Position Summary:Zenas BioPharma is seeking an experienced and visionary Medical Director, Rheumatology to serve as the Global Medical Affairs medical lead for IgG4-Related Disease (IgG4-RD) and other rheumatologic indications within the portfolio. This individual will provide deep scientific, clinical, and strategic leadership across all aspects of Global Medical Affairs, including evidence generation, scientific communication, launch readiness, and external stakeholder engagement. The role will be central to shaping the global medical strategy for obexelimab, preparing the organization for a launch in IgG4-RD, and supporting additional pipeline programs in autoimmune diseases. The ideal candidate brings strong rheumatology expertise, clinical credibility in autoimmune diseases, and a proven ability to translate complex science into impactful medical strategy and external engagement.
Key Responsibilities:Medical Strategy & Leadership- Serve as the global medical lead for IgG4-RD and other rheumatologic indications, defining and executing the overall medical strategy in alignment with development, regulatory, and commercial partners.
- Lead development of the Global Medical Affairs Plan, including scientific narrative, medical objectives, and evidence generation priorities.
- Ensure medical excellence across the lifecycle, from Phase 3 readout through launch and post-launch activities.
- Focuses on long-term strategic positioning, cross-portfolio integration, and global alignment across regions.
Clinical & Scientific Expertise- Act as the internal subject matter expert in rheumatology and IgG4-RD, providing scientific guidance to cross-functional teams.
- Lead interpretation of clinical data, secondary analyses, and emerging scientific insights to inform strategy, publications, and field training.
- Partner with Clinical Development on protocol design, endpoint refinement, PRO strategy, and data review for trials in rheumatology.
External Engagement & Thought Leadership- Build and maintain strong relationships with global KOLs, investigators, and patient community leaders in rheumatology and immunology.
- Lead and participate in advisory boards, expert working groups, investigator meetings, and scientific exchanges.
- Ensure high-quality medical insights are systematically captured and disseminated to inform strategy and decision-making.
- Oversees global congress strategy and external engagement across all assets.
Scientific Communication & Medical Education- Shape and execute a global communication strategy, including congress planning, publication strategy, symposia, and medical education initiatives.
- Review and approve scientific content to ensure accuracy, alignment with data, and compliance.
- Partner with internal teams to build scientific training materials, medical information resources, and launch-ready content.
Evidence Generation- Sets the global evidence-generation strategy across multiple programs including late-phase evidence strategy for IgG4-RD, observational studies, RWE generation, treatment-pattern research, and IIT/IIS programs.
- Prioritizes which data gaps matter most at a portfolio or therapeutic-area level
- Ensures alignment with regulatory, development, and commercial long-term needs.
- Collaborate with HEOR, RWE, and data science teams to address unmet needs and generate impactful evidence to support access, adoption, and real-world understanding.
- Support HTA, payer, and access discussions through clear clinical and scientific insights.
Cross-Functional Collaboration- Partner closely with Regulatory, Clinical Development, Market Access, Commercial, and Legal/Compliance to ensure medical alignment across the business.
- Provide medical leadership for launch readiness, including Phase 3 data reaction, scientific platform development, field team training, and stakeholder engagement planning.
- Contribute to scenario planning, competitive intelligence, and risk/benefit discussions.
Qualifications:- MD, DO, PhD, or PharmD with deep scientific understanding of autoimmune diseases; clinical experience in rheumatology is strongly preferred.
- Minimum 3+ years of industry medical affairs and/or clinical development experience; experience with rare autoimmune diseases and strong credibility with external experts preferred.
- Experience leading global medical strategy and cross-functional initiatives in a biotech or pharmaceutical setting.
- Proven ability to interpret and communicate complex clinical data and scientific concepts.
- Track record of high-quality scientific communication (publications, congress participation, advisory boards).
- Experience supporting late-phase development, launches, and lifecycle management.
- Strong understanding of compliance, medical governance, and global regulatory/HTA requirements.
- Experience in emerging or mid-size biotech environments with a demonstrated ability to build and scale new functions.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to build credibility across diverse audiences.
- Willingness to travel up to 30%, including participation in major rheumatology congresses.
The position is eligible for a competitive compensation and benefits package.
Zenas is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The base salary pay range for this role is $204,000 to $255,000. Actual compensation packages will depend on various factors, including, but not limited to depth of experience, education, skillset, overall performance and/or location.
Zenas believes in providing a competitive compensation and benefits package to all employees. Our base salary is just one component of Zenas' competitive total rewards strategy that also includes annual performance bonus, equity, full range of benefits and other incentive compensation plans.
