Associate Director, Preclinical Project Leadership,...

Job Title: Associate Director, Preclinical Project Leadership, Paediatric and Rare Cancers
Location: London, Stevenage
Job Type: Permanent with hybrid working (3 days in the office required)

Closing date: 21 October 2026

Agencies: We will only work with recruitment partners on our preferred supplier list and will not engage with speculative CVs submitted.

Are you passionate about making life science life changing and delivering impact for patients? We want to hear from you.

About the role:

The Associate Director, Preclinical Project Leadership, Paediatric and Rare Cancers will be responsible for leading drug discovery and translational projects for paediatric and rare cancers, in line with LifeArc’s mission. The Scientific Director will ensure projects have clear scientific plans with a line-of-sight to clinical evaluation, robust go/no go criteria, high scientific rigour, timely milestone delivery, and robust decision-making, to progress assets through early development and towards IND.

As part of an adaptable, dynamic, and matrixed research environment, the Associate Director will work closely with the Director, Preclinical Strategy and Portfolio (Paediatric and Rare Cancers) in the strategic development and delivery of the preclinical portfolio in this therapeutic area. The role may involve line management of Principal Scientists supporting or leading project delivery.

About you

Key responsibilities include:

Programme & Portfolio Delivery

• Contribute to the strategic development of the paediatric and rare cancer preclinical portfolio, ensuring efficient execution across multiple programmes

• Lead internal and/or collaborative drug discovery programmes, working with multidisciplinary teams to create and maintain programme plans with clear milestones and decision points, key data requirements, and clear go/no-go criteria. Manage CROs and external collaborators contributing to drug discovery projects

• Ensure milestones are delivered on time, within budget, and at the level of scientific quality required to support robust scientific and operational interrogation

Scientific Excellence & Translational Strategy

• Provide expert scientific leadership to progress assets through early discovery toward IND

• Champion best practices in preclinical research and ensure scientific rigour, innovation, and high ‑ quality data generation

• Actively follow current progress in the field, scanning the external landscape for scientific, clinical and technical developments, to identify and exploit new capabilities

Governance, Committees & External Engagement

• Serve on internal and external scientific review committees, providing expert evaluation of data packages, milestone readiness, and budget utilisation

• Support due diligence activities for assets, collaborations, partnerships, and platform expansion opportunities

• Build and maintain strong networks with external scientific partners, collaborators, and funding bodies

• Represent LifeArc on relevant external committees and act as an external ambassador to promote LifeArc’s preclinical projects and activities

Leadership, People Development & Culture

• Where appropriate line-manage scientific staff, setting clear goals, supporting professional development, and fostering high performance

• Promote an inclusive, collaborative culture focused on excellence, continuous learning, and delivery mindset

• Act as an ambassador for LifeArc and model organisational principles and behaviours

Essential experience required:

• Substantial expertise in project leadership of oncology drug discovery programmes in a Pharma or Biotech environment

• Firm operational knowledge of later stage preclinical- and clinical-development pathways to expedite patient impact

• Proven record of scientific leadership, delivery of research programmes, and commitment to innovation, high-quality and rigour

• Experience managing and resourcing portfolios with multiple stakeholders, including external partners, (e.g. academia, industry) and as part of collaborations or consortia

• Excellent stakeholder management skills with proven ability to work with senior R&D leaders

Desirable:

• In depth knowledge of paediatric and/or rare cancers is highly desirable

• Preferably experience across multiple therapeutic modalities (e.g., biologics, small molecules, cell therapies)

Education:

• PhD in a relevant life science discipline, preferably with additional relevant post-doctoral research experience

Skills & abilities:

• Sharing knowledge of, and contributing to, current scientific literature and developments within area of expertise

• Ability to influence stakeholders and drive strategic initiatives

• Deep scientific excellence, critical and analytical thinking, experienced problem solver

• Skilled at building relationships and fostering cross-functional teamwork in a matrix environment

• Ability to align scientific priorities with organisational goals and anticipate future needs

• Exceptional planning skills and execution of projects with a delivery mindset and excellent attention to detail.

About us:

LifeArc is a not-for-profit life science organisation, leading the way for change in rare diseases in the UK and supporting promising initiatives in global health. We seek out research in areas of unmet need that has great potential, providing support to help it become breakthroughs that change lives.

What we can offer you:

Focused on finding life changing solutions for underserved patients, our people thrive in an inclusive, and supportive environment that prioritises their health and wellbeing. Our multidisciplinary approach guarantees our people growth opportunities, while our culture of innovation and collaboration drives the impact we make delivering on our purpose of ‘putting patients at the centre of everything we do’.

LifeArc is committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible and developing a culture that values differences. As a Disability Confident Employer, we guarantee an interview to candidates with a disability or long-term health condition who meet the essential criteria for the role.

Please note that in certain situations, such as high volumes of applications, it may not be practical to interview all eligible candidates. In these cases, we may need to select those who best meet the essential criteria. (At LifeArc, the Disability Confident Scheme’s ‘minimum criteria’ is referred to as ‘essential criteria’).

Salary will be determined by qualifications and experience along with other exceptional benefits. Because we understand everyone has different requirements, our flexible benefits allow you to choose those which are important to you. Our pension scheme offers employer contributions of up to 12%, private health insurance, and annual leave of 31 days PLUS bank holidays.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds, for example, are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At LifeArc we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so whatever your background or lived experience, if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. Our top priority is finding the best candidate, and you may be just right for this or other roles.

We all have potential. At LifeArc, you’ll discover what you can really do with it.