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Associate Scientist, Global Biologics

Boston, Massachusetts
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  • Job Level: Senior
  • Travel: Minimal (if any)

At Takeda, we strive to provide transformational opportunities for every member of our team, and we empower our people to take charge of their futures. In an environment that fosters lifelong learning and a growth mindset, you’ll have the support you need to thrive — at work and beyond.

Job ID R0156124 Date posted 06/24/2025 Location Cambridge, Massachusetts

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Job Description

Are you looking for a patient-focused, innovation-driven company that will inspire you and empower you to shine? Join us as an Executive Medical Director in our GI & Inflammation Therapeutic Area Unit in our Cambridge, MA office.

​At Takeda, we are transforming the pharmaceutical industry through our R&D-driven market leadership and being a values-led company. To do this, we empower our people to realize their potential through life-changing work. Certified as a Global Top Employer, we offer stimulating careers, encourage innovation, and strive for excellence in everything we do. We foster an inclusive, collaborative workplace, in which our global teams are united by an unwavering commitment to deliver Better Health and a Brighter Future to people around the world.

​Here, you will be a vital contributor to our inspiring, bold mission

POSITION OBJECTIVES:

​The Executive Medical Director

  • leads and drives strategy for the overall global clinical development of an assigned Takeda development franchise or a disease area, taking into consideration the medical, scientific, regulatory, financial and commercial contexts worldwide;
  • leads multi-disciplinary, multi-regional, matrix team(s) through highly complex decisions.  This individual has the responsibility for development decisions assessing and integrating the input from various disciplines to create, maintain, and execute on a franchise/disease area strategy and, as applicable, one or more clinical development plans that will result in the regulatory approval of the compound(s) in single or multiple indications worldwide;
  • applies clinical/medical decision making to clinical development issues.  This individual interacts with and influences R&D senior leadership decision-making by setting strategic direction for a broad part of Takeda’s neuroscience pipeline.  Success or failure directly translates to the ability of R&D to meet its corporate goals and for Takeda to have future commercial products.

ACCOUNTABILITIES:

​Clinical team leadership and Project Team / Clinical team membership

  • Leads clinical teams as Global Clinical Lead or represents Clinical Science on Project and Clinical teams
  • Supports the Global Project Team to ensure that the clinical team activities are aligned with the global strategy.
  • ​Contributes to the overall Asset Strategy by leading generation of the Clinical Development Plan, Clinical Protocols and other documents needed for CDP and study execution and regulatory submissions. Recommends scope, complexity and size, and influences the budget of all aspects of a study or program.
  • Ongoing work output will involve continual critical evaluation of the development strategy to maintain a state-of-the-art development plan that is competitive and consistent with the latest regulatory requirements, proactive identification of challenges, and development of contingency plans to meet them. Recommends high impact global decisions.
  • Responsible for monitoring and interpreting data from ongoing internal and external studies, assessing the medical and scientific implications and making recommendations that impact regional and global development such as “go/no go” decisions or modification of development plans or study designs that may have a significant impact on timelines or product labeling.

​Synopsis / Protocol Development, Study Execution, & Study Interpretation

  • Oversees all Clinical Science activities relating to the preparation / approval of Synopses, Protocols and the conduct of clinical studies. Serves as an advisor or supervisor to other medical directors or clinical scientists involved in these activities and be accountable for the successful design and interpretation of clinical studies.
  • ​Interprets data from an overall scientific standpoint as well as within the context of the medical significance to individual patients.
  • Presents study conclusions to Management and determines how individual study results impact the overall compound strategy.

Trial Medical Monitoring

  • Responsible for or overseeing medical monitoring activities, assessing issues related to protocol conduct and/or individual subject safety.
  • Assesses overall safety information for studies and compound in conjunction with Pharmacovigilance.
  • Oversees non-medical clinical scientists and, as applicable, medical directors with respect to assessment of these issues.
  • Makes final decisions regarding study conduct related to scientific integrity.

​External Interactions

  • Directs interactions with key opinion leaders relevant to assigned compounds and therapeutic area.
  • Provides leadership in meetings and negotiations with key opinion leaders, establishment of strategy for assigned compounds, and the direction of clinical scientists involved in developing documents required to outline the Company positions on research programs or regulatory applications (e.g. briefing reports), materials used for meeting presentations, and formal responses to communications received from the regulatory organizations or opinion leaders.
  • Leads incorporation of advice / recommendations received into the design of clinical studies and programs as appropriate.

​Due Diligence, Business Development and Alliance Projects

  • Responsible for evaluation of potential business development opportunities and conduct of due diligence evaluations assessing scientific, medical and development feasibility, evaluating complete or ongoing clinical trials, and regulatory interactions and future development plans.
  • Leads the development and negotiation of clinical development plans for potential alliances or in-licensing opportunities, interacts with upper management of potential partner/acquisition companies during due diligence visits and alliance negotiations and represents clinical science on internal assessment teams.
  • For ongoing alliance projects, will interface with partner to achieve Takeda’s strategic goals while striving to maintain good working relationship between Takeda and partn​

Leadership, Task Force Participation, Upper Management Accountability

  • Interacts with research division and other functions based on pertinent clinical and development expertise to provide knowledge / understanding of market environment in line with status as scientific content matter expert for assigned compounds or disease areas.
  • Represents clinical science and contributes to or leads internal task forces and Therapeutic Area internal teams, including disease area units as well as global cross-functional teams as appropriate.
  • Hires, mentors, motivates, empowers, develops and retains staff to support assigned activities.

​ 

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

​Education and experience

  • MD or internationally recognized equivalent plus 10 years of clinical research experience within the pharmaceutical industry, including minimum 7 years of phases I-IV experience.
  • ​Previous experience successfully leading matrix teams.

​Skills

  • ​Superior communication, strategic, interpersonal and negotiating skills
  • ​Ability to proactively predict issues and solve problems
  • ​Ability to drive decision-making within a multi-disciplinary, multi-regional, matrix teams
  • ​Diplomacy and positive influencing abilities

​Knowledge

  • Gastroenterology area knowledge desired
  • ​Regional/global Regulatory requirements
  • ​GCP/ICH

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:

​Ability to drive to or fly to various meetings or client sites, including overnight trips. Some international travel may be required.

​Requires approximately –10 - 20% travel.

This position is currently classified as “hybrid” in accordance with Takeda’s Hybrid and Remote Work policy.

​Empowering Our People to Shine

​Discover more at takedajobs.com

​No Phone Calls or Recruiters Please.

#LI-JV2

Takeda Compensation and Benefits Summary

We understand compensation is an important factor as you consider the next step in your career. We are committed to equitable pay for all employees, and we strive to be more transparent with our pay practices.

For Location:

USA - MA - Cambridge

U.S. Base Salary Range:

$282,100.00 - $443,300.00

The estimated salary range reflects an anticipated range for this position. The actual base salary offered may depend on a variety of factors, including the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, specific and unique skills, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job.The actual base salary offered will be in accordance with state or local minimum wage requirements for the job location.

U.S. based employees may be eligible for short-term and/or long-termincentives. U.S.based employees may be eligible to participate in medical, dental, vision insurance, a 401(k) plan and company match, short-term and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, a tuition reimbursement program, paid volunteer time off, company holidays, and well-being benefits, among others. U.S.based employees are also eligible to receive, per calendar year, up to 80 hours of sick time, and new hires are eligible to accrue up to 120 hours of paid vacation.

EEO Statement

Takeda is proud in its commitment to creating a diverse workforce and providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, parental status, national origin, age, disability, citizenship status, genetic information or characteristics, marital status, status as a Vietnam era veteran, special disabled veteran, or other protected veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws, and any other characteristic protected by law.

Locations

USA - MA - Cambridge

Worker Type

Employee

Worker Sub-Type

Regular

Time Type

Full time

Job Exempt

Yes

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
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Where you fit in

Our team at Takeda is tackling some of the most challenging problems in drug discovery and development. As the newest member of our Research team, you’ll conduct purposeful, meaningful work on groundbreaking modalities that may lead to breakthrough drugs.

With our deep investment in next-generation technologies, you’ll have the resources and support to do your best work. As a part of our team, you’ll connect with brilliant minds inside and outside of Takeda. We are committed to collaborating with academia and emerging biotech companies to expand our reach and impact in cell therapy, gene therapy and data sciences.

Our team’s wide-ranging expertise includes medicinal chemistry, genomics datasets, immunofluorescence, high content imaging, flow cytometry, transcriptional profiling, multi-step synthesis, multimodal genetics, pharmacokinetics and much more. Whatever area inspires you, your work will support the progression of an innovative, industry-leading discovery pipeline and make an impact that matters to patients and society.

A career in Research at Takeda will give you everything you need to succeed professionally — and make a difference to patients, people and the planet.

  • Design and carry out experiments

  • Manage multiple projects

  • Document data

  • Mentor other scientists

Along with incredibly passionate colleagues, there’s a clear commitment to invest in the best facilities and the right equipment needed to successfully perform world-class science.

Christina Alves - Head of Biotherapeutics Process Development

Our pipeline

Our internal research capabilities and external partnerships contribute to an R&D engine that has produced exciting new molecular entities (NMEs) across our core Therapeutic Areas. Check out our pipeline and see how we’ll continue delivering a steady stream of next-generation therapies.

Learn more

What we believe in

Our values of Takeda-ism are Integrity, Fairness, Honesty and Perseverance, with Integrity as the core. These are brought to life through actions based on Patient, Trust, Reputation and Business, in that order.

Our belief in putting people first extends beyond our patients — it includes their families and communities, as well as our Takeda colleagues and their families.

We are committed to embracing our differences, valuing different perspectives, and fostering a culture of respect, inclusiveness and empowerment.

Our embedded Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) strategy enables us to attract and retain exceptional talent, drives innovation, and helps address systemic inequalities in our communities.

  • Integrity

  • Fairness

  • Honesty

  • Perseverance

Working at Takeda

  • Inclusion

    Here, you will feel welcomed, respected, and valued as a vital contributor to our global team.
  • Collaboration

    A strong, borderless team, we strive together towards our priorities and inspiring mission.
  • Innovation

    Bold initiatives, continuous improvement, and creativity are at the heart of how we bring scientific breakthroughs from the lab to patients.
  • Top Workplace

    Recognized for our culture and way of working, we’re one of only 17 companies to receive Top Global Employer® status for 2024.
  • Work-Life

    Our people-first mission extends beyond patients to include their families, communities, and our own Takeda family.
  • Empowerment

    Through trust and respect, you will have genuine support from leaders, managers, and colleagues to do your best work.

We're Steadfast In Our Commitment to Four Key Imperatives

Patient


Responsibly translate science into highly innovative medicines and accelerate access to improve lives worldwide.

People


Create an exceptional people experience.

Planet


Protect our planet.

Data & Digital


Transform Takeda into the most trusted, data-driven, outcomes-based biopharmaceutical company.

Exterior of Takeda Building

About our location

Boston, Massachusetts


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