Senior Director, IT R&D and Clinical Systems

Arvinas is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases through the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapies that degrade disease-causing proteins. Arvinas uses its proprietary PROTAC Discovery Engine platform to engineer proteolysis targeting chimeras, or PROTAC targeted protein degraders, that are designed to harness the body’s own natural protein disposal system to selectively and efficiently degrade and remove disease-causing proteins.

In addition to its robust preclinical pipeline of PROTAC protein degraders against validated and “undruggable” targets, the company has three investigational clinical-stage programs currently enrolling:  ARV-102 for the treatment of patients with neurodegenerative disorders,ARV-393 for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and potentially other lymphomas, and ARV-806, a KRAS G12D PROTAC for the treatment patients with solid tumors with KRAS G12D mutations.  

On August 8^th 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  accepted the New Drug Application (NDA) for vepdegestrant- an investigational, orally bioavailable PROTAC estrogen receptor degrader- for its use as a monotherapy in the treatment of adults with estrogen receptor–positive (ER+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative (HER2-), ESR1-mutated advanced or metastatic breast cancer previously treated with endocrine-based therapy. In September 2025, Arvinas and Pfizer announced their plan to jointly select a third party for the out-licensing and commercialization of vepdegestrant.

In April 2024, Arvinas entered into a transaction with Novartis, including a global license agreement for the development and commercialization of the clinical stage PROTAC androgen receptor protein degrader ARV-766 for the treatment of prostate cancer. The transaction closed in May 2024.

#TeamArvinas is made up of passionate and curious employees, whose diverse thoughts and perspectives are highly valued. Arvinas employees embrace the freedom to pursue innovation, think creatively, and give back. They are driven by the company’s values and mission – to improve the lives of patients with serious diseases by pioneering therapies created with our revolutionary PROTAC protein degradation platform. We’re really excited about the work we’re doing inside and outside of Arvinas, and think you will be, too. But don’t just take our word for it – learn more about life at Arvinas and what employees have to say.

For more information, please visit www.arvinas.com. 

Position Summary

The Senior Director, IT R&D and Clinical Systems serves as the strategic IT business partner for the R&D and Clinical organizations, supporting early drug discovery through clinical development.  This role is accountable for shaping and executing the R&D and Clinical IT roadmap, translating scientific and clinical objectives into scalable, compliant, cost-effective, and integrated technology capabilities that enable high-quality science and operational excellence. This individual will work closely with Arvinas’ R&D and Clinical team members to gain a deep understanding of the operations and objectives of each team and then develop multi-year IT capability roadmaps. 

The Senior Director has end-to-end accountability for all R&D and Clinical systems, non-GxP laboratory IT systems, scientific computing environments, and high-performance computing (HPC) platforms that support computational chemistry, bioinformatics, structural biology, and modeling and simulation activities.   This individual will ensure these environments are reliable, secure, performant, and well-integrated with upstream and downstream data platforms while remaining fit for rapid scientific iteration.

The Senior Director will lead and develop a high-performing R&D and Clinical IT team and will define, select, communicate, and manage   strategic IT service providers and vendors to ensure the right mix of internal capabilities and external partnerships. This includes accountability for service quality, delivery outcomes, cost effectiveness, and alignment with scientific and clinical priorities.

The position requires a strong understanding of integrated scientific and clinical workflows, regulated systems, and data flows across discovery, preclinical, and clinical environments.  This position will work closely with core R&D and Clinical functions at Arvinas, including biology, chemistry, cheminformatics, proteomics, compound management, laboratory automation, bioinformatics, DMPK, clinical data management and biostatistics, and clinical operations.  The individual must have a proven ability to:

• Lead significant projects,
• Deliver, integrate, and maintain high-quality R&D systems and Clinical systems, and
• Work with the teams to design a roadmap of the R&D and Clinical systems for the next 3-5 years.

This position reports to the Senior Vice President, Information Technology Systems & Security and can be hybrid or located at our headquarters in New Haven, CT.

Principal Responsibilities

Key responsibilities of this role include, but are not limited to:

Leadership

• Lead the divisional IT R&D and Clinical Systems team, providing guidance, management, and direction for a future team of analysts and administrators (staffed as necessary from system count and complexity).
• Define, select, integrate, and manage strategic IT service providers and vendors.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance for the R&D and Clinical teams at Arvinas.  Provide clear direction for R&D and Clinical managers on IT processes and systems.
• Develop and implement policies, controls, and processes in compliance with departmental and regulatory requirements.

Projects and Systems

• Partner with business process owners and technology partners to elicit, analyze, translate, and document business processes.
• Prepare and communicate detailed capability roadmaps that define integration points and data strategy.
• Partner with Enterprise Data Architecture on developing and executing a data management strategy for R&D and Clinical.
• Identify, scope, communicate, and prioritize business technology projects. Lead prioritized projects from concept to execution, often providing technical leadership.
• Manage, prioritize, and reduce to practice a portfolio of prioritized initiatives.
• Manage Request for Proposal Process (RFP) including documenting requirements, identifying and engaging vendors, leading product selection processes, overseeing contracting and negotiations, and managing product vendors.
• Provide technology leadership across R&D and Clinical by proactively identifying emerging technologies and platforms (e.g., advanced analytics, AI/ML, automation) and assessing their potential applicability, value, and risk, while partnering with business stakeholders to evaluate, pilot, and integrate business-identified solutions in alignment with enterprise architecture, data strategy, and compliance requirements.  Oversee the IT change control process (change control documentation, draft and execution of test plan, implementation of change in production) for Clinical systems.
• Coordinate global discussions and alignments on Clinical technology strategy, platforms, enhancements where applicable.
• Work with external parties’ personnel (e.g., CRO data teams) to analyze, define, and document data and information flows contributing to Clinical data management.
• Partner with external vendors and collaborators (e.g., CROs, academic partners, technology providers) to define, implement, and govern secure data flows and collaboration solutions, leveraging existing enterprise technologies (e.g., SFTP, SharePoint, and approved data exchange platforms) to ensure data integrity, accessibility, and compliance across R&D and Clinical activities.

Operations and Systems

• Develop, integrate, and maintain the IT operating budget for R&D and Clinical systems.
• Manage the lifecycle of a large portfolio of systems across R&D and Clinical. Ensure appropriate support solutions are in place and support knowledge is documented. Manage license renewals and negotiations. Regularly assess business usage and need. Act as an escalation point when required.
• Oversee the specification, integration, operation, maintenance, and evolution of both the high-performance computing (HPC) environment and lab computing environment (non-GxP), ensuring reliability, performance, security, cost-effectiveness, while aligning service levels and operating models with scientific needs and enterprise IT standards.
• Partner with IT Infrastructure and IT Security teams to ensure R&D and Clinical systems, including scientific computing and laboratory environments, are secure, compliant, and aligned with enterprise architecture, security standards, and regulatory requirements, while balancing risk management with the operational needs of research and clinical activities.
• Ensure system lifecycle management practices are followed and anticipate and plan the upgrade and obsolescence pathways.
• In partnership with IT Governance, ensure risk management priorities are reflected in strategic plans and initiatives.
• Oversee internal and external reviews, audits, inspections, and investigations related to Clinical systems.
• Maintain and annually review policies, procedures, and standards related to GxP systems and lab computing operations.
• Work in concert with the user community to actively manage change and optimize solutions through their lifecycle.
• Support systems validation/testing to GxP compliance.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in life sciences IT support.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a senior IT business partner to R&D and/or Clinical leadership, translating scientific and clinical strategies into multi-year technology and data capability roadmaps.
• Experience leading IT organizations, including operating model design, prioritization, integrated solutions, and portfolio management.
• Proven experience defining, selecting, and managing strategic IT service providers and vendors, including contract negotiation, service-level management, and cost optimization.
• Experience overseeing high-performance computing (HPC) and/or scientific computing environments.
• Familiarity with on-premise and/or cloud-based HPC architectures, capacity planning, and cost-performance tradeoffs.
• Experience with laboratory operational requirements and the balance between flexibility, reliability, and security in research environments.
• Demonstrated experience leading organizational change and driving adoption of new technologies within R&D and Clinical organizations.
• Must have project management experience (Project Management Certification a plus).
• Strong interpersonal effectiveness, able to build trust and drive adoption of new software platforms.
• Demonstrated flexibility in being able to flex to operational work as needed.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Very strong business analysis skills, problem-solving techniques, and follow-up
• Experience with GxP guidance and controls.
• Experience with Research processes (internal and external) and related systems (e.g. ELN, compound registration and inventory, assay and protocol management, SAR analysis and visualization solutions).
• Experience with Clinical processes and related systems (e.g. eTMF, SAS, CTMS).
• Broad understanding of enterprise IT infrastructure domains (networking, compute, operating systems, and cloud services) sufficient to guide architectural decisions and collaborate effectively with infrastructure and security teams.
• Experience with IT process, ITIL, and ticketing systems (e.g., ServiceNow, etc.) is highly desirable.
• Experience with Clinical electronic Trial Master File (eTMF) systems (especially Veeva Vault eTMF).
• Arvinas will not be providing VISA sponsorship for this position now or in the future. You must have the ability to work without a need for current or future VISA sponsorship.
• The duties of this role are generally conducted in a combination of company office and home office environments. Employees must be able, with or without an accommodation to lift/carry 15/30 pounds unassisted/assisted; work comfortable in a controlled environment with and around biological, infectious and hazardous materials; gown/degown PPE; use a computer; engage in communications via phone, video, and electronic messaging; engage in problem solving, analysis and dialogue; collaborate with others; maintain general availability during standard business hours.

EDUCATION

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences or IT disciplines (computer programming, software engineering, or related) with advanced degree (MS, PhD) preferred. The combination of education and experience enables exceptional skill level in conversational capability with R&D and clinical colleagues, and understanding of research biology, chemistry, and clinical functions and their respective supporting IT systems and processes.

Arvinas is proud to offer a competitive package of base and incentive compensation as well as a comprehensive benefits program designed to support the health, wellness and financial security of our employees and their families. Benefits include group medical, vision and dental coverage, group and supplemental life insurance, and much more. To learn more about Arvinas, please visit www.arvinas.com

Arvinas is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identify, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.