Director, Solid Oral Formulations
About the role
The Director, Solid Oral Formulation serves as the technical lead and subject matter expert (SME) for oral solid dosage form development, scale-up, validation (PPQ), commercial manufacturing, and lifecycle management. This role is responsible for providing strategic and technical oversight of external CDMO partners supporting Phase 3, registration, commercial launch, and post-approval operations.
Responsibilities
Technical Leadership: Serve as the company's technical SME for solid oral dosage forms, including immediate-release, modified-release, and specialty tablet technologies. Provide strategic leadership for formulation optimization, process characterization, scale-up, technology transfer, validation, and commercial manufacturing.
Drive scientific evaluations and risk assessments supporting formulation improvements, process robustness, and manufacturing efficiency.
CDMO Oversight and Governance: Provide technical oversight and governance of CDMO partners responsible for Phase 3, registration, exhibit, and commercial tablet manufacturing activities. Establish performance expectations and ensure execution of manufacturing, validation, stability, and regulatory commitments.
Review and approve manufacturing strategies, process development plans, protocols, reports, investigations, and change controls. Lead regular technical and operational reviews with CDMO partners to monitor compliance, project execution, quality metrics, capacity planning, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Audit and assess CDMO readiness for commercial supply and regulatory inspections.
Process Development, Scale-Up and Validation: Lead process optimization activities focused on blending, granulation, compression, coating, tablet finishing, packaging, and distribution readiness. Oversee process characterization studies and design-of-experiment (DoE) activities supporting process validation and regulatory filings.
Provide technical leadership for technology transfer activities between development, pilot, and commercial manufacturing sites. Review and approve validation strategies, including process performance qualification (PPQ), cleaning validation, hold-time studies, and continued process verification programs.
Ensure commercial processes are capable, reproducible, and aligned with established critical quality attributes (CQAs) and critical process parameters (CPPs).
Regulatory and PAI Readiness: Lead technical preparation for FDA, EMA, MHRA, PMDA, and other regulatory agency inspections. Serve as the manufacturing and formulation SME during Pre-Approval Inspections (PAI), regulatory audits, and health authority interactions.
Support commercial launch readiness activities, including inventory strategy, manufacturing capacity planning, process validation completion, and supply chain risk management. Evaluate and approve commercial manufacturing changes through formal change control processes.
Support annual product reviews, continued process verification, deviation investigations, root-cause analyses, and CAPA implementation. Develop long-term product lifecycle strategies to ensure sustainable commercial supply and regulatory compliance.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Collaborate across Technical Operations, CMC, Quality Assurance, Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Supply, Supply Chain, and Program Management functions. Communicate technical strategies, risks, mitigation plans, and recommendations to senior leadership and executive management. Mentor junior scientists and manufacturing professionals while fostering a culture of scientific excellence and operational execution.
Requirements
Education and Experience: Ph.D., M.S., or equivalent degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, or related scientific discipline. Minimum 12-15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience with increasing responsibility in drug product development and commercial manufacturing.
Experience: Extensive experience with oral solid dosage forms, particularly tablet formulation development, scale-up, validation, and commercial manufacturing. Direct experience supporting FDA Pre-Approval Inspections (PAIs), regulatory inspections, and commercial approvals. Experience leading process validation, technology transfer, commercial readiness, and lifecycle management activities for marketed products.
Knowledge and Skills: Recognized technical expertise in solid oral dosage form development and commercial tablet manufacturing. Deep understanding of cGMPs, ICH guidelines, FDA regulations, QbD principles, process validation, and lifecycle management. Strong knowledge of granulation, blending, tablet compression, coating, packaging, and commercial manufacturing operations. Experience with process characterization, statistical analysis, DoE, risk management, and control strategy development. Proven ability to influence internal and external stakeholders in matrix organizations. Strong leadership, communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills. Demonstrated capability to operate effectively in a fast-paced biotech or pharmaceutical environment while managing multiple products and priorities simultaneously.
Benefits
Viking Therapeutics, Inc. is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status. Viking Therapeutics also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA.
Pay
$210,000.00 - $220,000.00 annual salary