Director of Toxicology

Everett, Washington | On-Site

Base Salary: $130,000–$200,000

RPM ReSearch is partnering with a growing preclinical drug development organization to identify a Director of Toxicology for its Everett, Washington facility.

This is an opportunity for an accomplished toxicologist to lead Study Directors, remain connected to the science, work directly with sponsors, and influence how complex development programs are executed.

It is also a role where the organization is willing to look beyond titles and degrees.

You may already be a Director leading a substantial toxicology group. You may be an Associate Director ready for more responsibility. Or you may be an accomplished Senior Study Director who has demonstrated the scientific judgment and people leadership to take the next step.

Our client is interested in what you have done, what you can lead, and what you are capable of becoming.

Lead the Scientists Who Lead the Studies

• You will lead a team of approximately five Study Directors responsible for in vivo preclinical programs.
• Your role goes considerably beyond supervising workload.
• You will help develop Study Directors scientifically and professionally, provide guidance when studies become complicated, review study results and comprehensive summaries, support GLP and regulatory compliance, and help ensure that sponsors receive scientifically sound work on schedule.
• When a Study Director encounters a difficult scientific question, you can step into the discussion.
• When someone needs development, you can coach them.
• When workloads need to change, you can make those decisions.
• When you identify a process that could work better, you will have the opportunity to improve it.

And you will remain close to the work yourself.

Directors occasionally lead studies so they stay connected to study execution, understand where the challenges occur, and maintain firsthand knowledge of the processes their teams are responsible for delivering.

A Broader Scientific Environment

While your leadership responsibility will be based in Everett, you will be joining a much broader drug development organization.

Our client operates multiple research facilities across the United States and Canada, with capabilities extending across preclinical research, bioanalysis, clinical research, and drug product formulation and manufacturing.

Within the preclinical organization, scientists work across a wide variety of therapeutic modalities, species, study types, and specialized capabilities.

The broader scientific environment includes expertise in areas such as:

• General and specialty toxicology
• Safety pharmacology
• Bioanalysis
• Ophthalmology
• CNS research
• Exploratory and discovery research
• Medical devices
• Surgical models
• Small and large molecules
• Monoclonal antibodies
• Antibody-drug conjugates
• Oligonucleotides
• Gene and cell therapies
• Rodent and non-rodent models

Different sites and scientific teams bring different expertise to the organization.

For a scientist who enjoys learning outside a narrow specialty, that creates an environment where difficult questions can bring together people with different scientific perspectives.

Your position is focused in Everett. Your scientific environment is much larger.

What Success Looks Like

• There is not a broken department waiting for someone to fix it.
• The first objective is to continue doing excellent work.
• Your Study Directors should execute their studies successfully. Dosing and sample collection need to happen correctly and on schedule. Data need to be interpreted appropriately. Reports need to move forward on time. Sponsors need consistent communication.
• Ultimately, sponsors should be confident in both the science and the team conducting it.
• From there, you will be encouraged to make things better.
• You might identify a process that can be shortened.
• You might help a developing Study Director become an exceptional one.
• You might recognize a quality risk before it becomes a problem.
• You might help resolve an unexpected scientific finding.
• Or you might join a sponsor conversation when a program becomes particularly complex.

The expectation isn't change for the sake of change.

It is maintaining a strong operation while continually looking for opportunities to improve it.

Develop People, Not Just Studies

• One of the most important responsibilities of this position is developing scientists.
• That can mean coaching someone through a challenging study, reviewing complex findings together, exposing developing leaders to sponsor conversations, helping scientists understand the business implications of their work, or adjusting responsibilities while someone develops.
• Our client also has experienced scientific leaders and subject-matter experts throughout the organization who can serve as resources and mentors.
• Development can include direct coaching, shadowing, exposure to unusual study designs, complex report reviews, client interactions, and learning from experienced scientists across different parts of the organization.
• This creates an interesting opportunity for someone making their first move into Director-level leadership.
• You won't be expected to suddenly know everything simply because your title changed.
• But you will be expected to continue developing yourself while doing the same for the scientists who report to you.

Sponsors Are Part of the Job

This is a CRO environment.

• Scientific quality and client experience are connected.
• Study Directors maintain regular communication with sponsors. As Director, you become another scientific and relationship resource when the situation requires additional expertise.
• Sometimes that means helping solve a technical problem.
• Sometimes it means explaining an unexpected finding.
• Sometimes it means helping a sponsor think through what should happen next.
• And sometimes it means speaking with a prospective client about the organization's capabilities and explaining why your scientific team is the right one to conduct their program.

If you enjoy being the scientist who can translate complicated science into a productive client conversation, there is room to do that here.

What Are We Looking For?

There isn't one résumé that qualifies someone for this position.

We are interested in a combination of:

• Significant in vivo toxicology or safety assessment experience
• Experience conducting GLP and development-enabling studies
• Strong understanding of study design, execution, interpretation, and reporting
• Experience leading, mentoring, or developing Study Directors or scientific teams
• The ability to communicate directly and credibly with sponsors
• Scientific judgment when studies become complicated
• Understanding of quality and regulatory expectations
• Ability to work effectively across scientific, operational, and quality functions
• Ability to recognize weaknesses in processes and improve them
• Genuine interest in developing people rather than simply supervising them

CRO experience is particularly relevant because of the combination of scientific, sponsor-facing, regulatory, and operational responsibilities involved in this position.

However, we are interested in the entirety of your experience rather than checking boxes against one predetermined career path.

Your Degree Does Not Define Your Ceiling

• Bachelor's, master's, doctoral, veterinary, and other relevant scientific educational backgrounds can be considered.
• Experience matters.
• Have you successfully led development-enabling toxicology studies?
• Do you understand what it takes to execute GLP work?
• Can you lead scientists who do this work?
• Can you develop people?
• Can you communicate credibly with a sponsor?
• Can you make good decisions when the science gets complicated?

Those questions matter more than requiring one specific degree.

You Don't Necessarily Need to Be a Director Today

• This is another area where our client is willing to be flexible.
• An established Director of Toxicology or Safety Assessment could be an excellent fit.
• So could an Associate Director ready for greater ownership.
• And there are experienced Senior Study Directors and Senior Toxicologists who may have led only a small number of people but have accumulated the scientific experience, judgment, sponsor exposure, and leadership ability to make this their next move.
• Managing two people exceptionally well can tell us more than having ten names on an organizational chart.
• We want to understand the complexity of the studies you have handled, the people you have developed, the decisions you have owned, your interactions with sponsors, and how your responsibilities have progressed throughout your career.

Why Consider This Move?

• There is an interesting middle ground between joining a small specialist organization and working inside a massive organization where scientists can become increasingly siloed as their careers progress.
• Our client offers considerable scientific breadth while still expecting scientific leaders to remain connected to their teams, their studies, and their sponsors.
• For someone who enjoys solving difficult problems collaboratively, learning from scientists outside their immediate specialty, developing other scientists, and seeing how their work contributes to moving therapeutic programs forward, that combination can be compelling.
• The organization is also growing.
• That creates opportunities for scientific leaders to expand their influence, responsibilities, and professional development over time.

Compensation

Base Salary: $130,000–$200,000

The range is intentionally broad.

• Our client is willing to consider different career paths and levels of current responsibility rather than defining the successful candidate by one title, degree, or department size.
• Final compensation will reflect relevant scientific experience, GLP study experience, leadership scope, sponsor-facing experience, and the overall level of responsibility the individual is prepared to assume.

Location

This position is based in Everett, Washington and is an on-site leadership position.

Relocation candidates can be considered.

Interested?

You do not need to decide whether this is your next job before talking with us.

That is what the first conversation is for.

If you have built your career in toxicology, enjoy developing scientists, want to stay connected to the science, and are curious about what broader leadership could look like, RPM ReSearch would like to hear your story and share more about the opportunity.