Sr. Director, Translational Medicine Lead, Autoimmune

Moderna Therapeutics; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 197,000 - 353,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

Well-being resources

Generous PTO

Job summary

Moderna seeks a senior translational medicine leader to drive strategy across autoimmune programs, integrating disease biology, pharmacology, biomarkers, and safety to enable decisive development decisions.

The role requires deep human immunology expertise, experience leading cross-program translational efforts, and a track record of mentoring scientific leaders in a fast-growing company.

Qualifications

• PhD, MD, MD/PhD, PharmD, or equivalent advanced degree in immunology, autoimmune disease, translational medicine, or a related discipline.
• Typically 10+ years of relevant scientific and drug-development experience following advanced training, with substantial biotechnology/pharmaceutical and/or human translational medicine experience.
• Demonstrated track record leading translational strategy for multiple clinical-stage immune-mediated or autoimmune programs.
• Broad and deep expertise in human immunology and autoimmune disease mechanisms, including strong command of adaptive and innate immunology, T-cell regulation, B-cell and autoantibody biology, antigen presentation, and inflammatory signaling.

Responsibilities

• Lead clinical-facing translational strategy for multiple programs and/or the most scientifically complex assets, integrating biology, mechanism, patient heterogeneity, pharmacology, biomarkers, safety, and outcomes.
• Define evidence required to establish mechanism confidence, therapeutic window, and translational uncertainties; develop focused evidence-generation plans.
• Shape portfolio strategy by establishing common frameworks for tolerance, immune reset, durability, relapse, and non-response; inform prioritization.
• Provide senior leadership in human translational immunology; establish state-of-the-art approaches to evaluate T-cell and B-cell biology, autoantibodies, innate immunity, and immune networks.
• Advance cross-program biomarker and translational technology strategy, including high-dimensional flow cytometry, immune monitoring, transcriptomics, proteomics, and tissue-based approaches.
• Partner with Clinical and Quantitative Pharmacology to integrate PK/PD and exposure-response frameworks linking dose to outcomes.
• Shape translational safety strategy by anticipating risks and integrating mechanistic monitoring into plans.
• Serve as senior translational voice in governance; defend recommendations on mechanism, population, dose, and PoC.
• Lead cross-program reverse translation to inform target selection and portfolio understanding of mRNA/LNP in autoimmune applications.
• Mentor Directors and scientists; lead cross-functional initiatives to elevate scientific quality and speed.
• Lead external scientific engagement, collaborations, and publication strategies.
• Additional duties as assigned.

Skills

Translational immunology

Strategic leadership

Mentoring

Executive communication

Education

PhD/MD/MD-PhD/PharmD or equivalent

Tools

Flow cytometry

Biomarker assays

Job description

The Role Moderna is seeking an exceptional scientific leader to serve as Senior Director, Translational Medicine Lead – Autoimmune. This individual will lead translational strategy for high-priority and scientifically complex autoimmune programs while helping shape cross-program and modality-level translational strategy across Moderna’s emerging Immune Therapeutics portfolio. The successful candidate will combine deep expertise in human autoimmune immunology and translational drug development with broad understanding of immune tolerance, pathogenic T- and B-cell biology, immune-cell depletion and reprogramming, clinical biomarkers, quantitative pharmacology, and mechanism-based development. This role will operate as a senior scientific leader across program and portfolio teams, strengthen translational capabilities, mentor scientific leaders, establish cross-asset approaches, and influence senior governance and external scientific strategy.

Here’s What You’ll Do

• Lead clinical-facing translational strategy for multiple programs and/or the most scientifically complex and business-critical autoimmune assets, integrating disease biology, therapeutic mechanism, patient heterogeneity, pharmacology, biomarker evidence, safety, and clinical outcomes into coherent development strategies.
• Define the evidence required to establish confidence in mechanism, biological activity, therapeutic window, differentiation, and probability of technical success; anticipate major translational uncertainties and establish focused evidence-generation strategies to resolve them.
• Shape autoimmune portfolio and modality strategy by establishing common scientific frameworks for immune tolerance, immune reset, durability, relapse, and non-response, and by informing prioritization of programs and indications based on human biology, translatability, biomarker feasibility, and competitive differentiation.
• Provide senior leadership in human translational immunology, establishing state-of-the-art approaches to evaluate pathogenic and regulatory T-cell biology, B-cell states, autoantibodies, innate immunity, antigen-specific responses, and immune networks in patients.
• Advance cross-program biomarker and translational technology strategy, including standards for clinical immune monitoring and fit-for-purpose use of high-dimensional flow cytometry, antigen-specific functional assays, immune repertoire analysis, transcriptomics, proteomics, serology, HLA/genetic analysis, and tissue-based approaches.
• Partner with Clinical and Quantitative Pharmacology to establish integrated PK/PD and exposure-response frameworks connecting dose to target engagement, immune-cell effects, disease biology, safety, and clinical outcomes, including induction, maintenance, retreatment, or boosting strategies where relevant.
• Shape translational safety strategy by anticipating risks from novel immune biology and integrating mechanistic monitoring into development plans; provide senior scientific leadership in interpreting relationships between efficacy-driving pharmacology and safety.
• Serve as a senior translational voice in program and portfolio governance, presenting and defending recommendations concerning mechanism, patient population, dose, proof-of-concept, indication expansion, Go/No-Go criteria, and translational probability of success.
• Lead cross-program reverse translation by identifying patterns across clinical programs, building feedback loops between human data and Research, and ensuring clinical observations influence target selection, modality design, next-generation programs, and portfolio-level understanding of mRNA/LNP behavior in autoimmune applications.
• Build scientific capability and talent by mentoring Directors, Associate Directors, and scientists; establishing best practices; identifying capability gaps; and leading selected cross-functional initiatives that improve scientific quality, consistency, and speed across Translational Medicine.
• Lead external scientific engagement with investigators and experts in autoimmune disease, immunology, and translational medicine; represent Moderna in scientific collaborations and appropriate external forums; drive high-impact publication strategies; and support evaluation of external technologies, partnerships, and innovation.
• Additional duties as may be assigned from time to time.

Here’s What You’ll Need (Basic Qualifications)

• PhD, MD, MD/PhD, PharmD, or equivalent advanced degree in immunology, autoimmune disease, translational medicine, or a related discipline.
• Typically 10+ years of relevant scientific and drug-development experience following advanced training, with substantial biotechnology/pharmaceutical and/or human translational medicine experience.
• Demonstrated track record leading translational strategy for multiple clinical-stage immune-mediated or autoimmune programs.
• Broad and deep expertise in human immunology and autoimmune disease mechanisms, including strong command of adaptive and innate immunology, T-cell regulation, B-cell and autoantibody biology, antigen presentation, and inflammatory signaling.
• Extensive experience with clinical biomarker strategy and biomarker-rich clinical trials, with demonstrated ability to translate complex immune mechanisms and clinical and translational datasets into dose, patient population, proof-of-concept, lifecycle, and other development decisions.
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end drug-development process and how translational evidence influences clinical, regulatory, and portfolio strategy.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and influence senior stakeholders in complex matrix environments, mentor scientific talent, and communicate effectively at executive level.

Here’s What You’ll Bring to the Table (Preferred Qualifications)

• Broad development experience across more than one autoimmune disease or therapeutic modality.
• Expertise in antigen-specific tolerance, Treg biology, B-cell depletion, immune-cell engineering/reprogramming, or other disease-modifying immune approaches.
• Experience with first-in-human development of novel or first-in-class immunomodulatory therapies.
• Experience with mRNA therapeutics, lipid nanoparticle delivery, or related emerging modalities.
• Experience defining translational strategy from early development through later-stage development and supporting major regulatory interactions involving innovative immune mechanisms or biomarker strategies.
• Experience developing cross-program biomarker platforms or translational capabilities.
• Strong external scientific network, recognized scientific credibility in autoimmune disease and/or human translational immunology, and a strong publication record.
• A desire to make an impact as part of a high-growth, transformational company that is Bold, Relentless, Curious, and Collaborative.

Our Working Model

As we build our company, we have always believed an in-person culture is critical to our success. Moderna champions the significant benefits of in-office collaboration by embracing a 70/30 work model. This 70% in-office structure helps to foster a culture rich in innovation, teamwork, and direct mentorship. Join us in shaping a world where every interaction is an opportunity to learn, contribute, and make a meaningful impact. Moderna is a smoke‑free, alcohol‑free, and drug‑free work environment.

Pay & Benefits

At Moderna, we believe that when you feel your best, you can do your best work. That’s why our benefits and well-being resources are designed to support you—at work, at home, and everywhere in between.

• Competitive healthcare, plus voluntary benefit programs to support your unique needs
• A holistic approach to well-being, with access to fitness, mindfulness, and mental health support
• Family planning benefits, including fertility, adoption, and surrogacy support
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, volunteer days, sabbatical, global recharge days, and a discretionary year-end shutdown
• Savings and investments to help you plan for the future
• Location-specific perks and extras

The salary range for this role is $196,700.00 - $353,400.00. This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An individual’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, performance, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate may be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, other incentive compensation, or equity award, subject to company plan eligibility criteria and individual performance.

About Moderna

Since our founding in 2010, we have aspired to build the leading mRNA technology platform, the infrastructure to reimagine how medicines are created and delivered, and a world‑class team. We believe in giving our people a platform to change medicine and an opportunity to change the world. By living our mission, values, and mindsets every day, our people are the driving force behind our scientific progress and our culture. Together, we are creating a culture of belonging and building an organization that cares deeply for our patients, our employees, the environment, and our communities. We are proud to have been recognized as a Science Magazine Top Biopharma Employer, a Fast Company Best Workplace for Innovators, and a Great Place to Work in the U.S.

Equal Opportunities

Moderna is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, ancestry or citizenship, ethnicity, disability, military or protected veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, or any other personal characteristic protected under applicable law. Moderna is a place where everyone can grow.

Moderna is an E-Verify Employer in the United States. We consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.