Scientific Partnerships at Rarebase

Overview

Rarebase is an early-stage biotechnology public benefit corporation based in Palo Alto, California working to advance personalized medicine for the thousands of genetic diseases that have no effective treatments. We operate at the intersection of technology and biology, collaborating closely with patient communities to ensure that drug discovery and development is aligned with our shared goals - to bring effective treatments to the clinic as quickly and safely as possible.

Our Function™ drug and target discovery platform integrates cellular modeling of disease with functional genomics, high throughput screening, high content imaging and computational biology to identify molecules that address the underlying biology of genetic diseases. To support our rapid growth, we are building a next-generation automated lab and are recruiting a San Francisco Bay Area-based scientific team to be intimately involved in its development.

Rarebase is backed by top-tier institutional investors, pharma and biotech angel investors, families personally affected by rare disease, and others that truly care about our mission to re-invent therapeutic development for genetic diseases. Our advisors are leaders in the biotech and genetic disease community.

The Opportunity

As the Scientific Partnerships Lead, you’ll be the first in line to translate complex scientific concepts to patient organizations and patient advocates directly impacted by rare disease. In this highly visible role, you will connect with new and existing external partners and will take the lead on building trust as well as nurturing, managing, and tracking relationships as they evolve. Throughout the collaboration lifecycle, you will work cross functionally with our science, computational biology, and research operations teams to convert new relationships to formal research collaborations.

To be successful in this role you will need a strong understanding of genetics and the drug discovery process and will need to be comfortable discussing these sensitive topics to a wide range of audiences including academics, industry professionals, and laypeople. You’ll be a great candidate if you are excited to facilitate the advancement of rare disease programs to the next level and are willing to think outside the box about how best to move opportunities to this stage.

In keeping with the urgency and determination of the patient organizations we serve, you will identify ways to continuously improve our process and the way that we engage with the rare disease community. Your work will serve as a core component to all that we do and for which we base many downstream operations and product decisions on, and is critical to our growth and success.

What you’ll do

• Organize and lead science focused meetings with patient organizations and their network of scientific advisors (e.g. Scientific Advisory Boards), pulling in members of the Rarebase Science Team as needed

• Clearly communicate progress of research programs in both scientific and lay terms via written updates, reports and or presentations and effectively present opportunities to expand or further advance research scope(s)

• Work closely with the Head of Partnerships to keep all partners informed by coordinating calls and virtual update meetings

• Engage cross-functionally with the Science, Program Management, and Computational Biology teams to stay apprised of updates and project developments

• Build and manage relationships with patient organization leaders and individual patient families

• Identify new and/or pre-existing opportunities for collaboration based on ongoing advances in Rarebase’s science

• Create clear and engaging content to explain new therapeutic development strategies as our discovery platform capabilities expand and grow

What you’ll bring

• A track record of successfully managing multiple external partnership relationships in parallel and translating complex scientific terms into lay friendly language

• Exceptional communication skills

• M.S. or PhD in genetics or a related field

• Experience working in the rare disease field or in translational research is a plus

• Experience working with patient organizations is a plus

What we offer

• An opportunity to work closely with patient organizations on translational research

• Premium health and dental insurance

• Competitive salary and equity in a growing, well-funded startup

• Generous vacation policy