Senior Scientist, Translational Medicines & Biomarkers

About the role

The Senior Scientist ,Translational Medicines & Biomarkers will provide scientific leadership and support across clinical and preclinical development programs. The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and executing translational and biomarker strategies, interpreting biomarkers data integration with PK, PD, ADA, NAb, efficacy, and safety data, and supporting the advancement of clinical-stage and early pipeline programs. This role requires a scientist who can independently analyze complex datasets, develop scientifically rigorous conclusions, and communicate actionable recommendations to multidisciplinary teams and senior leadership.

Avalo Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing therapeutics targeting the IL-1β pathway for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Avalo is advancing its lead anti-IL-1β monoclonal antibody (mAb) drug candidate, abdakibart, into a phase 3 registrational program in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a chronic inflammatory skin condition that affects an estimated 1–4% of the population globally. Avalo is pursuing additional development opportunities in IL-1β driven indications. Avalo is also developing AVTX-010, a long-acting next-generation anti-IL-1β mAb. For more information about Avalo, please visit www.avalotx.com.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement biomarker and translational strategies for clinical-development programs
• Identify pharmacodynamic and potentially predictive, prognostic, and patient-stratification biomarkers
• Provide immunoassays (including PK and PD) input into clinical protocols and sampling schedules.
• Ensure that biomarker plans address the key clinical-development questions for each program
• Evaluate assay readiness, feasibility, validation requirements, and sample-handling considerations
• Lead or support analysis of clinical biomarker datasets
• Integrate biomarker results with efficacy, safety, PK, ADA, NAb, and patient-characteristic data to generate a clear PD picture
• Evaluate response-associated biomarkers, disease subgroups, and potential confounding factors
• Distinguish exploratory signals from robust and biologically meaningful findings
• Develop clear scientific conclusions and recommendations
• Identify additional analyses required to address emerging questions
• Early pipeline Support: Evaluate target biology, mechanisms of action, and disease rationale
• Develop translational plans for early development programs
• Design or recommend experiments to test key mechanistic hypotheses
• Lead CRO oversights, including assay designs, assays executions and raw data analysis.
• Support candidate-selection and indication-selection decisions
• Cross-functional collaboration: Work closely with all stakeholders to ensure program success
• Collaborate with CROs, bioanalytical laboratories, consultants, and academic experts
• Represent Translational Medicine and Biomarkers in program team meetings
• Communicate complex scientific findings clearly to scientific stakeholders
• Scientific communication: Prepare internal data-review presentations and program recommendations
• Conduct literature reviews and competitive landscape assessments

Requirements

• PhD or advanced equivalent degree in immunology, molecular biology, biomedical engineering or a related discipline
• 5-8 years of experience in pharmaceutical development, or translational clinical research, specifically in the I&I space
• Experience in hands-on programming for single cell RNA-seq and protein biomarkers analysis including statistics and machine learning knowledge- significant advantage.
• Strong understanding in in-vitro cell-based assays, and in-vivo inflammatory diseases models
• Ability to integrate complex data from multiple sources
• Demonstrated ability to independently develop and communicate scientific conclusions and recommendations
• Experience working with cross-functional clinical-development teams
• Strong scientific writing skills
• Ability to manage multiple programs and priorities in a dynamic biotechnology environment

Qualifications

• Experience with monoclonal antibody development
• Experience in hidradenitis suppurativa, inflammatory diseases, rheumatology, dermatology, or autoinflammatory