Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) Posted August 6, 2026

Patient Safety Medical Director

Boston, United States Full time
Pharmacovigilance Director

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) 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

Job Description

General Summary:

The Senior Medical Director, Patient Safety, Disease Area Safety Head (DASH) will lead all safety and benefit-risk related activities for products within the role's Disease-area and/or Franchise, including pre-franchise products from first in-human clinical trials, into and throughout commercialization. This role will assist Global Patient Safety (GPS) Leadership in ensuring the consistency and compliance in the safety assessment, analysis and reporting for all designated product(s) throughout Vertex’s world markets. Directly and/or via oversight of direct reports, the role will lead pre-marketing risk assessment, planning for First-In-Human (FIH) studies, safety content of key Modules (SCS, CLO, Labelling) in regulatory authority submissions for approval, including planning, content and execution of Risk Management Plans (RMPs) and/or Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) for and post-marketing requirements. The role will work closely with the program specific Clinical Teams, Medical Affairs, and Partners (as applicable) to proactively assess and address potential and identified safety issues for each product throughout the product life cycle.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Provides leadership and oversight of Safety Team(s) for products within assigned therapeutic area(s), including pre-FIH activities, benefit-risk assessment, and strategy for DSTs.

Coordinates and oversees safety signals detection, in accordance with Vertex signal detection practices.

Collaborates with Clinical Leaders to develop and implement appropriate Risk Management procedures/plans for each product, as needed.

Collaborates with NDA teams in support of submissions, specifically leading development of any SCS, CLO, Label and Risk Management Plan (RMP) or equivalent documents.

Collaborates with GPS Epidemiology with regards to development, implementation and reporting of pharmacoepidemiology studies.

Reviews and/or assists in preparation of Developmental and/or Post-Marketing Periodic Safety Updates (D/PSURs), IND packages, as well as NDA and IND, MAA Annual Safety Reports.

Provides review and safety-specific input for labeling documents.

Collaborates with Regulatory Affairs to develop responses to safety related regulatory agency inquiries.

Provides and oversees medical review of aggregate and individual post-marketing and clinical trial AE reports, in accordance with GPS review practices.

Conducts medical evaluation of relevant safety information from Toxicology, Non-Clinical studies and Product Quality sources.

Reviews and provides oversight for medical content for key study-related documents, e.g., Protocols, Analysis Plan, IB, ICF and IDMC Charter.

Reviews and provides oversight in the analysis of safety data from on-going and completed clinical trials and Study Reports.

Provides contributory to Partner /Affiliate agreements and interactions, as needed.

Serves as Subject Matter Expert in departmental activities, SOP development.

Facilitates the growth and development of staff and direct reports.

Knowledge and Skills:

Broad and comprehensive knowledge of General Medicine

Extensive knowledge of GCP, ICH and Global regulations

Strong leadership skills with the ability to communicate effectively in a matrix environment

Experience in the critical evaluation and interpretation of data, with ability to synthesize into coherent messaging

Comprehensive knowledge of Benefit-Risk strategies and decision-making

Ability to multi-task, adeptly handling multiple demands

Education and Experience:

Doctorate in Medicine (M.D.) required

Typically requires 7 years of work experience with some experience in Pharmacovigilance and 5 years of supervisory/management experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience

Pay Range:

$276,000 - $414,000

Disclosure Statement:

The range provided is based on what we believe is a reasonable estimate for the base salary pay range for this job at the time of posting. This role is eligible for an annual bonus and annual equity awards. Some roles may also be eligible for overtime pay, in accordance with federal and state requirements. Actual base salary pay will be based on a number of factors, including skills, competencies, experience, and other job-related factors permitted by law.

At Vertex, our Total Rewards offerings also include inclusive market-leading benefits to meet our employees wherever they are in their career, financial, family and wellbeing journey while providing flexibility and resources to support their growth and aspirations.  From medical, dental and vision benefits to generous paid time off (including a week-long company shutdown in the Summer and the Winter), educational assistance programs including student loan repayment, a generous commuting subsidy, matching charitable donations, 401(k) and so much more.

Flex Designation:

Hybrid-Eligible Or On-Site Eligible

Flex Eligibility Status:

In this Hybrid-Eligible role, you can choose to be designated as:

1.    Hybrid: work remotely up to two days per week; or select

2.    On-Site: work five days per week on-site with ad hoc flexibility.

Note: The Flex status for this position is subject to Vertex’s Policy on Flex @ Vertex Program and may be changed at any time.

#LI-Hybrid

Company Information

Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation.

Vertex 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, ethnicity, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital status, or any characteristic protected under applicable law. Vertex is an E-Verify Employer in the United States. Vertex will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities, in accordance with applicable law.

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 make a request to the recruiter or hiring manager, or contact Talent Acquisition at ApplicationAssistance@vrtx.com

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Pharmacovigilance
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Boston, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Pharmacovigilance role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 18 comparable Director Pharmacovigilance roles across 12 biopharma companies.

18Comparable roles tracked
18Currently active
12Companies hiring similar roles
6Countries represented

Salary context

4 of 18 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject $276,000/yr – $414,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Medical Director, Neuroscience, Global Patient Safety · AbbVie $160,500/yr – $305,000/yr
Highest disclosed · SERM Senior Scientific Director, Oncology · GlaxoSmithKline LLC $217,800/yr – $363,000/yr
Peer group range $232,750 – $290,400 (median $264,425)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 18 comparable roles

United States12
Spain2
Japan1
Canada1
Sweden1
United Kingdom1

Seniority mix

18 of 18 peers have a known seniority level

Director15
Senior Director2
Principal1

Therapeutic area mix

4 of 18 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Neuroscience2
Oncology2

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.

60%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Celgene Europe Ltd. Princeton, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Celgene - Summit (Corp) Madison, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Celgene - Summit (Corp) Princeton, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. Princeton, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

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.

60%
Medical Director, Neuroscience, Global Patient Safety
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Patient Safety Science Capabilities
Celgene - Summit (Corp) · Madison, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Medical Safety Assessment Physician
E.R. Squibb & Sons,L.L.C. · Princeton, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Patient Safety Associate Medical Director
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) · Boston, United States · Director
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.