Senior Project Manager, Biologics R&D – Lead Program

About Xaira Therapeutics

Xaira is an innovative biotech startup focused on leveraging AI to transform drug discovery and development. The company is leading the development of generative AI models to design protein and antibody therapeutics, enabling the creation of medicines against historically hard-to-drug molecular targets. It is also developing foundation models for biology and disease to enable better target elucidation and patient stratification.

Collectively, these technologies aim to continually enable the identification of novel therapies and to improve success in drug development. Xaira is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and London.

About the Role

We are seeking a Senior Project Manager, Biologics R&D to serve as project manager of record for our lead T-cell engager program, as it advances from late-stage research through development candidate nomination and IND-enabling studies. You will partner closely with the Program Team Lead, who owns program strategy and scientific direction, you will own program execution - the integrated plan, timelines, risk management, budget tracking, and the operational machinery that turns strategy into decisions and deliverables.

The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience in biologics R&D, with the ability to own timelines, track deliverables, and partner closely with scientific leads to keep the program moving forward.

This is a role for an experienced antibody-biologics project manager who operates independently: you know the research-to-development transition firsthand, you can pressure-test functional timelines rather than transcribe them, and you drive teams to decision-ready data on schedule.

Key Responsibilities

• Project Planning and Execution
• Own day-to-day planning and execution of the program, ensuring execution of key activities from late-stage research through IND-enabling work across research, nonclinical, CMC, and regulatory workstreams.
• Build and maintain project timelines that capture critical path, major milestones, dependencies, and deliverables.
• Partner with scientific leads and functional stakeholders to align on scope, priorities, resources and progress, pressure-testing functional timelines and assumptions against standard durations and failure modes for biologics early development (e.g., developability, cell line development, GLP toxicology).
• Milestone Management & Decision Support
• Collaborate with scientific teams to define key project milestones, decisional experiments and translate into actionable, resource-informed timelines.
• Frame and compile project data, timelines, risks, value-realization, and trade-offs to support informed decision-making, including development candidate nomination criteria and go/no-go decision packages, framed early and driven to on-time delivery against the baselined plan.
• Coordinate and facilitate planning and documentation of decisive experiments, and update project plans based on results and next steps.
• Cross-Functional Project Coordination
• Facilitate cross-functional collaboration across research and development functions to ensure effective communication and documentation of decisions, alignment of priorities and timelines.
• Schedule and run cross-functional meetings, ensuring clear agendas, effective documentation, and follow-up on action items.
• Monitor interdependencies across functions and proactively identify, flag and resolve conflicts across workstreams.
• Coordinate outsourced workstreams with CROs and CDMOs (e.g., GLP toxicology, cell line and process development), including timeline integration, deliverable tracking, and issue escalation.
• Operational Support & Project Monitoring
• Track project status, risks, and mitigation strategies; provide updates to internal stakeholders. Provide related insights and recommendations; own the program risk register and escalate proactively when risks threaten critical path.
• Coordinate with functional leads to understand resource needs and potential impacts to timelines.
• Contribute to scenario planning and contingency thinking for critical path activities
• Identify operational challenges and recommend improvements to enhance efficiency and coordination.
• Resource Coordination & Timeline Scenarios
• Work closely with functional and team leads to understand resourcing needs, identify gaps and timeline impacts.
• Develop scenario plans for critical path development decisions to support contingency and investment planning to address potential delays, bottlenecks, or shifts in scope.
• Track program budget and spend against plan in partnership with functional leads and finance; flag variances and forecast impacts of scope or timeline changes.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MS, PhD, or equivalent) in life sciences or a related field strongly preferred.
• Minimum of 6+ years of industry experience in biologics R&D, including 3+ years of project or program management with ownership of integrated program plans.
• Proven track record of managing antibody or protein therapeutic projects & programs from research through development candidate nomination and IND-enabling studies; a completed IND filing is a strong plus.
• Working fluency in biologics R&D processes, including nonclinical, CMC (cell line development, process development, developability), and regulatory components, sufficient to build credible plans and pressure-test functional inputs.
• Experience managing outsourced work with CROs and/or CDMOs.
• Experience with T-cell engagers, bispecific antibodies, or other immuno-oncology biologics strongly preferred.
• Strong analytical, planning, and organizational skills; able to translate complex scientific ideas into clear plans.
• Excellent communication, time management collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience with basic project tracking tools (Smartsheet, Confluence, Google Workspace, etc).
• Working familiarity with project and program management principles as defined by the Program Management Institute (PMI) or similar bodies.  PMP, CAPM, or PMI-ACP certifications are a plus, but note hands on experience matters more than the credential itself.

Please note that this position will be required to be on-site in the SSF office. Remote candidates will not be considered.

Preferred Attributes

Comfortable managing projects in a start-up environment which is fast-paced, cross-functional, and where processes are still being built.

Demonstrated ability to lead without authority and influence diverse teams.

Passion for science and dedication to improving patient outcomes through innovative biologics development.