What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director, Discovery Research position at Two River?
Title: Director, Discovery Research
Company: Stealth Portfolio Company
Location: Boston, MA
Reports to: Chief Scientific Officer
About Our Company:
We are a stealth-mode biotechnology company developing next generation complex biologics, with an initial focus on high-impact targets in immunology. Our mission is to rapidly design and globally develop highly differentiated therapies for patients with life-threatening diseases.
Position Overview:
We are seeking a creative, motivated and solutions-oriented laboratory leader to build and run our discovery research (wet-lab) function. Reporting to the CSO, the Director of Discovery Research will design and implement the experimental workflows that make and test our multi-specific biologics, build and lead a team of bench scientists, and own the timely delivery of high-quality, well-structured experimental data back to the computational team to drive fast, efficient structure-activity-relationship (SAR) cycles. This individual is the experimental engine of our “lab-in-a-loop”—the person who turns designs into molecules and molecules into decision-grade data—working in tight partnership with computational biology and the platform team across our autoimmune disease and immuno-oncology programs.
Key Responsibilities:
• Design, implement and continuously improve the laboratory workflows used to make and test multi-specific biologics for autoimmune and immuno-oncology programs.
• Build, hire, mentor and lead a team of bench scientists (research associates through senior scientists), setting priorities and ensuring rigorous, reproducible execution.
• Own the generation and on-time delivery of high-quality, well-annotated experimental data that meets the standards required for downstream computational analysis.
• Partner with computational biology to ensure experimental data feeds cleanly back into models—closing the design-make-test-analyze loop and shortening SAR cycle times.
• Establish and enforce experimental standards, protocols and disciplined data-capture practices at the bench (ELN, sample tracking, QC).
• Manage day-to-day laboratory operations, resourcing, and the budget and hiring plan needed to deliver on program timelines.
• Coordinate closely with protein design/engineering and pharmacology colleagues to translate designs into testable molecules and to interpret results.
• Regularly communicate progress, key challenges and mitigation strategies to the CSO and scientific leadership.
• Actively contribute to a collaborative, results-driven culture and maintain high standards of laboratory safety.
Essential Qualifications:
• PhD (or MD/PhD) in immunology, molecular/cell biology, biological engineering or a related field with 10 years of drug discovery and wet-lab experience in industry/biotech.
• Proven experience designing and running laboratory workflows for the discovery and characterization of biologics.
• Demonstrated experience building, hiring and leading bench science teams.
• Track record of delivering high-quality experimental data on timelines that support iterative, fast-moving design cycles.
• Strong collaboration skills working across experimental and computational functions.
Ideal Qualifications:
• Experience with multi-specific biologics; experience with T-cell engagers (TCE) or other complex modalities is strongly preferred.
• Experience operating in an integrated, computationally driven or AI-assisted discovery environment, feeding experimental data into SAR and modeling workflows.
• Domain expertise in autoimmune disease and/or immuno-oncology.
• Familiarity with structured data capture and ELN/LIMS practices that support clean handoff to computational teams.
Equal Opportunity:
Two River is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team with a range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, and we evaluate all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, status as a protected veteran, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities.