Overview
Senior Director, Discovery Innovation & Explorations Jobs in San Francisco Bay Area at Osanni Bio
Title: Senior Director, Discovery Innovation & Explorations
Company: Osanni Bio
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Who We Are
Osanni Bio is a development-stage therapeutics platform, headquartered in San Francisco, California. We are creative and agile innovators, relentlessly curious about finding new ways to target the biology behind diseases with the greatest unmet need and determined to do something about it.
At the center of Osanni is its innovation engine, which is optimized for discovering new scientific insights, designing novel drug concepts, and efficiently advancing programs to a meaningful proof-of-concept.Once a program is sufficiently de-risked, it graduates into its ecosystem of affiliate companies, which are equipped with the dedicated focus, specialized talent and support necessary to scale. Osanni’s architecture marries the scientific depth and operational power of a centralized platform with the speed, agility and accountability of independent companies.The result: an opportunity to create and deliver more transformative medicines.
We hold patients and the physicians who care for them as our North Star. It guides our purpose, sharpens our decision-making, and defines our impact. Osanni is currently advancing programs in ophthalmology, cardiology and beyond. We are building a highly skilled team, passionate about having an impact on human health. Be part of creating an organization where people enjoy their work and their colleagues, are valued for their individuality, and can't imagine working anywhere else.
About the Role
Osanni Bio is scaling a unique capability to identify and validate the ideas that become our programs. We are seeking an innovative, scientifically rigorous, and creatively bold individual to join our Explorations function — the engine that generates and refines the novel concepts driving our pipeline.
This role is responsible for helping drive Osanni’s product concept explorations: structured, biodesign-inspired inquiries that start with unmet clinical need, progress to novel biological insights and ultimately differentiated drug concepts. You will generate, iterate, challenge, and refine these concepts in close collaboration with Osanni leadership, scientific advisors, external thought leaders, and Osanni’s cross-functional development teams.
This is not a development role. Your output is a well-formed, expert-vetted drug concept and business thesis ready to be transitioned to a development team. You will be a founding contributor to the Explorations function, working alongside senior leadership to establish how Osanni runs explorations, with room to grow as the team scales.
What You Will Do
- In collaboration with Osanni Leadership and Cross-Functional development teams, you will develop our initial exploration process at Osanni.
- Help establish the processes, frameworks, and norms of Osanni’s explorations function as it scales.
- Lead multiple high-impact product concept explorations each year.
- Gather, synthesize, and integrate information across scientific literature, clinical landscapes, competitive intelligence, financial modeling and external expert perspectives to sharpen and pressure-test concepts.
- Collaborate with a small, high-caliber team to subject concepts to rigorous validation and expert critique; be equally willing to advance strong ideas and retire weak ones.
- Define and articulate selected product concepts clearly — including the disease rationale, biological hypothesis, target or modality fit, and clinical differentiation — in formats accessible to both scientific and non-scientific audiences.
- Engage and cultivate relationships with KOLs, academic collaborators, and scientific thought leaders to access frontier knowledge and stress-test emerging ideas.
- Stay at the forefront of relevant science: literature, conferences, emerging platform technologies, and regulatory signals that could open or close new opportunities.
- Craft early-stage development strategy, operating plan, and budget for new program candidates to inform program nomination decisions.
- Contribute to the prioritization process for advancing compelling concepts into early-stage programs, including framing development feasibility, unmet need, competitive context, and market opportunity.
What You Bring
- PhD, MD, or MD/PhD required; biodesign training and MBA a plus
- 10-15 years of experience in drug discovery, early-stage biotech, business development, venture creation or venture capital strongly preferred
- Genuine scientific curiosity across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities – energized by new biology, not intimidated by it
- Demonstrated history of innovation
- Comfort and demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools
- Demonstrated ability to synthesize complex, multi-domain information and distill it into clear, compelling scientific and business rationale
- Enthusiasm for uncertainty, ambiguity, and exploring questions without predetermined answers
- Willingness to consider unconventional approaches and challenge established dogma
- Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to present credibly to senior scientific and executive audiences
- Collaborative, low-ego team player who can influence without authority
The expected base pay range for this position is $275,000 – $315,000 plus bonus and comprehensive benefits. The base pay range reflects the target range for this position, but individual pay will be determined by additional factors such as job-related skills, experience and relevant education or training.
We are committed to creating a diverse environment and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.
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