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Scholar Rock Verified
Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences

Associate Director, Medical Affairs Operations

Cambridge, MAHybridFull TimeDirectorPosted 5 days agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

  • muscle-targeted breakthroughs
  • rare neuromuscular diseases
  • myostatin biology
  • monoclonal antibodies
  • protein growth factors
  • biopharmaceutical
  • collaborative research committee
  • advisory boards
  • medical congresses
  • aggregate spend requirements

Nice to have

  • muscle mass
  • protein structures
  • treatment approaches
  • proprietary platform
  • novel monoclonal antibodies
  • extraordinary selectivity

Role summary

Scholar Rock is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for rare neuromuscular diseases like spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). They are seeking an Associate Director, Medical Affairs Operations to serve as a strategic and operational partner to Medical Affairs leadership. This role involves aligning priorities, enabling decisions, and driving execution across departmental strategy, planning, governance, budgets, and executive communications. Key responsibilities include managing external research operations, coordinating medical events, overseeing compliance and transparency, developing executive communications, implementing collaboration platforms, and building scalable operating processes to support launch readiness and continuous improvement.

Scholar Rock is delivering muscle-targeted breakthroughs to transform the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and other rare neuromuscular diseases where muscle atrophy remains a critical unmet need.

As a global leader in myostatin biology, a field focused on proteins that regulate muscle mass, the biopharmaceutical company is named for the visual resemblance of a scholar rock to protein structures. Our commitment to unlock fundamentally different treatment approaches is powered by broad application of a proprietary platform, which has developed novel monoclonal antibodies to modulate protein growth factors with extraordinary selectivity. Scholar Rock works every day to create new possibilities for patients through its highly innovative anti-myostatin program, including opportunities in additional rare neuromuscular diseases. Learn more about our neuromuscular franchise at ScholarRock.com and follow @ScholarRock on X and on LinkedIn.

Summary of Position:

Reporting to the Senior Director, the Associate Director, Medical Affairs Operations serves as a strategic and operational partner to Medical Affairs leadership, aligning priorities, enabling decisions, and driving execution. The role connects departmental strategy, planning, governance, budgets, and executive communications as well as core Medical Operations activities in support of Medical Directors, Evidence Generation, Scientific Communications, Expanded Access Programs (EAPs), and high-visibility medical events. The successful candidate will partner closely across Medical Affairs, Commercial, Patient Advocacy, Clinical Development, Market Access, Legal, and Compliance, and strengthens cross-functional alignment, accountability, scientific integrity, and scalable global operations.

Position Responsibilities

  • Strategic Planning & Budgeting: Partner with Medical Affairs leadership to drive annual strategic and operational planning; translate clinical and scientific priorities into integrated plans, budgets, milestones, and corporate measures of success. Actively surface resource trade-offs, dependencies, and risk-mitigation strategies for timely leadership decisions.
  • Governance: Manage the leadership operating cadence, shape executive meeting agendas, facilitate planning sessions, and rigorously track decisions and action-item ownership. Coordinate high-priority cross-functional initiatives, resolve execution barriers, and escalate critical issues requiring leadership direction.
  • Research Operations Oversight: Manage external research operations end-to-end, including Investigator-Initiated Studies (IIS) and collaborative research committee oversight, cross-functional stakeholder alignment, internal/external communications, contract management, budgeting, tracking, and formal study close-out.
  • Congress & Event Operations: Coordinate high-visibility Medical Affairs events, including advisory boards, major medical congresses, all-hands meetings, internal training, and strategic workshops. Maintain the integrated global medical calendar and oversee the development of executive presentation materials and tracking dashboards using PowerPoint, Smartsheet, and related systems.
  • Compliance & Transparency Management: Oversee and report Healthcare Professional (HCP) spend tracking, verifying absolute data accuracy, transparency, and alignment with corporate internal policies, aggregate spend requirements, and applicable global regulations. Validate and track vendor invoicing for completed medical services.
  • Executive Communications: Develop monthly Medical Affairs dashboards, quarterly business reviews (QBRs), and high-level briefings. Synthesize operational progress, clinical study milestones, budget performance, and decision requests for Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) discussions.
  • Systems & Digital Infrastructure: Implement and maintain departmental collaboration platforms, document repositories, and Medical Affairs SharePoint sites for centralized budgets and medical resources. Streamline and coordinate medical/scientific publication workflows within available document management systems.
  • Process Excellence & Launch Readiness: Build, implement, and maintain scalable operating processes and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that support audit readiness and global commercial launch alignment. Identify and execute technology enhancements, train internal stakeholders, and drive continuous improvement to strengthen operational transparency.

    • Candidate Requirements

  • Education: Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, business, or a related field; an advanced degree (MBA, MS, or equivalent) is preferred.
  • Experience: 5–8 years of progressive experience within Medical Affairs Operations, Clinical Operations, or related cross-functional program management roles within the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or broader life sciences industry.
  • Compliance & Governance: Documented experience managing medical governance committees, funding processes, contract tracking, and compliance workflows at a strategic level within a highly regulated environment.
  • Regulatory Guardrails: Deep understanding of HCP spend tracking, aggregate spend transparency rules, and industry compliance frameworks (e.g., FDA regulations, OIG guidance, and PhRMA guidelines).
  • Leadership Capabilities: Exceptional executive communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills. Proven ability to synthesize complex scientific or financial data, influence without direct authority, and exercise absolute discretion with highly confidential information.
  • Project Management: Superb organizational and project management capabilities, with a track record of delivering flawless, high-quality work under tight timelines and shifting corporate priorities.
  • Technical Infrastructure: Familiarity with standard biopharmaceutical technology platforms used in Medical Affairs operations (e.g., medical review systems, grant management systems, Veeva Vault, or Smartsheet workflows).
    • Therapeutic Area: Prior experience in neuromuscular diseases and/or rare diseases is highly preferred but not required.
    • Travel: Ability to travel domestically and internationally (~15%).
    Scholar Rock is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
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