Associate Director, Legal Project Manager
Who We Are:
Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) is a neuroscience-focused biopharmaceutical company dedicated to drug discovery, clinical development, and commercialization of life-changing therapeutics for patients in need. We are looking for great people who thrive in a respectful, collaborative, inclusive, and productive culture to join the Xenon team.
What We Do:
We are advancing an exciting product pipeline to address indications with high unmet medical need, including epilepsy, depression and pain. Our Phase 3 azetukalner program represents the most advanced, clinically validated potassium channel modulator in late-stage clinical development for multiple indications. In March 2026, we announced positive topline data from our Phase 3 X-TOLE2 study of azetukalner in focal onset seizures (FOS), and we anticipate submitting a New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration in the third quarter of 2026. Our Phase 3 epilepsy program also includes a second FOS study, X-TOLE3, which would support regulatory submissions outside the U.S., and the X-ACKT study in primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures, which would support regulatory submissions for an additional epilepsy indication. We also have multiple Phase 3 azetukalner clinical trials underway in major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar depression (BPD), based on topline data from our Phase 2 X-NOVA clinical trial. In addition, we are proud of our strong heritage in human genetics, deep understanding of ion channel biology, and expertise in novel chemistries to enable potent, selective ion channel targeting. We continue to advance an early-stage pipeline of novel therapeutic candidates, including Phase 1 studies for XEN1701 and XEN1720 (targeting Nav1.7) and XEN1120 (targeting Kv7), which are being developed for pain. Backed by a strong balance sheet to support our growth plans, we continue to build a fully integrated, premier neuroscience company with strong discovery, clinical development, corporate, and commercial operations.
We are seeking an experienced Legal Project Manager to support Legal & Corporate Governance matters to join our team. As a Legal Project Manager, you will be working closely with and will support our Chief Legal Officer, our Executive Director, Legal (corporate, securities & governance) and the Legal & Compliance team at Xenon as well as senior leaders in Xenon’s Human Resources and Finance departments.
An ideal candidate will have a strong grasp of technology, including SharePoint and board portal tools (Diligent) and will provide critical support for management of the corporate filings calendar and deadlines. The ideal candidate will display the organizational skills to support our state and federal corporate filings, in the US and Canada, including filings with the SEC and SEDI in Canada, and ensure our compliance with state corporate filings as we expand and grow our presence in various states in the US. We are looking for a motivated self-starter, who has exceptional organizational skills, and who is a strong communicator with an elevated level of commitment, ownership, and keen sense of urgency. Importantly, this individual must display a keen understanding of the need for confidentiality and discretion given the potentially confidential nature of matters that are supported by Legal. Additional attributes of importance include an achievement orientation, exceptional organizational skills and someone with a positive “can do” attitude who will be fully committed to Xenon.
This position reports to the Chief Legal Officer and will be located in the Boston, MA, USA location (Needham, MA).
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Lead the planning, coordination, and execution of Board of Directors and committee processes, including annual calendars, agendas, meeting materials, briefing documents, minutes, consent resolutions, approvals, follow-up actions, and governance records.
Serve as a key Legal department liaison and administrative contact for the Board, executive leadership, internal stakeholders, Finance, internal and external counsel, and third-party service providers, fostering strong cross-functional partnerships and timely decision-making.
Spearhead processes to ensure timely cross-functional review, approval, and filing of public company securities disclosures and corporate governance materials, including periodic and current reports, proxy statements, Section 16 filings, confidential treatment requests, and related regulatory filings.
Coordinate annual and quarterly D&O questionnaires, independence reviews, related-party updates, Board and committee assessments, governance data collection, and other recurring public company compliance obligations.
Manage governance and securities compliance calendars, checklists, approvals, user access, delegations, filing documentation, and internal controls to support accurate, complete, and on-time execution.
Lead subsidiary and entity management activities, including maintaining good standing across jurisdictions, coordinating with registered agents and outside counsel, supporting annual reports, registrations, officer and director changes, and maintaining accurate entity records and compliance calendars.
Lead and coordinate the monthly inducement program, including drafting consents, obtaining required approvals, maintaining supporting documentation, and filing the Listing of Additional Shares form with Nasdaq.
Manage virtual data rooms for business development, financing, licensing, corporate transactions, or diligence activities, including folder structure, document collection, permissions, external access, outreach tracking, and post-process follow-up.
Support Intellectual Property and Trademark teams by coordinating invention disclosure signatures, declarations, assignments, powers of attorney, communications with inventors and outside IP counsel, and organization and tracking of trademark portfolio information.
Lead Legal department process improvement initiatives, including developing and maintaining SOPs, templates, checklists, playbooks, SharePoint filing structures, naming conventions, access controls, document retention practices, and other scalable workflow tools.
Proactively assess administrative systems, legal technology, records management, and cross-functional workflows to improve efficiency, accuracy, transparency, confidentiality, and accountability across Legal, Compliance, and IP operations.
Manage sensitive and confidential information with sound judgment and discretion, including matters involving corporate governance, Board communications, securities filings, Legal strategy, intellectual property, transactions, and executive-level matters.
Provide operational and administrative support to the Chief Legal Officer and Legal leadership as needed, including expense reports, credit card reconciliations, vendor coordination, invoice administration, reporting, and special projects.
Demonstrate strong project leadership, executive communication, discretion, organizational judgment, and proficiency with legal technology and Microsoft 365 platforms, including tools such as Diligent, Workiva, EDGAR, virtual data rooms, entity-management systems, SharePoint, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
QUALIFICATIONS:
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.
Paralegal certificate or comparable legal training preferred.
8+ years of progressively responsible experience in corporate governance, securities, corporate paralegal work, legal operations, or legal project management.
Experience supporting a publicly traded company, preferably within biotech.
Demonstrated experience coordinating Board and committee operations and preparing governance materials.
Substantive experience supporting SEC reporting, Section 16 filings, proxy materials, securities compliance, or comparable public company requirements.
Experience managing domestic or international subsidiaries, corporate records, registered-agent relationships, and recurring entity compliance obligations.
Experience designing, documenting, and improving business processes, controls, workflows, and legal-operating practices.
Experience with legal technology platforms such as Diligent, Workiva, virtual data room platforms, or comparable systems.
Advanced proficiency with Microsoft 365, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint.
Experience supporting intellectual property, financing, business development, licensing, or transactional matters is an asset.
Our Total Rewards program includes base salary, target bonus, and stock options, as well as a full range of benefits including medical, dental, vision, short-& long-term disability, accidental death & dismemberment, and life insurance programs, Employee Assistance Program, travel insurance, and retirement savings programs with company matching contributions.
Xenon encourages time to rest and re-charge through vacation, personal days, sick days, and an end-of-year company shutdown. Xenon highly values employee development and has an expanding Training, Learning & Development program, including a Tuition Assistance program for advanced degrees.