Senior Associate Director, Immunology & External Innovation

Biogen; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision insurance

Equity incentive opportunities

Paid vacation and holidays

Retirement plan with match

Job summary

Biogen is seeking an Associate Director in South San Francisco to lead immunology and drug discovery efforts within the Immunobiology Open Innovation Team. The role demands deep immunology expertise, scientific leadership, and the ability to evaluate external opportunities while shaping program strategy.

You will collaborate with internal teams, business development, and external partners to translate biology into therapies for immune-mediated diseases, mentoring scientists and driving

Qualifications

• PhD in Immunology, Cellular and Molecular Biology, or related field with 8+ years of industry or translational research in inflammatory and autoimmune disease drug discovery.
• Deep expertise in innate and adaptive immune biology, immune signaling, and translational immunology.
• Experience guiding drug discovery strategy through target evaluation, mechanisms, external opportunities, and disease biology.
• Experience directing experimental strategy across biochemical, cellular, tissue-based, and in vivo immunology approaches.
• Prior leadership experience, with mentoring and building collaborative teams.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.
• Strong analytical skills to evaluate complex scientific and translational data.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills for senior leaders and cross-functional partners.

Responsibilities

• Identify and prioritize novel targets, pathways, biomarkers, technologies, and external opportunities relevant to immune-mediated diseases.
• Collaborate with Business Development, Corporate Strategy, Ventures, and evaluation teams to assess scientific merit of external assets.
• Support scientific due diligence via mechanistic evaluation, literature and data reviews, and translational assessments.
• Shape program and portfolio strategy by translating learnings into broader research insights.
• Guide experimental and translational strategy for in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo studies to elucidate mechanisms.
• Generate high-quality data to inform target validation, lead optimization, and translational planning.
• Collaborate across R&D to support indication expansion and lifecycle planning.
• Communicate complex science clearly for governance materials and external partners.
• Represent the team with academic collaborators and industry partners, mentoring scientists.

Skills

Immunology expertise

Drug discovery

Scientific leadership

Strong communication

Independent evaluation

Project prioritization

Mentoring scientists

Education

PhD in Immunology or related field

Tools

Flow cytometry

In vivo models

Translational data analysis

Job description

Biogen is seeking an Associate Director in South San Francisco to lead immunology and drug discovery efforts within the Immunobiology Open Innovation Team. The role demands deep immunology expertise, scientific leadership, and the ability to evaluate external opportunities while shaping program strategy.

You will collaborate with internal teams, business development, and external partners to translate biology into therapies for immune-mediated diseases, mentoring scientists and driving