Head of Biology

About the Company

Parallel Bio is building a human-first drug discovery platform powered by organoids and AI. By using real human biology from the first experiment, the platform achieves high concordance with clinical patient data, aiming to solve the translation problem in drug discovery.

Responsibilities

• Own the prioritization of therapeutic areas, indications, and targets to shape the scientific roadmap
• Direct disease modeling with the R&D team to determine model requirements and performance readouts
• Validate biological data with the Platform team to ensure scientific accuracy
• Partner with the AI/ML team to select disease targets for foundation models and validate model output
• Collaborate with Business Development to identify partnerships and shape commercial positioning
• Drive in-licensing of drug assets to ensure strong platform-drug fit
• Build the public scientific narrative through patents, publications, white papers, and conference talks
• Decide internal drug discovery programs as the platform matures

Requirements

• PhD in a related biomedical or bioengineering discipline
• Proven leadership and deep expertise in human immunology (innate and adaptive immunity)
• Experience across sub-fields such as cancer, autoimmunity, infectious disease, or allergy
• Strong scientific communication skills for papers, patents, and keynote presentations
• Deep understanding of pharma markets, including immuno-oncology, vaccines, and I&I
• Expertise in pre-IND regulatory processes and FDA data package requirements
• Experience with small molecule, biologic, or cell therapy drug discovery

Preferred Qualifications

• Recognized voice/authority in the immunology field
• Comfort with data-heavy drug discovery platforms or computational biology
• Knowledge of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) or advanced in vitro systems