Executive Director, Eye Health and Emerging Areas, ExpMed - Experimental Sciences

Company: Boehringer Ingelheim
Location: Ridgefield
Posted on: January 14, 2026

Job Description:

This globally acting leadership role within Experimental Medicine combines scientific excellence, strategic vision, and people leadership to drive innovation across early clinical development. The Executive Director, Eye Health & Emerging Areas Exp Med Experimental Science is central to delivering on the Experimental Medicine mission: to build deep understanding of diseases and drug mechanisms by developing and implementing cutting-edge translational strategies throughout the clinical development pipeline. As a recognized expert and leader—either functionally or within a Therapeutic Area—the role is responsible for: • Leading high-impact clinical drug development activities and strategic initiatives of significant complexity and value. • Driving state-of-the-art strategies, technologies, methodologies, and processes within the area of responsibility. • Championing functional innovation and continuous improvement. In alignment with our evolving OneHP organization, this role supports the transformation of our structures to ensure the fastest and most focused path from strategy to patients. By strengthening Therapeutic Area accountability and clarifying interfaces between Innovation and Business, we aim to efficiently convert assets into successful brands that deliver lasting value to patients worldwide. This role is pivotal in shaping the newly established Global Experimental Medicine organization. The mission: elevate early clinical development, accelerate the path to Proof of Concept, and pave the way for breakthrough therapies. As an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim, you will actively contribute to the discovery, development, and delivery of our products to our patients and customers. Our global presence provides opportunity for all employees to collaborate internationally, offering visibility and opportunity to directly contribute to the companies success. We realize that our strength and competitive advantage lie with our people. We support our employees in several ways to foster a healthy working environment, meaningful work, mobility, networking, and work-life balance. Our competitive compensation and benefit programs reflect Boehringer Ingelheims high regard for our employees. Duties & Responsibilities • Accountable for strategy implementation and direction, including organizational and scientific development; contributes at the next higher organizational level. • Leads and integrates a team of experts with diverse backgrounds in clinical development and translational science in Experimental Medicine Eye Health & Emerging Areas. • Designs and implements innovative concepts in line with the strategy at the next higher organizational level. • Defines high-quality and innovative clinical biomarker strategies to enable disease positioning, patient selection, novel endpoints, and early decision-making. • Strategic leadership and accountability for scientific, operational, and technological excellence and subsequent implementation in area of responsibility. • Ensures successful implementation of biomarker strategies in clinical studies across all phases, including submission, in collaboration with internal and external partners. • Accountable for strategic and scientific development. • Provides input into the preclinical identification and evaluation of candidate biomarkers for clinical development. • Incorporates emerging trends and scientific innovation, new regulatory guidance, etc., into functional operations. • Designs and executes translational medicine studies for patient characterization and novel endpoints, including participation in academic and industrial consortia. • Implements and fosters an open and agile OneTMCP mindset driving a culture of smart, courageous risk-taking and accountability. • Acts as the primary internal reference contact for translational and biomarker approaches in the disease area. People Management: • Leads leaders and/or experienced scientists. • Leads and integrates a team of experts in Experimental Medicine. Global accountability. • Oversees global implementation of biomarker and translational strategies across clinical phases. People development including effective talent management, leadership training & goal setting according to BI leadership principles. • Supervises team to ensure adherence to ICH/GCP and local regulations during trial conduct. Enables transparent and effective communication, fosters exchange of knowledge and experience. • Supports publication of trial data and ensures timely input for data cleaning and CTR completion. • Fosters an atmosphere that takes advantage of the width of expertise within Experimental Medicine and grows the OneHP mindset. • Encourages collaboration across internal and external experts and consortia. Medicine strategy through cross-functional collaboration. Interfaces: • Represents area of responsibility and TMCP at internal and external meetings, committees, and panels. • Acts as primary internal reference for translational and biomarker approaches; participates in consortia. • Internal interfaces: builds in-depth expertise around strategic areas or technologies. • Collaborates closely with internal stakeholders to align biomarker strategies with clinical development. • External interfaces: initiates and ensures implementation of strategic partnerships. • Engages with academic, industrial, and regulatory partners to support translational medicine studies. Requirements • PhD or MD required; preferably in a field related to the area of responsibility with at least ten (10) years of Postdoctoral experience • Long-standing experience in clinical development, translational medicine and clinical pharmacology. • Personnel management skills. • In depth experience in the area of responsibility. • Strong background in life science and/or medicine, i.e. translational medicine, clinical pharmacology, biomarkers, pharmaceutical sciences, molecular biology, bioinformatics, data sciences. • Expert knowledge in preclinical and all phases of clinical drug development in the pharmaceutical industry; Familiar with applicable laws, regulatory guidelines and requirements, e. g. GCP and ICH guidelines. • Demonstrated successful personnel and matrix leadership skills in a complex setting and evidence of inspirational and productive leadership of individuals and teams as well as teamwork in a multidisciplinary environment. • Leadership experience: leading employees and leading projects. • Project management skills, incl. strong background in planning, organization, execution and implementation of (non-portfolio) projects on a global level. • Excellent written and verbal communication skills and presentation capabilities. • Track record of successfully developing and implementing innovative projects. • Greater than two (2) years’ experience with international exposure in daily business (> 50% of international business/customers/ staff). Eligibility Requirements: • Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without restriction. • Must be willing to take a drug test and post-offer physical (if required). • Must be 18 years of age or older.

Keywords: Boehringer Ingelheim, Portland , Executive Director, Eye Health and Emerging Areas, ExpMed - Experimental Sciences, Science, Research & Development , Ridgefield, Maine