Director Preclinical Development Jobs in California

Nurix Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of targeted protein degradation medicines, the next frontier in innovative drug design aimed at improving treatment options for patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases. Powered by a fully AI-integrated discovery engine capable of tackling any protein class, and coupled with unparalleled ligase expertise, Nurix’s dedicated team has built a formidable advantage in translating the science of targeted protein degradation into clinical advancements. Nurix aims to establish degrader-based treatments at the forefront of patient care, writing medicine’s next chapter with a new script to outmatch disease.

Reports to: Senior Vice President, Preclinical and Early Development Alliance & Program Management

Level: Associate Director - Director

Nurixis growing its Preclinical and Early Development Alliance & Program Management capability to support a growing portfolio of IND-enabling and early clinical programs, including partnered assets. We’re looking for a Program Manager to join the team, reporting to the Senior Vice President, Preclinical and Early Development Alliance & Program Management.

This role covers two closely related kinds of work. The first: build and maintain integrated project plans for early development programs, working with functional leads across Research, Translational Sciences, Discovery Biology, Medicinal Chemistry, DMPK, Nonclinical Safety/Toxicology, CMC, Clinical Development, Clinical Operations, Regulatory Affairs, and Biometrics to turn scientific and operational input into clear timelines, dependencies, and decision points. The second: run the day-to-day rhythm of a partnered governance committee, keeping the agenda, the record, and the follow-through, so a shared committee with an external partner can reclaim their focus between meetings.

The PM will work closely with functional leads to understand how work gets done, map how pieces of a program depend on each other, and identify the critical path and the practical impact when priorities, timelines, or resources shift. The role also supports program-level resourcing and forecasting alongside Finance and functional leaders.

Both parts of the role call for turning discussion into clear, documented decisions, then follow through on each one. The Program Manager will also help define the tools, templates, and processes the function uses.

• Build and maintain project plans for assigned programs, covering timelines, milestones, resourcing, and dependencies.
• Work with functional leads and bench scientists to build realistic estimates of how long each piece of work will take, then turn those into program-level dependencies and critical path.
• Coordinate work across Research, Translational Sciences, Nonclinical Safety, CMC, Clinical Development, Clinical Operations, Regulatory Affairs, and Biostats so each function's plan lines up with the program's plan.
• Flag the practical impact of changes in scope, timing, or resourcing (what shifts, what's at risk, and the best next step) for program and functional leadership.
• Facilitate project team meetings toward clear decisions and keep the decision logs so the team has one record of what was decided and why.
• Run the governance committee's day-to-day rhythm and its subteams: build each agenda with the partner's project manager counterpart, pull topics directly from members and subteam leads, and sequence items so the most urgent gets the time it needs.
• Provide meeting materials and keep a shared repository that separates the current cycle from the archive.
• Draft and circulate minutes promptly, tie decisions to the meeting where it was made.
• Turn action items, internal or partnered, into named commitments with an owner and due date, and follow up before the next meeting to confirm they happened.
• Track and elevate risks and issues, and build contingency plans with program, functional, and partner-side leads.
• Prepare status reports, dashboards, and materials for program review and governance meetings, so leadership has clear, current visibility into program health.
• Keep committee and subteam rosters current, flag staffing gaps early, support onboarding new members and leads, and track program and collaboration milestones.
• Support program-level resourcing and forecasting with Finance and functional leaders.
• Help define and improve the project management tools, templates, and processes used across Preclinical and Early Development as this capability grows.
• Build strong working relationships across the project management team, functional stakeholders, and external partners, and help keep a consistent standard of practice across programs.

• Master’s degree in life sciences, engineering, or related technical field; advanced degree a plus.
• 7+ years of project or program management experience in a biotech, pharmaceutical, or CRO setting, spanning discovery through translational and early clinical development.
• Demonstrated ability to build and manage integrated project plans and translate technical or scientific input from functional experts into realistic timelines and dependency maps.
• Strong meeting facilitation skills, with a track record of driving cross-functional groups to clear, documented decisions.
• Good judgment in weighing the downstream effects of program changes, with the ability to clearly explain trade-offs and recommendations to leadership.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with scientists, functional leads, and senior leadership.
• Comfortable building relationships and getting things done without formal authority over the people involved.
• Organized and able to juggle more than one complex program at a time.

• Background in immunology, oncology, or another complex therapeutic area, particularly with exposure to clinical pharmacology.
• Experience supporting formal governance structures with an external partner, such as joint committees or working teams under a collaboration agreement.
• Experience working within a project management structure.
• Alliance experience.
• PMP or equivalent project management certification.
• Comfortable with a role that will change as the project management capability grows.

• Strong team orientation; highly collaborative
• Solutions and results-oriented focus
• Hands-on approach; resourceful and open to diverse points of view