VP, Head of Epilepsy, R&D

Jazz Pharmaceuticals is a global biopharma company whose purpose is to innovate to transform the lives of patients and their families. We are dedicated to developing life-changing medicines for people with serious diseases — often with limited or no therapeutic options. We have a diverse portfolio of marketed medicines, including leading therapies for sleep disorders and epilepsy, and a growing portfolio of cancer treatments.

About the role

This role will elevate the organization’s presence and credibility in the epilepsy space, accelerate innovation that matters to patients, and ensure Jazz epilepsy programs are aligned with the evolving expectations of regulators, clinicians, and the epilepsy community. The role serves as the company’s scientific and strategic leader in epilepsy, co-creates the enterprise category leadership plan, and drives execution across the epilepsy portfolio. This individual will leverage deep academic expertise and established networks to shape the company’s epilepsy pipeline, be accountable for multiple epilepsy development programs, build collaborative ecosystems, and accelerate differentiated therapies for patients. The role is uniquely designed to enable continued thought leadership, academic engagement, and community influence, while expanding impact through industry-scale drug development.

Responsibilities

• Scientific & Clinical Accountability for the R&D Epilepsy Portfolio
  • Develop and shape epilepsy clinical development strategy aligned with portfolio, regulatory expectations, and unmet needs.
  • Define clinical endpoints, trial designs, and patient populations across epilepsy development programs.
  • Integrate scientific insights, literature, and competitive intelligence into actionable program strategies.
  • Steward epilepsy programs through governance to align budget and timeline expectations.
  • Execute multiple epilepsy programs according to budget and timeline.
• External Engagement & Thought Leadership
  • Serve as accountable R&D leader for the Jazz Scientific Advisory Board in Epilepsy.
  • Serve as a leading external scientific voice, building trusted relationships with epilepsy experts and stakeholders.
  • Engage academic epileptologists and experts to inform strategy, evidence generation, and trial design.
  • Represent company at congresses, symposia, and regulatory interactions as epilepsy clinical expert.
• Research Collaboration & Innovation
  • Drive collaborative research initiatives with academic institutions and external partners advancing epilepsy science.
  • Establish and oversee collaborative research aligned with strategic priorities.
  • Identify emerging scientific opportunities and innovative technologies to advance epilepsy therapeutic development.
• Translational Science Leadership
  • Bridge preclinical discoveries and clinical development to enhance probability of success for epilepsy programs.
  • Translate mechanistic insights and biomarkers into clinical hypotheses, endpoints, and decision frameworks.
  • Partner with nonclinical teams to refine target validation and support translational development strategies.
• Internal Leadership & Influence
  • Provide R&D leadership at enterprise-wide epilepsy forums to advance epilepsy pipeline, commercial portfolio, and category leadership.
  • Influence Executive Committee and Board stakeholders through clear, data-rich scientific presentations.
  • Mentor internal teams and contribute to capability building in epilepsy expertise across organization.
• Community & Advocacy Integration
  • Embed patient and caregiver perspectives into development strategy through meaningful community engagement.
  • Partner with advocacy organizations and patients to incorporate patient centricity into trial design and endpoint selection.
  • Ensure development programs reflect diversity, access considerations, and real-world patient priorities.
• People Leadership
  • Proven experience managing and developing high performing teams in a global organization.
  • Experience in building leadership capability through mentoring, coaching and talent development programs to enhance performance and engagement.
  • Experience fostering a learning culture, featuring innovation and operational excellence.
  • Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to lead through change, while building trust and credibility across the enterprise.

Requirements

• Education & Licenses
  • MD, PhD with specialization in Epilepsy.
  • Board Certification in Neurology or subspecialties.
• Experience
  • Minimum of 10 years' experience in drug development in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry.
  • National or international recognition as an academic epileptologist and/or epilepsy drug developer.
  • Significant experience in clinical research and trial leadership, investigator-initiated studies.
  • Strong track record of publications, conference presentations, scientific leadership roles.
  • Established network across academic centers, clinical trial sites, epilepsy organizations.
• Skills & Abilities
  • Proven experience leading and developing teams in a global matrixed organization.
  • Ability to proactively lead through change and ambiguity.
  • Executive presence and communication – ability to effectively communicate complex ideas concisely with impact within executive level forums.
  • Ability to effectively lead cross functional teams and successfully leverage internal and external partnerships.
  • Excellent organizational and time management skills, ability to lead and represent department functions on project teams in a matrix organization.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills with collaborative interpersonal skills.
  • Ability to travel (up to 10%-20% of time).

Pay

For this role, the full and complete base pay range is: $445,000.00 - $506,000.00. Individual compensation paid within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, and other pertinent factors. The goal is to ensure fair and competitive compensation aligned with the candidate's expertise and contributions, within the established pay framework and our Total Compensation philosophy.

Benefits

The successful candidate may also be eligible for:

• A discretionary annual cash bonus or incentive compensation (depending on the role), in accordance with the terms of the Company's Global Cash Bonus Plan or Incentive Compensation Plan.
• Discretionary equity grants in accordance with Jazz's Long Term Equity Incentive Plan.
• Medical, dental and vision insurance.
• 401k retirement savings plan.
• Flexible paid vacation.

For more information on our Benefits offerings please visit: https://careers.jazzpharma.com/benefits.html.