Senior Director, Immumology

The role

Navigator Medicines is building an immunology-first biotech focused on bispecific drug discovery for immunology and inflammatory diseases.

The Senior Director, Immunology will report to the Chief Scientific Officer, Head of R&D and provide scientific and strategic leadership to advance the company’s bispecific drug discovery programs for immunology and inflammatory indications. This role requires deep expertise in immunology and drug discovery, strong scientific judgment, and the ability to operate effectively within a highly matrixed, collaborative environment.

The ideal candidate combines hands-on discovery experience with exceptional communication skills and a proven ability to build productive internal and external partnerships.

The problems you'll work on

• Define and execute immunology discovery strategies that integrate biological insights, emerging technologies, and market opportunities to advance novel therapies and intellectual property.
• Provide end-to-end scientific leadership for discovery programs, from target identification through IND-enabling studies including pipeline prioritization, balancing biological opportunity with business and portfolio strategy.
• Identify, establish, and manage external collaborations with CROs and academic partners to deliver high-quality preclinical data.
• Analyze and interpret preclinical study results to inform program strategy and decision-making.
• Communicate program strategy and data to senior leadership, scientific advisory boards, and cross-functional teams.
• Support diligence, partnership, and business development discussions as a scientific subject matter expert.
• Partner with CSO to build scientific narrative for investor and corporate development conversations, translating immunology data into clear, compelling narratives that support fundraising and partnering efforts.
• Evaluate external assets and emerging science to identify opportunities that expand and diversify the immunology pipeline.
• Represent the company at scientific conferences, external meetings, and partner interactions.

What you’ll learn

This is a role that will stretch you in three directions at once — the science, the portfolio, and the business around them.

• Bispecific design applied to immune regulation, a modality whose rules are still being written and where the translational questions are genuinely open.
• How a discovery portfolio is built inside a company that already carries clinical-stage discipline and expectations — and what that discipline changes about early decisions.
• The commercial and financial side of biotech science, from a seat close to the CSO: how programs are valued, diligenced, defended, and partnered.
• What it takes to develop for heterogeneous autoimmune populations, where patient selection is often the hardest problem in the program.

How we work

We are a distributed team by design, anchored in two hubs. We ask that you live within roughly an hour of Boston, MA or the San Francisco Bay Area, CA, so you can be with colleagues, partners, and collaborators in person when it matters. The rest of the time, we work remotely and asynchronously.

• Small teams, wide scope. Titles matter less here than judgment. You will do work that a larger organization would spread across three roles.
• Matrixed and collaborative. Almost everything runs across functions and across external partners. Influence does more work than authority.
• Fast, and comfortable being wrong early. We would rather stop a program on good evidence in month six than defend it into year two.

What you bring

• PhD in Immunology, Pharmacology, or a related discipline with 10+ years of industry experience.
• Deep understanding of the drug development process from discovery through IND submission, including GLP requirements, ICH guidelines, and U.S. FDA preclinical regulations.
• Strong strategic thinking, collaboration, and communication skills, with the ability to engage both scientific and business stakeholders.
• Demonstrated success operating in a fast-paced, rapidly evolving environment.
• Prior experience working in a remote or highly distributed environment strongly preferred.

Base compensation for this position ranges from $230,000 - $300,000. Actual base compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors including experience, qualifications, job-related knowledge, demonstrated skills and geographic location. The company reserves the right to modify base salary ranges at any time.