years of experience in project management, including cost control, vendor management, schedule development and adherence is preferred. Experience with Microsoft Project is a plus.
• Must be results driven and goal oriented with the ability to anticipate potential problems and resolve before cost and schedule are impacted.
• Proven team leadership skills.
• Entrepreneurial spirit.

Preferred qualifications:

• Prior management consulting experience, specifically within one of the Big 4 (Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG) is strongly preferred.
• Experience with traditional and agile project management techniques, preferred.
• A self-starter with the ability to make sound decisions about scheduling, managing priorities and to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Flexible during times of change with the ability to navigate and resolve ambiguity.Hands‑on active management style while maintaining awareness of team activities.
• Excellent organizational, verbal, and written communication skills with the ability to effectively communicate technical overviews and strategic direction within cross‑functional teams and to upper management.
• Ability to comprehend the company’s overarching strategic approach and program inter‑dependencies.
• Thrives in a fast‑paced, entrepreneurial, and collaborative environment.
• Openly shares knowledge/information needed to accomplish a tasks and solve problems.

Locus Biosciences is a clinical‑stage biotechnology company developing precision antibacterial products to address critical unmet medical needs in treating bacterial infections and microbiome indications. The Locus platform engineers bacterial viruses called bacteriophages to specifically kill target pathogens while leaving non‑target bacteria (i.e., the rest of the patient’s microbiome) unharmed and to deliver biotherapeutic payloads to the body sites where they are needed. Locus's lead program is an engineered bacteriophage product targeting Escherichia coli bacteria in the urinary tract, currently being tested in an active Phase 2/3 clinical trial. Locus has collaborations with BARDA and CARB‑X to develop engineered bacteriophage products targeting E. coli infections and Klebsiella pneumoniae infections, respectively. For more information about Locus visit https://www.locus-bio.com/

SHIFT: Full‑Time Days, with occasional evening and weekend work

Job Type:

Full‑time, onsite

Job Location:

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina