Executive Director, Head of Litigation

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals · Cambridge · $297,500–$402,500 (stated in the posting)

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Overview

Alnylam is recruiting an Executive Director, Head of Litigation to build and lead a best-in-class enterprise litigation function. This is a highly visible, high-impact role for an experienced litigation leader who is energized by the opportunity to shape how a global, commercial-stage, large-cap biopharmaceutical company anticipates, prepares for, manages, and resolves pending and threatened litigation, disputes, government investigations, and other adversarial matters around the world, excluding intellectual property matters.

Reporting to the SVP, General Counsel, Corporate and Governance, this leader will serve as Alnylam’s senior legal advisor for litigation and disputes, including commercial and contract disputes, antitrust and competition-related matters, securities and shareholder litigation, employment litigation, product-related claims, government investigations, enforcement proceedings, civil investigative demands and subpoenas, whistleblower matters, and other high-stakes adversarial matters.

The ideal candidate will bring excellent judgment, executive presence, broad-based litigation expertise, and a practical business orientation. This leader will be both a strategic advisor and a hands-on matter owner, able to build scalable processes, partner effectively across the enterprise, and translate complex legal risk into clear, actionable guidance for business leaders, the Executive Leadership Team, and the Board of Directors.

Preferred location: Cambridge, MA. Candidates based outside the region may be considered if they can travel to Cambridge regularly and maintain a consistent onsite presence.

Responsibilities

• Lead Alnylam’s global strategy for managing and favorably resolving litigation, pre-litigation disputes, and government investigations (other than intellectual property matters).
• Build a scalable operating model for litigation, disputes, and government investigations, including matter intake, docketing and triage, early case assessment, escalation protocols, insurance considerations, liability and reserve assessment, settlement authority and governance, public reporting, and playbooks.
• Advise the Chief Legal Officer, Executive Leadership Team and Board of Directors on material disputes, government investigations, litigation exposures, reserves, insurance coverage, disclosure considerations, and potential financial, operational and reputational implications.
• Select, manage, and evaluate outside litigation counsel, discovery providers, forensic experts, and other vendors, with accountability for strategy, staffing, performance, budget discipline, alternative fee arrangements, and billing practices.
• Develop practical, proportionate, and business-informed litigation and investigation strategies aligned with Alnylam’s public company obligations, risk tolerance, values, and long-term interests.
• Develop and maintain appropriate processes for litigation holds, document preservation, e-discovery, document review, production, and records management, in partnership with Legal Operations, Ethics and Compliance, and IT.  Provide internal education on best practices for establishing and maintaining legally privileged communications.
• Provide litigation counsel as neccessary in connection with internal investigations led by Ethics & Compliance and other functions, and coordinate company responses to subpoenas, civil investigative demands, agency inquiries, and other formal or informal government requests.
• Manage antitrust and competition-related disputes, civil investigative demands, subpoenas, enforcement proceedings, and related matters, including coordination with internal and external experts across Legal, Ethics & Compliance, and other functions.
• Manage cross-border and multi-jurisdictional disputes and investigations, coordinating with local counsel and internal stakeholders to ensure consistent strategy, appropriate privilege protection, and alignment with global business and legal requirements.
• Partner cross-functionally to identify emerging dispute risk, support risk mitigation, and integrate litigation and investigation strategies with business objectives.
• Drive continuous improvement in litigation operations, including thoughtful use of technology, analytics, and AI-enabled tools for matter management, e-discovery, legal holds, knowledge management, reporting, and budget management.
• Monitor legal, regulatory, enforcement, and litigation developments affecting the life sciences industry and translate them into practical guidance, risk mitigation strategies, and, where appropriate, policy or advocacy engagement.

Qualifications and Skills

• JD from an ABA-accredited law school and admission in good standing to at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• Approximately 15 years of post-JD experience advising on significant complex litigation and investigations, ideally including both leading law firm experience and substantial in-house experience at a public company, preferably a life sciences, healthcare, or other highly regulated organization.
• Deep experience managing complex litigation and investigations across a broad range of matters and exposures, including commercial and contract disputes, securities and shareholder litigation, employment litigation, product-related claims, government investigations, enforcement proceedings, civil investigative demands and subpoenas, and whistleblower matters.
• Experience with, or meaningful exposure to, antitrust, competition, pricing, distribution, market access, business development, or other competition-law disputes or investigations.
• Experience advising public company leadership on litigation disclosures, accounting reserves, enterprise risk and reputational risk.
• Track record of building, scaling, or modernizing litigation and investigations processes, including intake, matter management, early case assessment, litigation holds, preservation, e-discovery, reporting, and governance.
• Strong working knowledge of e-discovery, litigation hold administration, data preservation, document review, production, legal privilege review, forensic review, and related information governance practices.
• Strong interest in, and preferably experience using, technology, analytics, and AI-enabled legal tools to improve document review, e-discovery, matter and knowledge management, reporting, budget management, and legal workflow optimization.
• Strong leadership and management skills, including oversight of outside counsel, vendors, and cross-functional internal stakeholders, with the ability to operate as both a strategic leader and a hands-on matter manager.
• Excellent judgment, executive presence, written and verbal communication skills, and ability to translate complex legal risk into clear, practical guidance for senior executives and non-lawyer audiences.
• High integrity, discretion, sound business judgment, collaborative mindset, and ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth, mission-driven biopharmaceutical environment.

About Alnylam

We are the leader in RNAi therapeutics – a revolutionary approach with the potential to transform the lives of people with rare and common diseases. Built on Nobel Prize-winning science, Alnylam has delivered the breakthroughs that made RNAi therapeutics possible and are just at the beginning of what’s possible. Our deep pipeline, late-stage programs, and bold vision reflect our core values: fierce innovation, passion for excellence, purposeful urgency, open culture and commitment to people. We're proud to be a globally recognized top employer, where an authentic, inclusive culture and breakthrough thinking fuel one another.

At Alnylam, we commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equal employment opportunity. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their sex, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, religion, creed, physical or mental disability, pregnancy status or related conditions, genetic information, veteran or military status, marital or familial status, political affiliation, age, or any other factor protected by federal, state, or local law. Alnylam is an E-Verify Employer.

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