About Us

Kardigan is a heart health company working to make cardiovascular disease preventable, curable and no longer the leading cause of death in the world.

It is Kardigan’s mission to develop multiple targeted treatments in parallel that bring people with cardiovascular diseases to the cures they deserve.

Led by Tassos Gianakakos, Jay Edelberg, M.D., Ph.D., and Bob McDowell, Ph.D., Kardigan’s co-founders have reunited after leading MyoKardia to discover and develop mavacamten, the first cardiac myosin inhibitor, resulting in an acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2020.

We have a cutting-edge discovery and translational research platform, a pipeline of late-stage candidates, and an industry-leading team that is driven to improve the lives of patients.

At Kardigan, we are motivated by our values which guide how we work, interact, and achieve our goals. Driven by patients and their families, we are deeply committed to improving the lives of patients and prioritizing their needs above all else. We believe in being authentic—leading with truth to bring out the best in others by creating an environment where every person knows they will be fully accepted. With an eagerness to learn, we encourage the highest levels of curiosity and are open to changing our minds. We are committed to winning as a team with urgency, excellence, and intention, and support each other no matter what role we play or where we sit. Lastly, we strive to enable the impossible because patients are counting on us. We are not afraid to take risks to unlock innovation and advance scientific discoveries.

These values are the foundation of our work, empowering us to make a real difference, every day.

Department: Development

Reports To: Vice President, Head of Development Services

Location: Princeton, NJ -On-site 4 days (M-Th)

*May consider candidates in South San Francisco

Travel: Up to 20–30% domestic and international travel as required

About Kardigan

Kardigan is a heart health company focused on modernizing cardiovascular drug development and advancing targeted treatments for cardiovascular diseases. The company is building a development model grounded in deep cardiovascular expertise, data, technology, and operational excellence to bring forward therapies that may meaningfully change outcomes for patients and families.

Role Summary

The Sr. Director, Vendor & Relationship Management will provide strategic and operational leadership for vendor governance, sourcing strategy, and relationship management across Kardigan’s clinical portfolio. This role defines and implements sourcing strategies and associated operating models that enable effective clinical trial execution through external partnerships, and is directly accountable for ensuring that CROs, central labs, and other clinical vendors meet performance, quality, and cost targets. The role oversees vendor selection, integration, governance, performance management, relationship health, and issue escalation, ensuring vendors are embedded effectively into Kardigan’s operating model, ways of working, and culture.

The Senior Director serves as a subject matter expert on vendor and relationship management best practices and industry trends, bringing external perspective to how Kardigan structures, governs, and matures its vendor relationships. This is a hands-on leadership role that requires the ability to operate strategically while also building fit-for-purpose governance structures, processes, and team capabilities — including providing leadership to and development of direct reports as the function scales. The Senior Director will partner closely with Development Operations, Clinical Operations, Biometrics, Business Operations, Procurement, Legal, Quality, and cross-functional clinical development teams to ensure clinical vendors are selected, onboarded, managed, and held accountable effectively across the portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

Sourcing Strategy and Operating Model Design

Define and implement sourcing strategies and associated operating models that enable efficient, high-quality clinical trial execution through external partnerships.