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Senior Program and Alliance Manager – Preclinical Development

Position Description

Juvena Therapeutics, Inc. is a regenerative medicine biotechnology startup inviting applicants for Senior of Program and Alliance Management to assist in helping drive our drug discovery platform and preclinical development programs. Candidates should be excited to join a company focused on the discovery and development of novel disease-modifying biologics that promote tissue regeneration by inducing tissue-specific rejuvenating phenotypes. We are discovering and developing various biologics that can promote disease-modifying effects such as increased stem cell activity, increased muscle regeneration, increased metabolism, reduced chronic or localized inflammation, and reduced fibrosis.

You will serve as the hands-on program and alliance manager of a Discovery and Platform project portfolio core to Juvena’s strategy working at the interface of senior leadership and strategic partners. You will help plan, coordinate, and communicate R&D KPIs to drive portfolio management processes of operational objectives. You will also play a critical role in managing and fostering relationships with strategic partners, ensuring that collaborations deliver value to all stakeholders. You will serve as the primary point of contact for alliance partners, working cross-functionally to ensure alignment, track milestones, and resolve challenges.

The position is full-time, partly on-site. This is the perfect opportunity for someone interested in the exciting and fast-paced environment of a startup company and looking to make a difference in improving people’s lives through science.

*Title commensurate with experience

Company Summary

Juvena Therapeutics is on a mission to discover and develop biologics for rare and chronic degenerative diseases by mining the secretomes of human pluripotent stem cells through a machine learning (ML)-enhanced platform. Juvena’s approach integrates proteomics, transcriptomics and imaging with phenotypic human in vitro disease model screening and extensive preclinical validation to mine stem cell secretomes as a rich source of new medicines for chronic and rare diseases. We are advancing leads for muscular dystrophies, muscle atrophy, injury, and osteopathies. Since our launch in mid-2018, Juvena has discovered and validated 22 hits for neuromuscular, skeletal, and metabolic diseases. Juvena is advancing a lead program for Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1, a rare autosomal dominant, progressive muscle-wasting disease.

Juvena Therapeutics has secured venture capital, NIH, and CIRM funding to develop their top lead to a clinical-stage investigational new drug, to build their stem cell secretome database, and to leverage their discovery platform to rapidly identify and validate novel protein-based drug candidates for multiple rare and chronic diseases across inflammatory, cardiometabolic and hepatic therapeutic areas.

At Juvena we embrace a diversity of backgrounds, experience and approaches that all combine to lead us to world-class scientific results in an inclusive environment.

Company Location

640 Galveston Dr. Redwood City, 94063

Strong preference for onsite work at our office, but open to hybrid or remote working arrangements.

The candidate must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.

Key responsibilities

• Working with senior leadership and other stakeholders, lead the establishment of integrated KPIs, R&D program plans, and portfolio management processes that provide a foundation for driving operational objectives, deliverables, governance, execution, and timelines. 
• This is a key leadership role within Juvena Therapeutics, Inc., facilitating across internal technical and cross-functional teams, as well as owning the external pharmaceutical relationship management
• Translate operational outputs into executive governance tactics/strategies
• Drive the potential pharma collaboration alliance management efforts, building strong relationships with external and internal stakeholders. Serve as the main contact for G&A matters and handle any contract issues or disputes that arise, working closely with the Head of Finance and Operations to manage payments and contracts and budget issues  
• Manage meetings, including setting agendas, scheduling, and capturing meeting minutes.
• Work alongside scientists as peers, transforming their insights and work into actionable information/intelligence for program leads and executives to base key decisions off of
• Develop and directly manage project portfolio plans for a) the Discovery programs through IND-filing for multiple Therapeutic Areas, and for b) the Platform program including Data Science/Bioinformatics/AI-ML projects.
• Monitor ongoing projects for potential risks and develop proactive mitigation strategies with management and the relevant R&D teams. Identify, track, and support resolution efforts for all program-related issues and effectively communicate to relevant internal and external contractor teams via regular and ad-hoc status updates.
• Drive resource planning and impact analysis of priority change/pivot scenarios. Manage changes to project scope, ensuring that all impacts and changes are approved and appropriately communicated.
• Liaise with external partners such as pharmaceutical companies and critical suppliers.
• Develop and maintain project/portfolio dashboards, reports, and metrics including timeline GANTTS and status summaries.
• Step in as necessary to drive down general administrative or technical debt associated with a fast moving start-up environment

 Position Qualifications

This position is a great fit if you have/are:

• MS or PhD + PMP certification (Scientific or Computational focused advanced degree is a plus).
• 3+ years of relevant experience in alliance management or business development experience in the life sciences sector
• Proven Track Record: Demonstrated success in managing high-impact partnerships, with an emphasis on deep cross-functional collaboration in biotechnology. Experience with biologics or drug discovery alliances is preferred. Alliance management experience initiating and advancing an internal portfolio with strategic partners
• Industry Knowledge: Strong understanding of the biotechnology industry, regulatory considerations, and market trends.
• 5+ years of program management experience in pharmaceutical industry R&D.
• Skills: Excellent communication, relationship management, negotiation, and collaboration skills, with the ability to drive alignment across cross-functional teams.
• Track record of advancing R&D programs through Discovery to developmental candidate nomination
• Ability to wear many hats with a team-first attitude.

Compensation and Benefits

$135,000- $175,000 annual salary 

On top of a competitive salary for this role of $135,000- $175,000, we offer Medical, Dental, Vision, paid holidays, 401k plan with partial company match, generous stock options, and a target bonus. Salary range and total compensation is based on candidate qualifications, skill level and internal equity.

Apply Now

Please email your CV and Cover Letter to apply@juvenatherapeutics.com with the title of the position as the subject line.

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Research Associate (Intern)

Position Description

Juvena Therapeutics is seeking a highly self-motivated Research Associate intern with the option to become a full-time employee after 3 months. We are searching for an individual who is passionate about developing a multi-omics workflow that deeply interrogates the disease modifying effects of candidate molecules. The individual will be an integral member of the in vitro discovery team and will work alongside computational biologists and machine learning engineers.

Company Summary

Juvena Therapeutics is on a mission to discover and develop biologics for rare and chronic degenerative diseases by mining the secretomes of human pluripotent stem cells through a machine learning (ML)-enhanced platform. Juvena’s approach integrates proteomics, transcriptomics and imaging with phenotypic human in vitro disease model screening and extensive preclinical validation to mine stem cell secretomes as a rich source of new medicines for chronic and rare diseases. We are advancing leads for muscular dystrophies and muscle atrophy, and validating hits across metabolic and pulmonary diseases with a goal to identify and develop two new assets in new disease indications over the next two years. Since our launch in mid-2018, Juvena has discovered dozens of hits for neuromuscular, skeletal, metabolic and pulmonary diseases, including several muscle regenerative protein therapeutic candidates with potent human in vitro and mice in vivo efficacy. Juvena is advancing a developmental candidate for Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1, a rare autosomal dominant, progressive muscle-wasting disease, in IND-enabling studies. 

Juvena Therapeutics has secured venture capital, NIH, and CIRM funding to develop our top lead to a clinical-stage investigational new drug, to build our stem cell secretome database, and to leverage our discovery platform to rapidly identify and validate novel protein-based drug candidates for multiple rare and chronic diseases across metabolic and pulmonary therapeutic areas. At Juvena we embrace a diversity of backgrounds, experience and approaches that all combine to lead us to world-class scientific results in an inclusive environment.

Position Location and work permit requirement

640 Galveston Dr. Redwood City, 64063.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the US.

Major Responsibilities

• Development and optimization of functional genomics and high-content screening technologies
• Execution of NGS workflows including library prep and sequencing from cells and primary tissues
• Build our expertise in human disease models to expand Juvena’s platform screening capabilities across multiple organ model systems
• Integrate the latest in cell culture techniques and analytical methods to increase throughput and information content in our in vitro screening and pharmacology
• Perform experiments in disease model systems as well as support our projects with cell-based and biochemical assays
• Communicate scientific findings across different functional groups

Position Requirements and Experience

• A bachelor’s degree in biology, bioengineering, or a related field
• Experienced with troubleshooting technical challenges related to cell assays

Preferred Qualifications

• 1+ years of undergraduate or industry research experience in cell biology or genomics work
• Experienced in wet lab or dry lab workflows associated with cell culture, imaging, cloning, biochemistry, library preparation, and sequencing
• Experience with high content imaging, automation, or NGS pipelines
• Knowledge of regenerative medicine, adipose, or skeletal muscle biology  
• Experience with programming (Python preferred), especially in image, sequence, or data analysis

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive salary and annual bonus and stock options
• Health/Dental/Vision insurance
• Paid vacation and holidays 
• Partial 401K matching

Apply for the Position

Apply to this Job through the following means: 

• LinkedIn job posting
• Website job posting

Please email your CV and Cover Letter to apply@juvenatherapeutics.com with the title of the position as the subject line.