Head of Translational Medicine

The Role: Moderna is seeking an enterprise-minded Head of Translational Medicine to lead and integrate translational medicine, translational research, and clinical pharmacology & pharmacometrics into a unified, high-impact organization. This role will define and execute a cohesive translational strategy across the full lifecycle of Moderna’s oncology and therapeutics pipeline—from discovery through clinical development and lifecycle management. The Head of Translational Medicine will ensure seamless integration of biological insights, biomarker strategies, quantitative pharmacology, and clinical translation to accelerate decision-making, optimize development pathways, and maximize the probability of technical and regulatory success. This is a senior leadership role at the core of Moderna’s ability to translate its mRNA platform into transformative medicines. As a key member of the Development leadership team, this individual will unify translational disciplines to drive innovation at the intersection of Research and Development, shaping how the company makes development decisions, accelerates programs, and delivers differentiated medicines for patients at scale, while leading a large, multidisciplinary organization. Here’s What You’ll Do: Enterprise & Portfolio Strategy Define and lead an integrated, end-to-end translational strategy across Translational Medicine, Translational Research, and Clinical Pharmacology/Pharmacometrics, spanning discovery through lifecycle management Establish a unified framework connecting biological insights, biomarkers, and quantitative pharmacology to enable rapid, data-driven decision-making Ensure alignment of translational strategies with overall program and portfolio objectives, including development pathways, target product profiles, and regulatory strategies Lead translational input into governance, ensuring rigorous, data-driven go/no-go decisions across the pipeline Organizational & Scientific Leadership Lead and unify a high-performing, multidisciplinary translational organization, connecting scientific, clinical, and quantitative capabilities into a cohesive, highly integrated model Serve as a senior leader and thought partner across Research and Development, influencing strategy, prioritization, and execution Represent Moderna’s translational strategy externally, engaging regulators, scientific leaders, and partners to shape scientific direction and advance best-in-class approaches across the portfolio Translational Medicine Lead execution of early clinical translational plans, including biomarker implementation, endpoint operationalization, and data interpretation to enable clear proof-of-concept decisions Partner with clinical development to translate scientific hypotheses into actionable clinical strategies and high-quality study execution Define and validate novel endpoints and patient stratification approaches to enable early decision-making and differentiation Serve as a senior clinical leader in internal and external settings, including study teams, governance, and interactions with investigators and key opinion leaders Translational Research Build and advance differentiated translational capabilities (e.g., molecular assays, sequencing, immune monitoring, CDx) to enable patient selection and mechanistic insight Oversee generation and delivery of stage-appropriate translational data packages to support IND readiness and early clinical development Drive forward and reverse translation, ensuring clinical insights inform discovery, platform innovation, and next-generation therapeutics Lead development of patient identification, pharmacodynamic, and disease monitoring strategies to support clinical entry and advancement Clinical Pharmacology & Pharmacometrics Drive quantitative integration of PK/PD, exposure-response, and modeling & simulation into program-level decision-making and trial design Lead pharmacology contributions to regulatory strategy, includi ... (truncated, view full listing at source)