Kyverna Therapeutics is a clinical-stage cell therapy company with the mission of engineering a new class of therapies for autoimmune diseases. The Kyverna therapeutic platform combines advanced T cell engineering and synthetic biology technologies to suppress and eliminate the autoreactive immune cells at the origin of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Be at the forefront of cell therapy innovation by joining scientists, industry veterans and healthcare visionaries and help transform how autoimmune diseases are treated.

Kyverna is recruiting an Senior Director, Corporate Counsel to help advance its mission to transform the treatment of autoimmunity for the benefit of patients. The ideal candidate will contribute to our goals of navigating what’s next in synthetic biology, immunology and cell engineering while living our core values: bring intellectual humility, elevate each other, and stay true to why.

The Senior Director will be responsible for developing and providing strategic legal support of Kyverna’s internal stakeholders and external counsel management, with a focus on Kyverna’s clinical trial-related agreements and R&D contracting.

Responsibilities

• Oversee commercial contracting matters, including clinical trial-related agreements.
• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of contracts in support of the corporate objectives.
• Create legal strategy for organizational or team objectives.
• Review and provide strategic direction regarding clinical trial-related documents, such as informed consent forms and privacy documents, and serve as an internal legal expert resource.
• Advise and troubleshoot on existing agreements and operational arrangements.
• Identify and define operational, legal, and financial risks to company reputation and create mitigation strategies for executive leadership discussion and resolution.
• Develop technical and/or business solutions for complex problems in creative and effective ways.
• Effectively interact with internal stakeholders to address legal and business questions.
• Own legal relationships with Clinical Research Organizations (CROs), hospitals, and universities to facilitate clinical trials.
• Manage outside counsel resources.
• Manage the Paralegal function.
• Develop and maintain expertise in applicable laws and regulations that impact the business.
• Demonstrate the ability to work efficiently, prioritize workflow, and meet demanding deadlines while managing multi-dimensional projects in a high-growth, fast-faced environment.
• Handle miscellaneous legal tasks on an as needed basis.

• J.D. degree from an accredited law school with the license to practice law in the United States is required.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience with a life sciences company and/or with a law firm counseling life science company clients.
• Experience creating and leading legal strategy to include external vendor management.
• Experience overseeing a team to develop new methods and solve company-wide matters.
• Proven track record of building strong and enduring relationships with cross-functional stakeholders - internal and external.
• Developed “soft skills” including maintaining a high degree of personal integrity, capable and effective empathetic listening, being humble and sensitive to client issues, and remaining down-to-earth and collaborative.
• Eagerness to creatively engage business leaders to fully understand complex issues and articulate creative and practical solutions and alternatives.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, effective cross-disciplinary oral and written communication skills with an ability to adapt style to communicate all levels within the organization.
• Self-motivated to adapt, with the ability to quickly gain trust and credibility.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously and respond to rapidly shifting priorities in ambiguous or challenging situations.
• Flexibility and willingness to work on a broad variety of matters and provide substantive support to the company on an as-needed basis.

The salary range for this position is from $250,000 - $300,000 USD annually. This salary range is an estimate of what we reasonably expect to pay for this posted position, and the actual salary may vary based on various factors, including without limitation individual education, experience, tenure, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data. This position is also eligible for bonus, benefits, and participation in Company’s stock option plan.

Kyverna is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. Kyverna is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identify, sexual orientation, age, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, national origin, veteran status or any other legally protected status. EOE/AA/Vets