Senior Director, Head of DMPK/ADME

Your new position
Zealand Pharma is expanding its DMPK capabilities and is seeking a Senior Director, DMPK to lead the scientific and operational delivery of nonclinical DMPK activities across the company's pipeline. This role will provide strategic leadership to ensure fit‑for‑purpose DMPK approaches and high‑quality data packages that enable confident, data‑driven project decisions.

A key focus during the first year will be to build and scale DMPK capabilities at our Boston site, with particular emphasis on supporting antibodies and antibody‑peptide conjugates, while ensuring strong scientific and operational integration with the Copenhagen organization. The role will also drive the adoption of automation and AI‑enabled ways of working to enhance efficiency, quality, and scalability.

Senior Director, DMPK reports to the VP of Pharmacokinetics, Immunogenicity and Bioanalytical Sciences and partners closely with cross‑functional R&D stakeholders across discovery and development. The position may be based at Zealand Pharma's headquarters in Copenhagen or at the research hub in Boston.

Your Responsibilities

Provide strategic leadership and oversight for DMPK / ADME strategy and execution across the portfolio

Build, mentor, and scale DMPK capabilities, talent, and ways of working at the Boston site, ensuring strong alignment and integration with Copenhagen standards and interfaces

Oversee bioanalytical method development, including robust nonclinical assay validation and oversight of sample analysis (internal and external)

Lead in‑vitro ADME activities, including stability and drug‑drug interaction (DDI) assessments, ensuring fit‑for‑purpose study design, interpretation, and documentation

Oversee in vivo pharmacokinetics and metabolite identification, integrating findings into a coherent ADME understanding and risk‑based decision framework

Deliver high‑quality nonclinical PK summaries and integrated DMPK data packages to support project decision‑making, governance processes, and external‑facing documentation as required

Drive continuous improvement through the implementation of automation, digital, and AI‑enabled approaches within DMPK workflows

Provide scientific leadership in cross‑functional project teams, partnering closely with Discovery, Translational, Clinical Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Regulatory colleagues

Ensure effective oversight of external partners and CROs, including scientific quality, timelines, and budget accountability

Contribute to regulatory strategy and interactions by ensuring DMPK content is scientifically sound and inspection ready

Your Profile
This role suits a collaborative, science‑driven leader who combines deep DMPK / ADME expertise with sound judgment and a structured approach to decision making. Success in this role requires comfort operating in a fast‑moving multi‑modal pipeline environment, partnering effectively across functions and geographies, and building and developing teams that consistently deliver high‑quality, timely outputs. Strong communication skills are important to translate complex DMPK data into clear actionable recommendations for diverse stakeholders.

Qualifications & Experience

PhD in pharmaceutical sciences or similar with extensive relevant industry experience.

Extensive experience addressing DMPK challenges for multiple modalities.

Proven people‑leadership experience, including building, mentoring and developing high‑performing scientific teams across sites and/or in matrix environments.

Experience contributing to regulatory‑facing DMPK content (e.g., IND/CTA support, responses to agency questions).

Demonstrated ability to set DMPK strategy aligned with project and portfolio priorities, balancing scientific rigor with speed and resource constraints.

Experience ensuring quality, compliance and scientific rigor in nonclinical assay validation oversight, sample analysis oversight, and vendor/CRO interactions.

Experience with oligonucleotides and small molecules is an advantage; experience driving lab automation and AI‑enabled workflows is an advantage.

Your new team
Our department is organized into five teams – DMPK, Immunogenicity, Clinical Bioanalysis, Modeling & Simulation, and Nonclinical Toxicology – providing end‑to‑end understanding of drug behavior, efficacy, and safety. As the DMPK leader, the role collaborates across Medicinal & Biological Chemistry, Modeling & Simulation, Nonclinical Toxicology, and Translational Pharmacology to shape strategies, oversee execution, interpret data, and communicate nonclinical DMPK risks, mitigations, and recommendations to project teams and governance.

The salary expectations for this role are: $222,000‑272,000 USD.

We are committed to an inclusive recruitment process and welcome applications from all job applicants.

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