The Director of the Sealy Institute for Drug Discovery (“SIDD”) will be responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership for the development of safe and effective therapeutics within an academic setting. The incumbent will lead a team of experienced and innovative discovery chemists and biochemists to work cross-functionally with UTMB academic departments and external collaborators. The Director responsibilities include overall development of the team that will enable SIDD to achieve its strategic goal of becoming a national leader in the discovery and development of next generation of drugs for combating emerging infectious diseases as well as brain disorders, mentorship in scientific and project leadership as well as the development of strategic plans for the effective utilization of state-of-the-art screen facilities, medicinal chemistry expertise that will be available within SIDD along with UTMB’s academic research enterprise including the Galveston National Laboratory (“GNL”). The incumbent will be accountable for early drug discovery and, through collaborating with external partners, for pre-clinical candidate development.

Essential Job Functions:

• Set and direct implementation of strategic and tactical objectives to achieved portfolio deliverables in a timely manner. Accountable for ensuring delivery and execution of initial drug concepts and initial product profile criteria, delivery of assays to support molecular and phenotypic screening, and identification of early tool needs through strong partnerships across functions.
• Accountable as member of the leadership team for establishing and progressing SIDD productivity deliverables and innovation objectives, driving portfolio innovation and success, maintaining a high-performance culture, ensuring seamless intradepartmental communication and collaboration, and effectively managing departmental budget and operations with scope of responsibility.
• Represent disease area in discussions with stakeholders and business partners to successfully influence and advance the SIDD’s business priorities and objectives.
• Identify, develop and manage a network of internal and external scientific partnerships to establish project value propositions and implement critical drug concept research, scientific differentiation and pharmacology studies to support portfolio decision-making. Build a strong reputation for the SIDD in the external community by publishing, actively participating and presenting at scientific conferences.
• Be a strong and entrepreneurial scientific leader and use expertise to drive strong performance of group by recruiting, retaining and developing a high-quality staff. Effectively drive high performance culture by direct and indirect reports.
• Create a robust infrastructure to facilitate the creation of intellectual property leading to the development and transition of new therapeutics to the market.
• Provide strategic and operational leadership for the research and delivery of drug discovery.
• Ability to track progress against project plans, generate status updates and communicate progress and issues to management.
• Manage, coach and mentor direct reports, and effectively coordinate SIDD resources to meet discovery goals.
• Maintain a continuing knowledge of scientific advances occurring within the industry and academic.
• Provide strong leadership in working with diverse UTMB research leaders to facilitate state-of-the-art research that stimulates basic science, translational studies, and advanced product development initiatives.
• Facilitates the educational mission of UTMB.
• Develops relationships with external organizations.

Marginal or Periodic Functions:

• Adheres to internal controls and reporting structure.
• Performs related duties as required.
• Other duties as assigned by the Provost or President.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Previous successful delivery of clinical drug candidates
• Demonstrated scientific leadership ability
• Active or recently active in research with academic or equivalent experience
• Direct experience in delivering clinical drug candidates.
• Creative problem solver with a track record of innovation, preclinical and clinical achievements
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to work in a team environment.
• Demonstrated leadership in team building, team managing, and ability to thrive in a cultural change environment.
• Proven track record in setting strategic and tactical direction and priorities to lead successful drug discovery efforts, at the project and line management level.
• Strong leadership abilities for project teams and line management responsibilities, and an ability to bring together diverse skill sets to form a cohesive team.
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written.
• A passion for research and commitment to professionalism.

Minimum Qualifications:

• PhD, MD or equivalent terminal degree within relevant scientific field (e.g., chemistry, pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, infectious disease, immunology, neuroscience)
• A minimum of 5-10 years of experience in drug discovery and development.
• Direct experience in delivering clinical drug candidates for academia and/or industry.

Preferred Qualifications:

• PhD in chemistry or chemical biology
• A minimum of 8 years of experience in drug delivery research in the pharmaceutical industry or academia
• Additional years of experience and/or type/area of work experience preferred for job (e.g., job duties related to drug discovery and pharma)

Equal Employment Opportunity:

UTMB Health strives to provide equal opportunity employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state or local laws unless such distinction is required by law. As a VEVRAA Federal Contractor, UTMB Health takes affirmative action to hire and advance women, minorities, protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.