Vice President, Development Launch Lead na Kardigan

Position Title:  Vice President, Development Launch Lead

Department:  Development

Reports To:  Chief Medical Officer

Location: Princeton, NJ – On-site 4 days per week (Mon to Thurs) 

About Us 

Kardigan is a heart health company working to make cardiovascular disease preventable, curable and no longer the leading cause of death in the world.  

It is Kardigan’s mission to develop multiple targeted treatments in parallel that bring people with cardiovascular diseases to the cures they deserve. 

 Led by Tassos Giannakakos, Jay Edelberg, M.D. and Bob McDowell, Ph.D., Kardigan’s co-founders have reunited after leading MyoKardia to discover and develop mavacamten, the first cardiac myosin inhibitor, resulting in an acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2020. 

 We have a cutting-edge discovery and translational research platform, a pipeline of late-stage candidates, and an industry-leading team that is driven to improve the lives of patients. 

At Kardigan, we are motivated by our values which guide how we work, interact, and achieve our goals. Driven by patients and their families, we are deeply committed to improving the lives of patients and prioritizing their needs above all else. We believe in being authentic—leading with truth to bring out the best in others by creating an environment where every person knows they will be fully accepted. With an eagerness to learn, we encourage the highest levels of curiosity and are open to changing our minds. We are committed to winning as a team with urgency, excellence, and intention, and support each other no matter what role we play or where we sit. Lastly, we strive to enable the impossible because patients are counting on us. We are not afraid to take risks to unlock innovation and advance scientific discoveries.   

These values are the foundation of our work, empowering us to make a real difference, every day.  

Job Overview 

The Development Launch Leader (DLL) is responsible for leading a high performing, cross-functional Global Program   Team (GPT) focused on late-stage clinical development and launch of the antisense oligonucleotide Tonlamarsen for hypertension . The therapeutic program will include development of the lead clinical candidate as well as a back-up candidate.  The DLL will partner with cross-functional subject matter experts to develop the therapeutic vision and strategy, and map out milestones, as well as resource and investment requirements.  They will be accountable for providing direction and leadership to the GPT as well as setting corporate goals and milestones. The DLL is also responsible for budget oversight for the program and identifying resource and investment needs.   Additionally, the DLL is responsible for communicating to both internal and external stakeholders, including Kardigan’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors.  A seasoned leader, the DLL will help develop GPT members, serving as both a mentor and role model.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

• Effectively lead the Tonlamarsen program throughout its life-cycle, through NDA submission, launch activities    and life-cycle management strategy, enabling successful global development and future commercialization of follow-on candidates.

• Drive the development and execution of an integrated program strategy, accountable for identifying resource needs, and establishing the timeline and budget.

• Responsible for driving successful execution by identifying and resolving obstacles and measuring and tracking progress, ensuring value from internal and external collaborations is maximized.
• Provide strategic business perspective to the Executive Committee and CEO regarding the Tonlamarsen program.
• Leverage deep understanding of disease biology, global drug development, and commercialization to effectively drive strategic decision-making.
• Ensure the GPT functions as a high performing team that is an example for the company – consistent with Kardigan’s mission, vision and values. Responsible for members understanding program objectives, strategy, corporate context and timelines. Partner with functional area representatives to identify and ensure adequate resources for timely completion of program objectives.
• Manage and communicate program progress on a continual basis throughout the organization, identifying both cross-program and cross-functional, resource, timeline, and budget issues as well as mitigations.

Qualifications and Preferred Skills 

• The successful candidate should have an advanced degree in life sciences or medicine (MD or PhD).  At least 10 years of industry experience in drug development, including experience in both early and late phase  drug development, and pre-commercial   market preparation.
• Proven track record of being a results-oriented leader of cross functional teams and will have 10+ years of experience leading, managing, and developing people.
• Cardiovascular experience preferred.
• Post launch meetings a plus
• Leadership: Experience leading and motivating teams in a matrix environment is required. Proven interpersonal skills with ability to influence, resolve conflict and drive decisions among internal cross-functional teams, executive management, and external teams.
• Strategic Agility: Ability to develop and execute complex strategies.
• Collaboration/Relationship Management: Ability to effectively collaborate in and across multiple functions, and with internal and external stakeholders of various backgrounds and skill sets. Skilled in establishing a collaborative and respectful environment.
• Influencing: Demonstrated ability leading a matrixed team through influence, motivating others to achieve program objectives.
• Decision Making: Strong decision-making skills and analytical skills are required, taking multiple perspectives into account; exercises sound business judgment that has broad organizational impact.
• Communication: Excellent communication skills (both orally and written) are critical to the success of the role.
• Business Excellence: Good at developing the processes necessary to get things done, knows how to organize people and activities, and knows what to measure and how to measure.
• Negotiation: Proven negotiation skills that effectively drive discussions and decisions to desired end-results that have broad organizational impact.
• Alignment: Proven track record of achieving alignment with internal and external stakeholders.