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

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

Job summary

Xaira Therapeutics, Inc. is seeking a Project Manager, Biologics R&D to coordinate biologics programs from discovery to IND-enabling studies.

The role emphasizes scientific understanding, team coordination, and milestone tracking, partnering with Program Team Leads to align strategy and execution. Ideal candidates have hands-on biologics experience and a track record of managing timelines and deliverables in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MS, PhD, or equivalent) in life sciences or related field preferred.
• Minimum 6+ years industry experience with hands-on biologics or drug discovery research and project/timeline management responsibilities.
• 3+ years of project management or cross-functional leadership within research settings preferred.
• Experience supporting biologics discovery programs through target validation, hit discovery, and lead optimization; exposure to IND-enabling workflows is a plus.
• Strong analytical, planning, and organizational skills; ability to translate complex science into clear plans.

Responsibilities

• Plan and coordinate biologics research programs from discovery through lead optimization and IND-enabling work.
• Build and maintain multi-program timelines with critical paths and milestones.
• Collaborate with scientific leads and stakeholders to align scope, priorities, and resources.
• Define key milestones and decisional experiments for governance and late-stage planning.
• Coordinate cross-functional meetings, document decisions, and track action items.
• Monitor risks, timelines, and resource needs; develop contingency plans for critical paths.

Skills

Biologics

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

PMI/PMO knowledge

Scheduling

Education

MS or PhD in life sciences

Tools

Smartsheet

Confluence

Google Workspace

Job description

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.