Senior Scientific Director, Neurodegenerative Diseases
Danaher Corporation
Summary
The Senior Scientific Director, Neurodegenerative Diseases is a senior scientific leader for Danaher Diagnostics' neurodegenerative disease franchise, working with our team to shape the scientific and clinical agenda that establishes Danaher Diagnostics as a leader in neurodegeneration. Contributing directly to franchise strategy, portfolio direction and partnership decisions, the role independently leads a portfolio of scientific programs from concept through readout and contributes scientific and clinical expertise across many others. This is a role for a physician-scientist or senior clinical researcher who wants the breadth of an entire diagnostics portfolio rather than a single asset. This position reports to the Chief Scientific Officer, Neurodegenerative Diseases, and sits within the Chief Innovation Office supporting the neurodegenerative disease and oncology franchises. The role is global and can be based flexibly or remotely. It leads through scientific authority and cross-functional influence rather than direct people management, with access to the scientific, clinical and technical resources of Danaher's diagnostics operating companies.
Job description
In this role, you will have the opportunity to:
- Shape scientific strategy for the neurodegenerative disease franchise, translating it into integrated evidence plans that guide portfolio, technology roadmap, and product development decisions.
- Lead flagship research programs end-to-end—including academic partnerships and a multimodal patient registry—owning scientific design, execution, milestones, and readouts.
- Drive external scientific insight by designing and chairing advisory boards and leadership forums to inform internal strategy and decision-making.
- Build and represent expert networks across academia, consortia, and societies while partnering with diagnostics, biopharma, and academic collaborators on research, validation studies, and publications.
- Evaluate external innovation and partnership opportunities in neurodegeneration, shaping investment recommendations with the CSO and embedding DBS standard work, metrics, and AI-enabled practices across the scientific agenda.
The essential requirements of the job include:
- MD, MD/PhD or PhD in medicine, neuroscience or a related discipline, with extensive post-qualification experience in diagnostics, biopharma, biotechnology or academic medicine, including significant time in senior scientific, clinical or translational leadership roles engaging external expert networks and scientific advisory boards at global scale.
- A medical degree with clinical experience in neurology, psychiatry, geriatrics or a related specialty is strongly preferred.
- Deep expertise in biomarker development for neurologic disease, spanning discovery through clinical deployment, with working command of assay performance characteristics, pre-analytical variables and the distinction between analytical validation, clinical validation and clinical utility.
- Demonstrated experience leading clinical strategy and evidence generation programs in neurodegenerative disease or an adjacent specialty area, with personal accountability for study design, execution against committed timelines, readout and publication.
- Working knowledge of in vitro diagnostic product development, regulatory pathways such as United States Food and Drug Administration clearance and the European Union In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation, and the evidence requirements supporting diagnostic claims.
- Scientific writing and communication strength sufficient to author and critically review protocols, study reports and peer-reviewed manuscripts, and to condense the same body of work into executive decision materials.
Travel, Motor Vehicle Record & Physical/Environment Requirements:
Ability to travel approximately 30%, domestic and international, including overnight travel to congresses, advisory boards and partner sites.
It would be a plus if you also possess previous experience in:
- Clinical care provision for patients with neurologic and neurodegenerative disorders
- Biospecimen or clinical data repository creation and oversight, multimodal data platform programs, and generation of real-world evidence.
- Biopharma companion diagnostic collaborations or master research agreements in neurology.
- Danaher Business System (DBS) or an equivalent operational excellence framework.
- Recognized standing in the neurodegeneration field, such as society leadership, consortium participation, guideline authorship or invited congress presentations.
Requirements
- MD, MD/PhD or PhD in medicine, neuroscience or a related discipline
- Extensive post-qualification experience in diagnostics, biopharma, biotechnology or academic medicine
- Significant time in senior scientific, clinical or translational leadership roles
- Engaging external expert networks and scientific advisory boards at global scale
- Deep expertise in biomarker development for neurologic disease
- Working command of assay performance characteristics and pre-analytical variables
- Understanding of analytical validation, clinical validation and clinical utility
- Demonstrated experience leading clinical strategy and evidence generation programs in neurodegenerative disease
- Personal accountability for study design, execution against committed timelines, readout and publication
- Working knowledge of in vitro diagnostic product development
- Knowledge of regulatory pathways such as FDA clearance and EU IVDR
- Scientific writing and communication strength
- Ability to travel approximately 30%, domestic and international
Benefits
- Health Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Insurance
- Paid Time Off
- 401(k)
- Bonus/Incentive Pay
- Remote Work
Company overview
Danaher Corporation is a leading global science and technology innovator headquartered in Washington, D.C., specializing in biotechnology, life sciences, and diagnostics. Founded in 1984 by brothers Steven and Mitchell Rales, the company has evolved from its origins as a manufacturing conglomerate into a premier healthcare technology organization with approximately 63,000 employees worldwide. Danaher operates through three core divisions: biotechnology (28% of revenues), which develops products for therapeutic development; life sciences (31% of revenues), focused on disease identification, new therapies, and drug testing/manufacturing; and diagnostics (41% of revenues), providing instruments, consumables, and software for disease diagnosis. The company's portfolio includes renowned brands such as Beckman Coulter, Cytiva, Pall Corporation, Cepheid, Leica Microsystems, and Abcam, serving pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, healthcare providers, and research institutions globally. Danaher is distinguished by its Danaher Business System (DBS), a continuous improvement methodology that drives innovation and operational excellence. With 2024 revenues of $23.9 billion, the company ranks 180th on the Fortune 500 and plays a critical role in advancing scientific research, improving diagnostic capabilities, and accelerating the development of life-saving therapies.