R&D Project Manager

Locus Biosciences is seeking a highly motivated and entrepreneurial applicant to join our team as a full-time R&D Project Manager responsible for developing, maintaining, and executing research plans across Locus Biosciences. The incumbent will be able organize and drive projects across Locus Biosciences to completion, including cross-departmental projects spanning the drug development pipeline. This role requires an ability to interact with technical staff and consistently translate drug development activities across our teams into visible project plans. This person will be responsible for managing detailed project plans across multiple programs, including developing and updating Project Gantt charts, leading status update meetings, and ensuring good cross-team communication. This position is well suited for those that have demonstrated leadership, interpersonal, technical aptitude and problem-solving skills.  Experience with agile projection management, as well as experience working in a start-up environment is preferred.

Why Locus?

• Change the future of medicine and address a serious and unmet patient need by developing completely novel therapeutic modalities.

• Fasttrack your career by tackling large & meaningful projects

• Work with a team of exceptionally talented and hardworking individuals while striving to achieve a common mission

• Partner with the most highly respected pharmaceutical companies in the world

• Bonus pool eligibility

• Health, dental, vision, life insurance, 401(k) with company matching, and PTO

• Free access to fitness center and classes

Responsibilities will include:

• Lead development of the activities and timelines and ensure proper integration and alignment of managed projects across the company. Projects will include those within and across our R&D, GMP Manufacturing and Clinical Operations units.

• Perform project management functions for assigned projects and programs, ensuring project goals, timeframe, accountability and budget are achieved.

• Plan, coordinate, and administer activities of assigned projects to include developing and implementing procedures, processes, and systems; coordinating training employees to ensure project continuity and quality.

• Provide direction and oversight to cross-functional project teams, including internal and third-party vendors.

• Plan, lead, and facilitate regular cross-functional project team meetings.

• Develop detailed task lists and work effort assessment and short and long-term resource allocation plans based on input from stakeholders and team members in alignment with company resourcing plans a program priorities.

• Creative problem-solving to resolve programmatic issues and mitigate risks, leveraging subject matter experts to resolve new challenges.

• Collaborate with functional representatives to anticipate and identify project risks and develop action and resolution plans. Communicate issues and risks, develop plans to remove or mitigate them, and escalate as warranted.

• Assist in the definition of project scope and objectives working closely with relevant project stakeholders. Manage project scope, including identifying and negotiating changes in scope with project stakeholders

• Establish and maintain effective communication channels to provide accurate information to the leadership team.

• Prepare weekly status reports, internal team documents, and other project governance documents.

• Assist with the development and administration of project-specific budgets.

Candidate must possess:

• A BS or MS degree in Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics or a related field; a PhD is preferred

• 3 years of experience in project management, including cost control, vendor management, schedule development and adherence is preferred. Experience with Microsoft Project is a plus.

• Must be results driven and goal oriented with the ability to anticipate potential problems and resolve before cost and schedule are impacted.

• Proven team leadership skills

• Entrepreneurial spirit

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience with agile project management techniques, including Scrum, preferred.

• A self-starter with the ability to make sound decisions about scheduling, managing priorities and to work independently with minimal supervision.

• Flexible during times of change with the ability to navigate and resolve ambiguity.

• Hands-on active management style while maintaining awareness of team activities.

• Excellent organizational, verbal, and written communication skills with the ability to effectively communicate within cross-functional teams and to upper management.

• Ability to organize and present technical overviews to cross functional departments, and upper management.

• Ability to comprehend the Company and Discovery’s overarching strategic approach to understand and addresses inter-dependencies within Discovery project shrives in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, and collaborative environment. Openly shares knowledge/information needed to accomplish a task or solve a problem.

About Locus Biosciences

Locus Biosciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision antibacterial products to address critical unmet medical needs in treating bacterial infections and microbiome indications. The Locus platform engineers bacterial viruses called bacteriophages to specifically kill target pathogens while leaving non-target bacteria (i.e., the rest of the patient’s microbiome) unharmed and to deliver biotherapeutic payloads to the body sites where they are needed. Locus’s lead program is an engineered bacteriophage product targeting Escherichia coli bacteria in the urinary tract, currently being tested in an active Phase 2/3 clinical trial. Locus has collaborations with BARDA and CARB-X to develop engineered bacteriophage products targeting E. coli infections and Klebsiella pneumoniae infections, respectively. For more information about Locus visit https://www.locus-bio.com/

SHIFT: Full-Time Days, with occasional evening and weekend work

Job Type: Full-time, onsite

Job Location: Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

Direct applicants only. No agencies please.