The Role
The Vice President, CMC Development Technical Strategy is a member of the CMC-D Leadership Team and is accountable for integrating scientific and technical perspectives across CMC Development to strengthen cross-functional technical strategy, decision quality, and technical risk and opportunity assessment.
This leader brings deep technical expertise, extensive industry experience, and mature judgment to complex decisions spanning products, platforms, technologies, and development stages. The role identifies connections, risks, and opportunities that may not be visible within a single program or function and helps CMC-D translate scientific innovation into robust, scalable, and executable strategies.
Working collaboratively with functional, portfolio, and operational leaders, the Vice President frames complex choices, challenges assumptions, and develops integrated recommendations for the Head of CMC Development and appropriate governance forums.
The role may lead a small team of experienced technical strategy leaders while operating primarily through expertise, collaboration, and influence.
Accountability Boundaries
This role provides connective technical leadership across CMC-D. It does not replace functional ownership or create a parallel approval structure.
PPD–Clinical, PPD–Registrational/Commercial, Analytical Development, and other CMC-D functions retain accountability for:
- Functional scientific and technical strategies
- People, budgets, resources, and priorities
- Experimental plans and development programs
- Process and analytical development
- Methods, characterization, control strategies, and technical deliverables
- Scale-up, technical transfer, manufacturing readiness, and implementation
- Product-specific milestones and execution
The Vice President engages where decisions span multiple functions, products, platforms, or development stages and require an integrated CMC-D perspective.
Here’s What You’ll Do
CMC-D leadership
- Serve as an active member of the CMC-D Leadership Team, sharing accountability for the organization’s mission, portfolio commitments, technical excellence, talent, culture, and performance.
- Contribute technical perspective to CMC-D strategy, portfolio priorities, capability investments, and resource decisions.
- Provide trusted counsel to the Head of CMC Development and senior leaders on significant technical opportunities, risks, and long-range choices.
- Promote scientific rigor, constructive challenge, curiosity, disciplined experimentation, and transparent, evidence-based decisions.
- Strengthen collaboration across CMC-D while preserving clear functional accountabilities and decision rights.
Integrated technical strategy
- Synthesize process, product, analytical, manufacturing, quantitative, quality, and operational perspectives into integrated recommendations.
- Identify scientific and technical implications that extend beyond an individual function, product, or program.
- Anticipate emerging scientific, manufacturing, and technology needs and evaluate their implications for CMC-D.
- Apply experienced technical judgment when precedent is limited, evidence is incomplete, or decisions have broad consequences.
- Frame complex choices with clear evidence, assumptions, uncertainties, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations.
- Help leadership balance speed, learning, technical rigor, manufacturability, cost, supply resilience, and long-term value.
Portfolio and platform integration
- Collaborate with product, portfolio, and functional leaders on issues requiring an integrated, cross-CMC perspective.
- Connect learning and technical insights across products, platforms, modalities, and development stages.
- Identify opportunities to reuse capabilities and platform knowledge while recognizing when product-specific solutions are warranted.
- Facilitate resolution of complex technical questions that span organizational or scientific boundaries.
- Provide perspective on programs and modalities requiring novel or highly integrated development approaches.
- Help maintain continuity of technical intent across the development lifecycle without assuming ownership of functional execution.
Technology and capability strategy
- Assess emerging process, analytical, automation, digital, and manufacturing technologies for their potential value to CMC-D.
- Establish clear scientific rationales and value propositions for cross-functional technology opportunities.
- Define the evidence required to evaluate technical feasibility, scalability, integration needs, and potential business value.
- Advise on major build, partner, or buy choices from an integrated technical perspective.
- Identify cross-functional capability gaps and recommend coordinated investments or partnerships.
- Partner with the accountable functions as they develop, implement, and sustain new capabilities.
Technical decision quality
- Establish fit-for-purpose forums and approaches for evaluating significant cross-functional technical questions.
- Define appropriate evidence and decision criteria for major product, platform, and technology choices.
- Provide constructive review of technical assumptions, risks, and investment proposals.
- Convene the appropriate expertise to resolve complex issues and align differing technical perspectives.
- Ensure major recommendations clearly describe their rationale, evidence, uncertainties, dependencies, and downstream implications.
- Present integrated recommendations through established CMC-D and enterprise governance forums.
Scientific leadership and capability development
- Mentor senior scientists, engineers, product leaders, and technical leaders across CMC Development.
- Develop future technical strategists through coaching, critical review, and stretch opportunities.
- Strengthen technical communities, knowledge sharing, and institutional learning.
- Promote rigorous experimental strategy, quantitative decision-making, clear technical communication, and disciplined knowledge management.
- Ensure lessons from development, manufacturing, investigations, transfers, and lifecycle experience inform future decisions.
- Maintain appropriate external scientific engagement to bring relevant insights into CMC-D and represent Moderna when needed.
Here’s What You’ll Need (Basic Qualifications)
- Extensive experience leading technical development in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry, typically gained over 20 or more years.
- Deep expertise in one or more CMC disciplines, with broad knowledge across process development, product development, analytical development, manufacturing, quality, and product lifecycle.
- Experience across multiple products, platforms, modalities, or stages of development.
- Demonstrated success translating novel science and technologies into practical development and manufacturing approaches.
- Strong understanding of phase-appropriate development, scale-up, process characterization, comparability, validation, technical transfer, and GMP manufacturing.
- Experience identifying and building technical capabilities needed to support emerging platforms or portfolio growth.
- Demonstrated ability to recognize patterns, identify critical evidence, and exercise sound judgment when information is incomplete.
- Experience addressing complex technical questions with significant product, portfolio, operational, or business implications.
- Ability to influence senior decisions through technical credibility, clear reasoning, collaboration, and trusted judgment.
- Strong understanding of how technical choices affect development speed, probability of success, cost of goods, supply resilience, and long-term product value.
- Ability to work effectively with senior functional leaders without displacing their accountability.
- Exceptional communication skills and the ability to make complex technical issues understandable to different audiences.
- Demonstrated commitment to mentoring and developing senior scientific and technical talent.
Education
- PhD in chemical engineering, biochemical engineering, chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences, biochemistry, molecular biology, or a related discipline is preferred.
- An MS or BS/BA with substantial relevant experience and a sustained record of technical-development leadership may also be considered
Our Working Model
As we build our company, we have always believed that an in-person culture is critical to our success. This role is 100% onsite, reflecting the importance of being physically present to support the work, collaborate closely with colleagues, and contribute to our site-based operations.
Working onsite enables real-time collaboration, strong team connections, direct mentorship, and the hands-on partnership needed to deliver our mission. Join us in shaping a world where every interaction is an opportunity to learn, contribute, and make a meaningful impact.
Moderna is a smoke-free, alcohol-free, and drug-free work environment.
Pay & Benefits
At Moderna, we believe that when you feel your best, you can do your best work. That’s why our benefits and well-being resources are designed to support you—at work, at home, and everywhere in between.
- Competitive healthcare, plus voluntary benefit programs to support your unique needs
- A holistic approach to well-being, with access to fitness, mindfulness, and mental health support
- Family planning benefits, including fertility, adoption, and surrogacy support
- Generous paid time off, including vacation, volunteer days, sabbatical, global recharge days, and a discretionary year-end shutdown
- Savings and investments to help you plan for the future
- Location-specific perks and extras
The salary range for this role is $272,200.00 - $490,100.00. This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An individual’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, performance, and business or organizational needs.
The successful candidate may be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, other incentive compensation, or equity award, subject to company plan eligibility criteria and individual performance.
About Moderna
Since our founding in 2010, we have aspired to build the leading mRNA technology platform, the infrastructure to reimagine how medicines are created and delivered, and a world-class team. We believe in giving our people a platform to change medicine and an opportunity to change the world.
By living our mission, values, and mindsets every day, our people are the driving force behind our scientific progress and our culture. Together, we are creating a culture of belonging and building an organization that cares deeply for our patients, our employees, the environment, and our communities.
We are proud to have been recognized as a Science Magazine Top Biopharma Employer, a Fast Company Best Workplace for Innovators, and a Great Place to Work in the U.S.
If you want to make a difference and join a team that is changing the future of medicine, we invite you to visit modernatx.com/careers to learn more about our current opportunities.
Equal Opportunities
Moderna is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, ancestry or citizenship, ethnicity, disability, military or protected veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, or any other personal characteristic protected under applicable law. Moderna is a place where everyone can grow. If you meet the Basic Qualifications for the role and you would be excited to contribute to our mission every day, please apply!
Moderna is an E-Verify Employer in the United States. We consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.
Accommodations
We’re focused on attracting, retaining, developing, and advancing our employees. By cultivating a workplace that values diverse experiences, backgrounds, and ideas, we create an environment where every employee can contribute their best.
Moderna is committed to offering reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants with disabilities. Any applicant requiring an accommodation in connection with the hiring process and/or to perform the essential functions of the position for which the applicant has applied should contact the Accommodations team at leavesandaccommodations@modernatx.com.
Export Control Notice
This position may involve access to technology or data that is subject to U.S. export control laws, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). As such, employment is contingent upon the applicant’s ability to access export-controlled information in accordance with U.S. law. Only U.S. persons (U.S. citizens, U.S. lawful permanent residents, asylees, or refugees) are currently eligible to access such information without an export license. Candidates who do not meet these criteria may still be considered, contingent on the company’s ability to obtain any required export control license.
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