Senior Project Manager, Biologics R&D - Early Pipeline Programs

Xaira; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 148,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Xaira Therapeutics is seeking a Senior Project Manager for Biologics R&D to drive planning and coordination of early pipeline programs from discovery through lead optimization and into IND-enabling work. This role partners with Program Leads and scientific leads to ensure timely delivery and strong cross-functional collaboration.

The ideal candidate has a bench science background with growing project-management responsibilities and will work on-site at the SSF office in South San Francisco,

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in life sciences strongly preferred.
• 6+ years of industry experience with biologics or drug discovery research.
• 3+ years in project management or cross-functional leadership within research.
• Experience supporting biologics discovery through target validation, hit discovery, lead optimization.
• Exposure to lead selection governance or IND-enabling workstreams is a plus.
• Familiarity with biologics discovery, regulatory components (CMC/nonclinical) is a plus.
• Strong analytical, planning, and organizational skills; clear communication.
• Experience with project tracking tools (Smartsheet, Confluence, Google Workspace).
• PMI, PMP, or PMI-ACP certifications are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Project Planning and Execution across discovery through IND-enabling work.
• Build and maintain timelines with critical path, milestones, dependencies.
• Align scope, priorities, resources with scientific leads and stakeholders.
• Define milestones and translate into actionable timelines.
• Coordinate cross-functional meetings; manage action items and decisions.
• Monitor risks, provide updates, and suggest improvements.
• Coordinate outsourced workstreams with CROs/CDMOs and integrate timelines.

Skills

Advanced degree

Biologics experience

Project management

Cross-functional leadership

Timeline planning

PMI/PMP knowledge

Project tracking tools

Communication

Stakeholder management

Biologics discovery processes

Education

MS, PhD or equivalent in life sciences

Tools

Smartsheet

Confluence

Google Workspace

Job description

Senior Project Manager, Biologics R&D - Early Pipeline Programs

About Xaira Therapeutics

Xaira is an innovative biotech startup focused on leveraging AI to transform drug discovery and development. The company is leading the development of generative AI models to design protein and antibody therapeutics, enabling the creation of medicines against historically hard-to-drug molecular targets. It is also developing foundation models for biology and disease to enable better target elucidation and patient stratification. Collectively, these technologies aim to continually enable the identification of novel therapies and to improve success in drug development. Xaira is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and London.

About the Role

We are seeking a Project Manager, Biologics R&D to support the planning and coordination of biologics programs and projects across our early pipeline, beginning with one of our prioritized programs and spanning additional discovery-stage programs, from early-stage discovery through lead optimization and lead selection, with growing support into IND-enabling studies as programs advance. This role is well-suited for a candidate with a strong scientific background who has transitioned into a project or program management role or who has taken on cross-functional project management responsibilities within research settings. The ideal candidate will have hands‑on experience in biologics R&D, with the ability to manage timelines, track deliverables, and partner closely with scientific leads to keep projects moving forward. You will partner closely with Program Team Leads, who own program strategy and scientific direction, and your counterpart on the lead program to ensure consistent program management practices across the portfolio.

This position emphasizes scientific understanding, team coordination, and milestone tracking, making it a strong fit for someone with a bench science background who has taken on increasing responsibility for project organization and cross-functional collaboration. This role is as comfortable managing single projects as they are multiple projects driving to the same program objective or milestone.

Key Responsibilities

Project Planning and Execution

• Support day-to-day planning and coordination of biologics research programs, ensuring execution of key activities from discovery through lead selection and into IND-enabling work as programs advance.
• Build and maintain project timelines that capture critical path, major milestones, dependencies, and deliverables across multiple concurrent programs at different stages of maturity.
• Partner with scientific leads and functional stakeholders to align on scope, priorities, resources and progress.

Milestone Management & Decision Support

• Collaborate with scientific teams to define key project milestones, decisional experiments and translate into actionable, resource-informed timelines, including stage-transition criteria such as hit-to-lead and lead selection.
• Help compile project data, timelines, risks, value-realization, and trade-offs to support informed decision-making.
• Coordinate and facilitate planning and documentation of decisive experiments, and update project plans based on results and next steps.

Cross-Functional Project Coordination

• Facilitate cross-functional collaboration across research to ensure effective communication and documentation of decisions, alignment of priorities and timelines.
• Schedule and run cross-functional meetings, ensuring clear agendas, effective documentation, and follow-up on action items.
• Monitor interdependencies across functions and proactively identify, flag and resolve conflicts across workstreams.
• Coordinate outsourced workstreams with CROs/CDMOs where applicable, including timeline integration and deliverable tracking.

Operational Support & Project Monitoring

• Track project status, risks, and mitigation strategies; provide updates to internal stakeholders. Provide related insights and recommendations
• Coordinate with functional leads to understand resource needs and potential impacts to timelines.
• Contribute to scenario planning and contingency thinking for critical path activities
• Identify operational challenges and recommend improvements to enhance efficiency and coordination.
• Work closely with functional and team leads to understand resourcing needs, identify gaps and timeline impacts, including trade-offs across programs as well as within them.
• Develop scenario plans for critical path development decisions to support contingency and investment planning to address potential delays, bottlenecks, or shifts in scope.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MS, PhD, or equivalent) in life sciences or a related field strongly preferred.
• Minimum of 6+ years of industry experience, including hands‑on biologics or drug discovery research with demonstrated project or timeline management responsibilities; 3+ years of project management or cross‑functional project leadership within research settings preferred.
• Experience supporting biologics discovery programs through stages such as target validation, hit discovery, and lead optimization; exposure to lead selection governance or IND-enabling workstreams (developability, nonclinical safety, early CMC) is a strong plus.
• Solid understanding of biologics discovery processes; familiarity with downstream nonclinical, CMC, and regulatory components is a plus.
• Strong analytical, planning, and organizational skills; able to translate complex scientific ideas into clear plans.
• Excellent communication, time management collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience with basic project tracking tools (Smartsheet, Confluence, Google Workspace, etc).
• Working familiarity with project and program management principles as defined by the Program Management Institute (PMI) or similar bodies. PMP, CAPM, or PMI‑ACP certifications are a plus, but note hands on experience matters more than the credential itself.
• Please note that this position will be required to be on‑site in the SSF office. Remote candidates will not be considered.

Preferred Attributes

• Comfortable managing projects in a start‑up environment which is fast‑paced, cross‑functional, and where processes are still being built.
• Demonstrated ability to lead without authority and influence diverse teams.
• Passion for science and dedication to improving patient outcomes through innovative biologics development.
• Growth mindset with interest in advancing alongside programs as they mature toward IND-enabling development.

Compensation

We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, seeking to provide an open, flexible, and friendly work environment to empower employees and provide them with a platform to develop their long-term careers. A Summary of Benefits is available for all applicants. We offer a competitive package that includes base salary, bonus, and equity. The base pay range for this position is expected to $148,000 - $185,000 annually; however, the base pay offered may vary depending on the market, job-related knowledge, skills and capabilities, and experience.

Xaira Therapeutics an equal‑opportunity employer. We believe that our strength is in our differences. Our goal to build a diverse and inclusive team began on day one, and it will never end.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self‑identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Xaira Therapeutics’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

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An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.