Roche Posted August 9, 2026

DMPK-PD Project Leader

Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland FULL_TIME
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research

Roche is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections,  where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.

The Position

In Roche’s Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development organisation (pRED), we make transformative medicines for patients to tackle some of the world’s toughest unmet healthcare needs. At pRED, we are united by our mission to transform science into medicines. Together, we create a culture defined by curiosity, responsibility, and humility, where our talented people are empowered and inspired to bring forward extraordinary life-changing innovation at speed.

At the intersection of science and innovation, pRED’s Pharmaceutical Sciences (PS) organisation enables the discovery and development of safe and effective therapeutics at optimal doses in relevant populations with a vision to power translation, continuously improve the accuracy of our predictions and accelerate the development of tomorrow's medicines. By seamlessly integrating our three core pillars, Translational Safety, Translational Pharmacology, and Biomarkers, we drive end-to-end asset development across the entire value chain, from target assessment to on-market support. Our mission is to continuously improve predictive accuracy, optimise dosing strategies for the right patient populations, and accelerate the development of tomorrow's safe and effective therapeutics.

The Opportunity

As an experienced DMPK-PD Project Leader within the Translational DMPK-PD Group, you will be pivotal in ensuring the right drug is delivered at the right dose, safely and efficaciously, to patients. You will lead nonclinical and translational strategies, collaborating across therapeutic areas to transform scientific hypotheses into groundbreaking clinical candidates.

Your Impact & Responsibilities:

Strategy & Design: Define and lead drug design and optimisation strategies and compound profiling integrating cutting-edge Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) principles, with a strong focus on target biology validation and translational PK/Pharmacodynamics (PD) concepts.

Translational Expertise: Serve as the subject matter expert, guiding early discovery teams in developing sophisticated translational strategies for clinical evaluation of target modulation, leveraging deep biochemical and pharmacological knowledge.

Modelling & Simulation (M&S): Execute fundamental M&S activities, including PKPD, Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetics (PBPK), Drug-Drug Interaction (DDI), and human dose/regimen prediction, to provide essential support for projects spanning from Lead Optimisation (LO) through early and late-stage clinical development (EIH, Ph 2/3).

Regulatory Mastery: Author and present definitive, high-quality scientific assessments of non-clinical DMPK data for critical internal program reviews and all major external regulatory submissions (IND, IB, CTA, NDA, BLA), ensuring global compliance and accelerated timelines.

Implementation: Implement biomarker and bioanalytical strategies in close collaboration with key partners to ensure both patient safety and the achievement of meaningful therapeutic benefit.

Cross-Functional Influence: Champion transparent, data-driven decision-making, acting as a trusted advisor and cultivating high-trust professional relationships across global project teams, governance bodies, and external partnerships.

Who You Are

You hold a PharmD or PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacology, Bioengineering or similar, coupled with over 5-10 years of industry experience in a pharmacokinetic-related role

You possess deep, comprehensive expertise across the entire discovery preclinical and development spectrum, covering PK characterisation, distribution, and PKPD for diverse modalities (small molecules, biologics, nucleic acid-based therapeutics), grounded in authoritative knowledge of pharmacology and physiology.

You demonstrate hands-on experience with modelling and simulation, proficiency in applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to DMPK strategy, and a strong drive to master tools like Phoenix, Berkeley Madonna, GastroPlus, or SimCyp.

You combine an excellent understanding of PK/PD with strong communication skills and proven leadership experience to guide complex projects in a multi-disciplinary environment.

You are accountable for defining and delivering clear outcomes, possessing the ability to transcend organisational boundaries to address or escalate issues effectively.

You are an inclusive, authentic leader who actively seeks diversity and fosters a high-trust, high-performance environment where every team member is empowered to contribute their best.

At Roche, we aim high to deliver life-changing healthcare solutions. If you’re ready to make a meaningful impact on patients and healthcare systems worldwide, this is the place for you.

 

 

Where pay transparency applies, details are provided based on the primary posting location. For this role, the primary location is Basel. If you are interested in additional locations where the role may be available, we will provide the relevant compensation details later in the hiring process.

Who we are

A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life-changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact.

Let’s build a healthier future, together.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 383 comparable Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 47 biopharma companies.

383Comparable roles tracked
345Currently active
47Companies hiring similar roles
16Countries represented

Salary context

137 of 383 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Scientist 1, Oncology | Drug Discovery · AbbVie $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Highest disclosed · Head, Oncology Drug Discovery – San Diego · Novartis $248,500/yr – $461,500/yr
Peer group range $0 – $355,000 (median $165,300)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 383 comparable roles

United States304
India17
Germany13
United Kingdom9
Canada9
Switzerland5

+ 10 more countries

Seniority mix

297 of 383 peers have a known seniority level

Senior111
Principal57
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc34
Director26
Associate23
Associate Director21
Senior Director12
Executive/VP8
Manager5

Therapeutic area mix

54 of 383 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology31
Cardiovascular / CVRM10
Immunology6
Neuroscience4
Vaccines & Infectious Disease2
Respiratory1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

40%similar
Roche Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland Principal
Same function Same country
40%similar
Roche Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland
Same function Same country
40%similar
Roche Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland
Same function Same country
40%similar
Roche Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland Senior
Same function Same country
40%similar
Roche Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland Associate
Same function Same country
25%similar
AstraZeneca Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America Principal
Same function

Matched on job function only -- seniority, specialty, and location weren't confirmed as aligned.

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

40%
Principal Scientist, Respiratory Discovery
Roche · Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
Senior DMPK-PD Project Leader
Roche · Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
25%
Director/Sr. Director/Exec. Director, Molecular Pharmacology (AMD)
Lilly · San Francisco, California, United States of America · Executive/VP
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
25%
Postdoctoral Researcher in Translational Oncology
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.