Vice President, Research - New Technologies

Role Overview

• Define and execute the company’s research and innovation strategy.
• Lead discovery, preclinical research, and early phase development.
• Shape the strategy for next-generation immune cell therapies and CAR-T innovation.
• Evaluate advances in CAR design, gene engineering, synthetic biology, immune tolerance, and related technologies.
• Build an innovation engine that generates future pipeline opportunities and platform extensions.
• Establish external collaborations with academic, biotech, and key opinion leaders.
• Monitor scientific and competitive landscapes to identify emerging opportunities.
• Build and advance a portfolio of next-generation therapeutic candidates.
• Evaluate next generation platform technologies to strengthen long-term competitive advantage.
• Prioritize discovery-stage investments and portfolio opportunities.
• Drive research focused on improving efficacy, safety, persistence, manufacturability, and patient experience.
• Assess novel immune cell engineering approaches and targeted immune reset strategies.
• Define platform evolution and pipeline expansion roadmaps.
• Partner with Business Development on external innovation and licensing opportunities.
• Ensure smooth transition from discovery to IND-enabling development.
• Support regulatory interactions and translational data packages.
• Collaborate with Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs to enable clinical advancement.
• Establish governance, goals, and decision-making frameworks.
• Serve as a scientific advisor to cross functional teams.
• Represent Kyverna externally at conferences, advisory boards, and industry forums.
• Build relationships with key opinion leaders and external experts.
• Support business development, diligence, and strategic partnerships.
• Serve as a thought leader in immunology, autoimmune disease, and cell therapy innovation.

Requirements

• PhD, MD, or equivalent in a relevant scientific discipline.
• 15+ years of biotech/pharma experience with progressive leadership responsibility.
• Proven success leading discovery and translational research organizations.
• Deep expertise in immunology, autoimmune disease, or engineered immune cell therapies.
• Track record advancing programs from discovery through IND-enabling stages.
• Experience leading cross-functional scientific teams across research and early development.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end drug development (discovery through CMC and clinical development).
• Experience in cell therapy, gene engineering, biologics, or related modalities.
• Experience advancing novel cellular engineering technologies into preclinical development.
• Knowledge of emerging in vivo CAR-T technologies, including advances in delivery, persistence, safety, manufacturing, and scalability.
• Experience in autoimmune, neuroimmunology, or immune-mediated diseases.
• Exposure to external innovation, platform evaluation, and strategic partnerships.
• Prior executive leadership experience in clinical-stage biotech.
• Strategic scientific thinker with strong innovation mindset.
• Executive presence and ability to influence across levels.
• Strong cross-functional collaborator across development, regulatory, and technical teams.
• Ability to balance scientific rigor with execution and business priorities.
• Clear communicator who translates complex science into strategic decisions.

Benefits

• bonuses
• benefits
• participation in Company’s stock plan