Clinical & Scientific Affairs Manager

KilgourMD is dermatologist-founded scalp care, focused on increasing hair growth at its source. We build on a clear understanding of hair biology: hair growth is a skin issue before it is a hair issue. Our evidence program is central to that promise, with 32 studies currently in progress or planning across the portfolio.

About the role

We are hiring a Clinical & Scientific Affairs Manager to own the clinical evidence lifecycle end-to-end, from study design through to the sentence a consumer reads on pack. You will design and manage in-vitro, ex-vivo, and clinical studies with our CRO and lab partners, write the protocols and perception questionnaires, and carry results into peer-reviewed publications, white papers, and accurate, substantiated, plain-language claims for the brand team and consumer. Both scientific rigor and consumer translation matter equally.

Responsibilities

• Own the study portfolio. Design, scope, and manage studies across all modalities: in-vitro (melanin, tyrosinase, gene and protein expression, antioxidant markers), ex-vivo scalp explant and follicle assays, and in-vivo clinical trials including randomized, placebo-controlled, and benchmark-controlled designs.
• Write the protocols and questionnaires. Author protocols, endpoint and timepoint frameworks, and consumer and expert perception questionnaires, each built to substantiate a specific, compliant claim.
• Write the science up. Turn results into scientific reports, white papers, technical dossiers, and peer-reviewed manuscripts including journal supplements and congress abstracts. Own the publication plan and manage submissions through to acceptance.
• Translate it for everyone else. Convert mechanistic and clinical results into language the brand, marketing, and education teams can use. Write the plain-language version yourself: the claim, the proof behind it, what it does and does not permit us to say, and the analogy that makes it land with a non-scientist. Run study read-outs for the commercial team and review creative for scientific accuracy before release.
• Bridge science and claims. Partner with regulatory to translate outcomes into substantiated claims, and to hold the line between a cosmetic claim and a drug claim.
• Run vendors and budgets. Select and manage CROs and lab partners, track quotes, invoices, and milestones across multiple currencies, and keep studies moving against critical-path risk.
• Manage ethics and compliance. Prepare and manage ethics and IRB submissions, and keep every study aligned to the applicable framework.
• Keep the evidence organized. Maintain the clinical studies and publications tracker as the single source of truth, and flag gaps and risks candidly.

Requirements

• An advanced degree. MSc or PhD in a life-science, biomedical, or related field, with genuine fluency in hair and skin biology and mechanistic assays.
• Study management across modalities. Significant experience managing cosmetic, dermatological, or life-sciences studies across in-vitro, ex-vivo, and clinical settings. Depth in one modality alone will not be sufficient.
• Exceptional scientific writing. Demonstrated authorship of protocols and study reports, and of at least one long-form piece: a white paper, technical dossier, review, or peer-reviewed publication.
• Proven science-to-consumer translation. Evidence that you can render a mechanistic or clinical result accurately and compellingly for a non-scientific reader.
• Regulatory and claims literacy. Working knowledge of cosmetic claims substantiation and the line between a cosmetic and a drug claim.
• Vendor and project management. Hands-on experience selecting and managing CROs and labs, and running study budgets and timelines.
• Startup-ready. Comfort owning ambiguity, moving quickly, and communicating directly with the founder and external partners.

Nice to have

• Hair and scalp clinical instruments and scales: trichoscopy and phototrichogram, TEWL, sebumetry, hair-shedding, and density scales.
• A publication record in dermatology or cosmetic-science venues.
• Microbiome sequencing, Raman or penetration studies, or ingredient IP and exclusivity agreements.

Why this role

You will own a serious, science-led evidence program from bench to publication to pack, in a founder-led brand that treats clinical rigor as the product and not the packaging. You will inherit 32 live studies and the mandate to shape the program from here.

Pay

Salary Range: $115,000 - $135,000 annual, based on experience.

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package
• Flexible, remote-first work schedule