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Acrivon Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is seeking a Vice President or Senior Vice President to lead Drug Discovery & Biology. The company specializes in precision medicine discovery using its proprietary Generative Phosphoproteomics AP3 platform, which enables interpretation of compound-specific, drug-regulated pathway activity in intact cells and generates actionable insights for drug development.
The company is advancing ACR-368 (prexasertib), a selective CHK1/CHK2 inhibitor in a potentially registrational Phase 2 trial for endometrial cancer with FDA Fast Track and Breakthrough Device designations. Additional pipeline programs include ACR-2316, a WEE1/PKMYT1 inhibitor in Phase 1/2 development showing clinical activity across multiple tumor types, and early-stage CDK11 candidates in IND-enabling studies.
The VP/SVP will provide scientific and strategic leadership for drug discovery and research activities across Boston, MA and Lund, Sweden locations. Responsibilities include: leading Drug Discovery, Biology, Translational Science, and DMPK/Toxicology functions; driving data-driven analysis of phosphoproteomic data to uncover mechanism of action; integrating discovery, biology, pharmacology, translational, DMPK/tox, and clinical data; prioritizing programs from target selection through IND-enabling development and clinical translation; guiding translational strategies encompassing mechanism, PK/PD, biomarkers, and patient selection; partnering with Clinical Development to interpret emerging clinical data; providing scientific oversight of external collaborators and CROs; co-leading and developing R&D leaders; and representing R&D in executive and Board discussions.
The position reports directly to the CEO and requires full-time, on-site presence (five days per week) at Watertown headquarters, with availability for urgent matters outside normal business hours as needed.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Advanced degree in life science field (PhD, MD, MD/PhD, or equivalent)
- Minimum 15 years (VP) or 20 years (SVP) of relevant biotechnology/pharmaceutical R&D experience with significant leadership responsibility
- Outstanding oral and written communication skills; ability to lead multi-disciplinary drug discovery and biology teams across Watertown, MA and Lund, Sweden locations
- Data-driven individual with strong analytical skills; ability to uncover mechanism-of-action based on high-resolution proteomic and phosphoproteomic data
- Proven experience advancing small-molecule programs from discovery through IND-enabling development, with broad understanding of drug discovery, pharmacology, translational science, PK/PD, DMPK, and toxicology
- Strong oncology drug development experience with some clinical development experience strongly preferred; additional experience in immunology and inflammation desirable
- Advanced expertise in standard software programs and ideally in various publicly available OMICS analytics and visualization tools
- Highly developed expertise in generating visually appealing slides that distill complex data into powerful messages for external stakeholders (investors, analysts, bankers), Board and Advisory meetings, and internal teams
- Demonstrated ability to integrate multidisciplinary datasets and make high-quality research decisions when navigating uncertainty
- Strong executive-level scientific communication and collaboration skills; ability to interact and collaborate closely with C-level team members
