Director of Translational Science

Job description

**Valius overview** At Valius, we believe that the future of cancer care will be defined by “maximalist” diagnostics: deep, comprehensive assessments of DNA, RNA, and protein designed to give patients and their care teams the best possible understanding of how their tumor works and what its vulnerabilities are. We’re building the diagnostics and bioinformatics company to power this future, starting by applying this approach to patients with challenging cancers. In our first year, we worked with over 75 of these patients and, in many cases, identified plausible therapeutic targets which had not been discovered previously. This coming year, we’re on track to scale our patient volume significantly, all while bringing new diagnostic modalities (e.g., single-cell transcriptomics) and analytical approaches into clinical care for the very first time. We’ve just raised a $13.5M seed round, led by 8VC and Basis Set Ventures, and are looking for people passionate about changing cancer care to join our growing team. **Director of Translational Science role** We’re hiring a Director of Translational Science to work directly with our patients and their care teams to translate complex molecular profile data into clear, evidence-based treatment options. This is a non-traditional translational science role: you’ll operate at the intersection of oncology, molecular genomics, and clinical evidence interpretation, delivering scientifically rigorous, clinically grounded, and compassionate guidance to patients. You’ll also have the opportunity to supervise one or more translational science team members. You may come from a variety of backgrounds, but you should have: - Strong oncology fluency across modalities and tumor types - A deep understanding of the oncology therapeutic landscape - Expert ability to interpret clinical trial evidence and apply it to real-world patient contexts - Exceptional communication skills with patients, clinicians, and scientists across disciplines This is an in-person role in San Francisco or Boston. **What you’ll do** - **Develop treatment strategies:** Prioritize SOC, trials, and other therapeutic options (including off-label/expanded access when appropriate) based on patient molecular data and clinical evidence - **Interpret evidence with rigor:** Synthesize trial data, biomarker subgroup performance, and real-world feasibility to evaluate therapeutic options - **Communicate with patients:** Present findings directly to patients and their care teams, answer their questions, and help them think through next steps - **Partner with computational biology:** Work with our computational biologists to integrate and synthesize patient molecular data (variants, expression, scRNAseq, IHC/mIF as relevant) - **Coach team members:** Oversee one or more supervisees, providing regular coaching and partnership to ensure that they deliver expert, accurate analysis to our patients - **Contribute to internal knowledge bases:** Draft therapy/biomarker evidence summaries, indication briefs, trial digests, and interpretation playbooks for use by the scientific team - **Help guide R&D efforts:** Work with scientific, engineering, and product teams to help develop Valius’s scientific offering **What you’ll bring** - Advanced degree or equivalent experience in a relevant discipline (with substantial oncology experience). An exceptional fit may be considered even in the absence of an advanced degree - Deep understanding of oncology therapeutics (targeted therapy, immuno-oncology, ADCs, resistance, sequencing, tumor-type nuance) - Demonstrated strength interpreting clinical trial evidence and explaining clinical relevance (including biomarker subgroups) - Experience presenting complex information to patients confidently, clearly, and empathetically - Ability to reason from molecular data to therapy hypotheses while respecting evidence strength, contraindications, and real-world practice patterns - Excellent written and verbal communication - Comfort working in a high-stakes, client-facing setting - Comfort working with ambiguity and evolving evidence in fast-moving therapeutic areas - Commitment to our patient-focused mission - Interest in working for a small, early-stage startup **What we’ll bring** - Competitive salary and equity compensation - Generous refresh grants - Comprehensive benefits (health, dental, vision, 401(k)) - Genuine investment in your professional development - Fun, mission-driven team culture