Director, Early Clinical Development - Nephrology/Immunology (N/I)

About the role

The Director will lead activities related to Early Clinical Development (ECD) essential to the growth of Otsuka’s discovery and early phase pipeline within OPDC’s Early Development Organization (EDO).

Responsibilities

• Serve as scientific and clinical expert in N/I translational medicine and early clinical development, contributing to strategic program decisions; serve as ECD lead on development teams for multiple assets.
• Drive Research-to-Development (R2D) strategies and stage-gate decision-making, including indication prioritization and go/no-go based on mechanistic rationale, benefit-risk, and clinical unmet need as well as on clinical and/or biomarker driven endpoints.
• Prepare and present decision-quality data packages for internal governance reviews to support stage-gate decisions.
• Interact with internal and external groups to evaluate new compounds, molecular and biological targets as well as new formulation technologies.
• Partner with internal and external research organizations to expand and facilitate development of early phase and discovery phase compounds.
• Engage with external experts and key opinion leaders to inform translational and Proof of Concept (PoC) strategy and maintain scientific leadership.
• Represent ECD in cross functional as well as internal/external collaborations (BD, etc.) on activities related to early phase target and asset identification.
• Support regulatory interactions (e.g., pre-IND, IND submissions) and ensure translational strategies align with regulatory requirements.
• Lead scientific and clinical development efforts for assigned programs from target identification through IND and proof-of-concept.
• Provide medical leadership for early-phase clinical protocols, informed consent forms, and investigator brochures; monitor safety and contribute to DSMB or safety review activities as needed.
• Support or lead public-private partnerships operating in pre-competitive settings to advance internal clinical development capabilities.
• Collaborate with biomarker and digital innovation teams to develop and implement biomarker-driven approaches for N/I programs.
• Support the development of team members to build translational and early clinical development expertise.

Qualifications

• MD or MD/PhD with specialty/ training in nephrology, rheumatology or immunology. Dermatologists with immunologic/inflammatory skin disease expertise may also be considered.
• 5+ years of translational medicine and/or early clinical development experience with a track record of advancing biologics and/or small molecules through IND and FIH/PoC.
• Expert understanding of industry best practices and adjacent functional areas.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate and guide cross-functional teams in matrixed, global setting, with solid strategic thinking and the ability to make informed decisions amid uncertainty.
• Outstanding communication skills with the ability to synthesize complex data and influence executive stakeholders.