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Salary: USD 164,000 - 205,000 / annual
Xaira Therapeutics is an innovative biotech startup leveraging AI to transform drug discovery and development. The company develops generative AI models to design protein and antibody therapeutics against historically hard-to-drug molecular targets, and foundation models for biology and disease to enable better target elucidation and patient stratification.
You will serve as Principal Scientist for Target Discovery & Portfolio Strategy, identifying new therapeutic opportunities and shaping Xaira's portfolio. Your work will integrate internal datasets, human genetics, and published research to prioritize opportunities that address patient needs and build on Xaira's target discovery and antibody design platforms.
Key responsibilities include:
- Identifying promising disease areas by assessing unmet needs, disease mechanisms, patient subsets, and limitations of current treatments
- Finding and prioritizing targets by combining human genetics, functional genomics, genome-scale multi-omics datasets, and patient data to develop strong therapeutic hypotheses
- Assessing platform fit by working with molecular design, protein engineering, and functional screening teams to identify opportunities where Xaira's platforms offer therapeutic advantage
- Evaluating evidence for causality, desired direction of target modulation, safety risks, and key knowledge gaps
- Building clear recommendations covering disease rationale, patient selection, competition, differentiation, and risks
- Tracking emerging science and competition through publications, clinical results, and competitive landscape monitoring
- Using AI tools to analyze multi-modal data
- Leading discovery programs or platform initiatives
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys connecting scientific findings and translating them into strategic decisions, with strong ability to guide decisions across disciplines.
REQUIREMENTS:
- PhD in immunology or related field
- 6+ years of industry experience in drug discovery, target discovery, preclinical drug development, or translational drug development
- Experience drawing on human genetics, genome-scale multi-omics datasets, and other human data alongside cell biology, disease biology, and clinical findings to evaluate therapeutic hypotheses
- Strong scientific judgment and ability to distinguish interesting associations from credible therapeutic opportunities
- Clear communication skills and ability to guide decisions across disciplines
- Curiosity, independence, and willingness to challenge assumptions and revise recommendations as evidence evolves
