About the role
The Assistant Director / Senior Assistant Director leads the Entrepreneur Partnership Program at ASTAR, bridging early-stage discovery with clinical development. The role involves scientific due diligence, project management, and collaboration with founders to advance drug development projects in oncology, immunology, or metabolism, while providing strategic insight to attract investors.
ResearchOnsiteTherapeutics
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as scientific lead for sourcing and evaluating opportunities for the program through due diligence and competitive landscape assessment
- Provide subject matter expertise in primary therapeutic area (e.g., Oncology, Immunology, Metabolism) to guide experimental design and troubleshoot technical hurdles
- Collaborate and coordinate with scientific founders, entrepreneurs, and operations team to ensure development plans meet milestones
- Lead project management activities, ensuring alignment with program goals and investor expectations
Requirements
- MSc, PhD, or MD in Pharmacology, Biology, Chemistry, or related life sciences field
- 6-10+ years of industry experience in biotech/pharmaceuticals or early-stage life science investments
- Demonstrated analytical rigor and ability to identify gaps in preclinical data packages
- Strong commercial instinct to recognize value inflection points for investors
- Leadership experience mentoring senior scientists and influencing without direct authority in a matrixed environment
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills to translate complex biology into business cases