Imaging Scientist

Imaging Scientist or Sn Imaging Scientist (depending on expertise)Company: Image Analysis Group (IAG) Reports to: CEO / Head of Medical and Scientific Affairs Location: Flexible, prefered: London (hybrid) or Boston (USA) or Hyderbad (India) Level: Senior About the roleIAG is the imaging CRO that pharma and biotech partners rely on when their trial hinges on getting the imaging endpoint right — MRI, CT, PET, X‑ray, ultrasound. Sponsors come to us with a molecule, a mechanism, a target population, and a draft protocol, and expect us to translate that into a defensible, regulator-ready imaging endpoint strategy — often in days, not weeks.We are hiring a Imaging Scientist to own that translation end‑to‑end across one or several therapeutic areas that IAG supports: musculoskeletal, rheumatology, myositis and neuromuscular, oncology (solid tumor and hematologic), obesity and metabolic disease, cardiovascular, hepatology (NASH / MASH), CNS and neurodegeneration, ophthalmology, rare disease, and emerging modalities. You will be the person who reads a sponsor protocol and, developes imaging read plan, identifies Radiology experts and work with them to establish reader workflow. You will be speaking to the Sponsors about the endpoints, sampling approach that fits their scientific question, what the regulator will accept, what the literature supports, and where their design will fail.What you will actually doRead sponsor protocols and extract every imaging endpoint, acquisition specification, sampling scheme (single-slice, limited stack, whole-organ volumetric), reader paradigm, and analysis plan. Identify gaps, contradictions, and regulatory risks in the first pass.Recommend the imaging endpoint architecture for the trial: primary vs secondary vs exploratory, biomarker qualification path, regulatory precedent, sensitivity to expected treatment effect, powered sample size implications.Defend every design choice with primary literature. For any endpoint, be able to produce the validation studies, correlation coefficients, cohort characteristics, longitudinal responsiveness data, and consensus statements that justify the choice. Compare sampling strategies quantitatively. Single axial slice at a fixed anatomical landmark vs limited-stack (5–7 slices) vs whole-organ volumetric — know when each is acceptable, when each will fail, and which is the right fit for the sponsor's therapeutic hypothesis, endpoint sensitivity, budget, and timeline.Own the consensus and regulatory landscape for therapeutic areas where you have exprtise, eg ENMC (myositis), OMERACT (RA, PsA, axial SpA), RECIST / iRECIST / mRECIST / iwCLL / Lugano / RANO (oncology), LI‑RADS, PI‑RADS, BI‑RADS (organ-specific radiology), FNIH consortium biomarkers, EMA and FDA imaging biomarker qualification frameworks, ACR‑ECR imaging guidance.Author the imaging sections of sponsor protocols, imaging charters, statistical analysis plans, and regulatory submissions. Draft language that is precise enough to survive an FDA or EMA review and pragmatic enough to run in multi-site studies.Build sponsor-facing decks — endpoint frameworks, sampling defensibility matrices, mechanism-of-action to imaging biomarker maps, decision guides, investigator training — publication-quality visuals, citation-grounded, ready to send.Advise on cross-therapeutic technique transfer. For instance, when Dixon MFF is validated in obesity, know how (and whether) it translates to myositis, muscular dystrophy, sarcopenia, and NASH thigh sub-studies. When DCE‑MRI is standard in oncology, know its role in inflammatory arthritis and IBD. Move techniques across indications with scientific rigor.Turn around scientific questions. Sponsors and internal team will be coming to you with questions about the protocol and delivery. Represent IAG externally at ASCO, EULAR, ACR, ECR, RSNA, Bio, AAOS, OARSI, and modality-specific meetings (ISMRM, SNMMI). Publish selectively on IAG methodology.What we need you to already know in at least 1 therapeutic area: Modalities — MRI (structural, Dixon, T1/T2 mapping, DCE, DWI, MR spectroscopy, MR elastography, whole-body), CT (structural, quantitative, dual-energy), PET (FDG, amyloid, tau, PSMA, FAPI, tracer development pipeline), X‑ray (radiography, DXA), ultrasound (musculoskeletal, elastography, contrast-enhanced), optical coherence tomography, fundus, digital pathology as a companion.Endpoints:Rheumatology / MSK: RAMRIS, PsAMRIS, SPARCC, HOAMS, MOAKS, WORMS, Sharp/van der Heijde, cartilage T2/T1ρ, synovitis scoring, bone marrow edemaMyositis / neuromuscular: ENMC 2023 IIM consensus, Mercuri and Fischer scales, MFF (Dixon), muscle volume, T2 mapping, DTI, edema vs fatty replacement paradigmOncology: RECIST 1.1, iRECIST, mRECIST, Lugano, iwCLL, RANO / RANO‑BM / iRANO, Cheson, Deauville, PERCIST, tumor volumetrics, ADC as biomarker, radiomicsObesity / metabolic: Dixon MFF, VAT/SAT/IMAT quantification, MR spectroscopy for IHTG, MRI-PDFF, single-slice vs multi-slice vs whole-body samplingHepatology: MRI‑PDFF, MRE, LI‑RADS, cT1, FibroScan concordanceCNS: volumetric MRI (hippocampal, whole-brain, ventricular), amyloid and tau PET SUVR, DTI, resting-state fMRI, ARIA monitoringCardiovascular: cardiac MRI (LGE, T1/T2 mapping, ECV), CT coronary, strain imagingOphthalmology: OCT, OCT‑angiography, fundus AIAnalysis and reader paradigms: semi-quantitative scoring, quantitative segmentation (manual, semi-automated, deep-learning), single-reader vs double-read with adjudication, blinded independent central review, reader training and drift management, ICC and Bland–Altman validation, longitudinal responsiveness (SRM, effect size, MDC).Good to have - Regulatory: FDA biomarker qualification pathway, EMA qualification advice, C‑Path consortia, IMI / IHI biomarker programs, imaging charter conventions, 21 CFR Part 11, Type C meeting preparation.QualificationsRequired:PhD or MD/PhD in medical physics, biomedical engineering, radiology, nuclear medicine, biomedical imaging, or a directly relevant field. MSc with 7+ years of directly equivalent industry experience considered.3+ years working with imaging endpoints in clinical trials — CRO, sponsor imaging team, academic imaging core lab, or biomarker consultancy.Demonstrable track record of authoring imaging charters, protocol imaging sections, or SAP imaging appendices for interventional trials.Fluent in the primary literature — able to name the seminal validation study for any commonly used imaging endpoint in your covered therapeutic areas and quote the correlation coefficient from memory.Direct experience with at least three of: rheumatology, myositis / neuromuscular, oncology, metabolic / obesity, hepatology, CNS.Comfort speaking to sponsors at CMO / CSO / VP Clinical level — you will be the imaging expert in the room.Preferred:Prior experience at an imaging CRO, imaging core lab, or the imaging team at a large sponsor (Novartis, Roche, Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, BMS, Regeneron, Sanofi, etc.).Track record of successful FDA / EMA interactions on imaging biomarker questions.Publications on imaging biomarker validation, sampling strategies, or endpoint sensitivity.Familiarity with DYNAMIKA or comparable trial-imaging platforms.Traits that matter more than the résuméFast, disciplined literature reflex. When a sponsor asks a question, you can produce defensible primary referencesComfort saying "the design will not work" to a sponsor and immediately proposing the fix with the evidence to support it.Cross-indication transfer instinct. You see that a Dixon MFF technique validated in obesity has a clean read-across to myositis, sarcopenia, and NASH thigh sub-studies, and you use that connection.Precision in writing. Sponsor charters and regulatory submissions are read line by line. Every sentence must survive a reviewer.Bias to visual synthesis. Complex endpoint frameworks live better as a well-designed one-page matrix than in prose.Owner mentality. Nobody hands you the answer — you go find it, verify it, and cite it.What you will getDirect partnership with the C-level and KOLs on every strategic sponsor engagementExposure to the full spectrum of therapeutic areas, modalities, and molecule classes moving through global pharma pipelinesAuthority to shape IAG's scientific position and thought leadership across imaging in trialsThe platform (DYNAMIKA, IAG's imaging infrastructure, publication track, conference presence) to build a category-defining scientific reputationCompetitive base + performance bonus + equity discussion at Principal / Director levelTo apply: Send CV and a short cover note describing the most technically challenging imaging endpoint problem you have solved for a sponsor, and what you would have done differently in hindsight, to cv@ia-grp.com