Vice President, Translational Science (DMPK)

Certara USA, Inc.; Wayne (PA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 450,000; Full time

Job summary

Certara accelerates the potential of bringing medicines to market using biosimulation software, technology, and services. The Vice President of Translational Science (DMPK) will provide scientific leadership across Simcyp's Translational Science team, shaping strategy and innovation in drug metabolism and PK.

You will lead a ~35-person, crossfunctional group, drive PBPK translation, integrate AI/ML and real-world data, engage with clients, regulators, and key opinion leaders, and guide platform

Qualifications

• PhD in Pharmacokinetics, DMPK, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or related discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in Pharmacokinetics, DMPK or Pharmaceutical Sciences.
• Extensive translational science experience including PBPK modelling and DMPK.
• Proven track record leading large scientific teams and multi-stakeholder programs.
• Strong publication, conference, and external engagement history.
• Exceptional communication with executive, regulatory, and client-facing levels.
• Experience or interest in applying AI/ML and advanced analytics to translational science and MIDD.

Responsibilities

• Provide scientific leadership and direction for strategic translational science initiatives and regulatory expectations.
• Oversee design, execution, reporting, and dissemination of scholarly work from the Translational Science in DMPK team.
• Champion AI/ML, real-world data, and analytics to enhance PBPK-based translation.
• Present translational science outputs at national and international conferences, workshops, and scientific forums.
• Oversee platform lifecycle, prioritisation, development, validation, release, and retirement of capabilities.

Skills

Leadership

Translational Science

DMPK

PBPK Modelling

AI/ML in Pharma

Client Engagement

Education

PhD in Pharmacokinetics / DMPK / Pharmaceutical Sciences

Tools

Simcyp Platform

PBPK Software

Job description

Overview

Certara accelerates the potential of bringing medicines to market and to patients using biosimulation software, technology, and services to transform traditional drug discovery and development. Our clients include more than 2,400 biopharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and regulatory agencies across 70 countries.

As we continue to evolve our scientific capabilities and technology platforms, we are seeking a Vice President of Translational Science (DMPK) to provide scientific leadership, strategic vision, and innovation across Simcyp's Translational Science team.

The Vice President of Translational Science (Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, DMPK) leads Simcyp's Translational Science organisation, shaping the scientific direction of DMPKdriven Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) innovation while partnering closely with clients, key opinion leaders, regulators, and crossfunctional internal teams.

This role combines scientific excellence, executive leadership, strategic decisionmaking, and external influence, with a strong focus on delivering highimpact ModelInformed Drug Development (MIDD) through the Simcyp platform.

You will champion innovative translational approaches, including the application of AI/ML and advanced data science, to enhance data integration, model translation, predictive performance, and platform evolution.

Responsibilities

Scientific & Strategic Leadership

• Provide scientific leadership and direction for strategic initiatives, setting translational science priorities, making decisions on scientific approaches, and delivering strategic initiatives while balancing scientific ambition with platform feasibility, timelines, and regulatory expectations.
• Oversee, support, and contribute to the design, execution, reporting, and dissemination of scholarly scientific work from the Translational Science in DMPK team.
• Champion innovative translational approaches, including the integration of AI/ML, realworld data, and advanced analytics to enhance PBPKbased translation.
• Present Simcyp translational science outputs at national and international conferences, workshops, and scientific forums.

Platform & Technical Oversight

• Hold overall responsibility for scientific regression testing of the Simcyp Simulator, ensuring ongoing rigor, quality, and consistency of platform outputs.
• Apply deep DMPK and translational science expertise when supervising the implementation of new scientific modules and capabilities within the Simcyp platform.
• Work in close partnership with the software development teams to translate scientific requirements into robust, maintainable, and highperformance software solutions.
• Provide scientific leadership across the full Simcyp platform lifecycle, including prioritisation, development, validation, release, postrelease support, and strategic retirement of capabilities.
• Guide the Translational Science team in creating, maintaining, implementing, and testing scientific modules and platform components.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Oversee the development, communication, and presentation of strategic initiatives, ensuring transparency, scientific clarity, and alignment with longterm platform and company strategy.
• Support the preparation and delivery of MIDD workshops, focused training sessions, and capabilitybuilding activities related to the Simcyp platform, leading workshops as required.
• Visit client and prospective client organisations to advise on the optimal use of Simcyp, integration of DMPK knowledge, and best practices in translational modelling.
• Engage proactively with regulatory agencies and support platform qualification and regulatory science initiatives.

People & Organizational Leadership

• Lead, manage, and mentor a large, multidisciplinary Translational Science DMPK team (~35 highcalibre scientists), fostering a culture of scientific excellence, collaboration, innovation, and continuous professional development.
• Set clear priorities, expectations, and development plans aligned with corporate and scientific objectives.

Executive Leadership

• Contributing to operational management decisions, company policies, and longterm strategy in alignment with Board objectives.
• Act as a key scientific interface with key opinion leaders, ensuring external scientific insight informs internal priorities, platform evolution, and longterm strategy.
• Hold executive accountability for Translational Science delivery, including prioritisation, resourcing, risk management, and tradeoff decisions impacting the Simcyp platform.

Qualifications

• PhD in Pharmacokinetics, DMPK, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in Pharmacokinetics, DMPK or Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Extensive experience in translational science, PBPK modelling, and DMPK, ideally spanning both industry and consultancy environments.
• Demonstrated success leading large, highly skilled scientific teams and complex, multistakeholder programmes.
• Strong record of scientific publications, conference presentations, and external engagement.
• Exceptional communication skills with the presence and credibility to operate effectively at executive, regulatory, and clientfacing levels.
• Experience or strong interest in applying AI/ML and advanced analytics to translational science and modelinformed drug development.

Certara bases all employment-related decision on merit, taking into consideration qualifications, skills, achievement, and performance. We treat all applicants and employees without regard to personal characteristics such as race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, nationality, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental condition, genetic information, military service, or other characteristic protected by law.