Job Description
About The Department Our Research & Development organization brings together the best minds in life science innovation. The teams located in facilities in Lexington, Watertown, Cambridge and Plainsboro reflect the full R&D continuum, from early research through late-stage clinical development. Here, we are building for the future, creating a distinct R&D community based on collaboration, partnerships, and cutting-edge research across multiple modalities and therapeutic areas. We recognize that improving human health starts here and that patients rely on us. Our R&D hub merges biotech speed and agility with large pharmaceutical company quality, resources, and stability, uniting the best of both worlds to develop new medicines for patients. The Position The Scientific Director will report to the Head of GDDS Boston and will be a critical team member of the GDDS Boston team. The role is responsible for defining and executing the investigative toxicology assay strategy to support early nonclinical development of small molecules at Novo Nordisk. The successful candidate will bring deep expertise in exploratory toxicology and nonclinical safety development, including the scientific and translational considerations required to progress compounds toward clinical and market success. The Scientific Director will lead in vitro screening programs and provide thorough data interpretation to enable risk assessment and guide decision-making. They will mentor and develop more junior colleagues and collaborate cross-functionally with Chemistry, DMPK, Pharmacology, and regulatory nonclinical safety teams to ensure that screening strategy is aligned with overall project goals. In addition, the role will lead toxicology contributions for early and later stage small molecule due diligence activities. Relationships The Scientific Director will be co-located with project chemists and ADME scientists, and part of the Novo Nordisk regulatory toxicology team. In addition, important stakeholders will include toxicologists located in GDDS Denmark, global project leaders, peer experts, scientific leadership, and other colleagues across global R&D. Individual may direct the work of other staff members. Individuals will interact with external research collaborators both academia- & industry-based. Essential Functions Lead global strategic alignment of small-molecule toxicology by defining a consistent, risk-based “toxicity discovery to decision” framework that standardizes how mechanistic hazards are identified, prioritized, tested, and translated into program-critical progression/mitigation/stop recommendations across sites and partners Define, own, and continuously evolve the exploratory/investigative toxicology strategy for early nonclinical small-molecule programs, translating mechanistic risk hypotheses into testable experimental plans Select, design, and prioritize in vitro screening assays by integrating risk-based rationale, MoA/target considerations, study feasibility, and translational relevance to human exposure and metabolism Provide program-level scientific leadership for the generation and quality of investigative toxicology data, ensuring methodological rigor and reproducibility Lead integrated data interpretation and toxicology risk assessment to inform key decision points, including progression, mitigation, or termination, with clear identification of risk drivers and uncertainty Articulate decision-ready scientific rationale by systematically mapping knowledge gaps, threshold/extent concerns, and mechanistic liabilities to actionable next steps Translate exploratory toxicology findings into practical, timeline-aware guidance for nonclinical development planning, including decision gates, study sequencing, and escalation criteria Collaborate with Chemistry, DMPK, Pharmacology, and nonclinical safety to align toxicology strategy with exposure, metabolism, and pharmacology hypotheses Partner with Regulatory Nonclinical Safety to ensure study approach, endpoints, documentation, and outputs support regulatory-aligned planning and risk communication defining Lead toxicology contributions across small molecule due diligence phases (early to later stage), conducting structured data gap assessment, risk triage, and recommendation of remediation or discontinuation actions as warranted Provide scientific governance across functions, delivering timely, evidence-based recommendations and ensuring clear escalation of emerging or unresolved risks Mentor and develop junior colleagues through coaching, review of work/products, and leadership in scientific discussions Represent GDDS Boston externally through thought leadership (presentations, publications, expert networks) and by staying current with emerging to