Head of Preclinical Safety Leaders

Pleased to meet you, we are Galapagos, a dynamic fast growing Biotech company with offices across Europe and headquartered in Belgium (Mechelen) .

We’re in the business of changing lives. In our quest to discover and develop life-improving medicines we go where no one has ever gone before. In every challenge we face, we see new opportunities. We want to challenge the impossible. We need thought leaders and rapid thinkers, entrepreneurs in spirit and status quo-fighters. Collaborative innovators and perseverant idealists. We need the best-in-class. In other words, we need you : The ‘make-it-happeners’.

We are looking for a Head of Preclinical Safety Leaders  to join our team in Romainville (France) or Mechelen (Belgium).

Scope of the job

Galapagos is looking for the Head of Safety Leaders reporting to the Head of Preclinical Development Department.

The Head of Safety Leaders is accountable for the testing strategy development and execution of all non-clinical studies supporting the safety evaluation of drug candidates in the development Phases of Galapagos, and provide some support in the Discovery phases.

The Head of Safety Leaders is accountable for all non-clinical safety studies, which include Safety Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Safety studies.

Your role :

• Ensuring the Safety strategy for each of the Development projects across the entire development portfolio is determined, translated into development plans and executed.
• Supporting the Discovery Department regarding predictive toxicology aspects.
• Managing and inspiring a team of Safety Leaders, from Research to Marketing Authorization
• Set out the most efficient organizational structure in the Pre-Clinical Safety Leaders team, managing roles to cover Safety responsibilities and determining and managing the team budgetary needs
• Manage staff recruitment, team building, mentoring and coaching
• Provide the Safety expertise (training and internal expert network) needed to drive the decisions
• Assign Safety Leaders to development projects based on needs across the portfolio in coordination with the Head of PCD
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary team members and other subject matter experts to drive the development of Pre-Clinical drug candidates ensuring the integration of non-clinical and early clinical findings with planned clinical programs
• Select and manage vendors delivering Safety services, in line with Galapagos’ operational model
• Manage and maintain a network of external specialists that can be called in by Safety Leaders when specific Pre-Clinical challenges arise