About Loyal

Loyal is a clinical-stage veterinary medicine company developing longevity drugs for dogs. Our mission is to help dogs live longer, healthier lives.

We're pioneering a new category of veterinary prescription drugs that proactively and preventatively target the underlying drivers of aging, delaying the onset of disease and preserving quality of life as dogs age. We've already made significant progress in our mission to develop the first FDA-approved drugs to extend canine lifespan: as of early 2026 we've completed two of three major FDA review sections for our lead program, LOY-002, and are targeting submission of the third and final section later this year.

Loyal is a well-funded startup with teams of scientists, veterinarians, engineers, operators, and creatives. You'll help us continue on our path of earning FDA approval for the first lifespan extension medicine for any species — and change what's possible for the dogs we love.

About the role

Loyal is seeking a Vice President of Quality Assurance & Compliance to lead the company’s Quality organization and build the systems required to support regulatory approval and commercialization.

This leader will be responsible for designing, establishing, and scaling Loyal’s Quality Management System (QMS) across GMP, GCP, and GLP activities, ensuring the organization operates with strong GxP discipline and sustained inspection readiness.

A key priority for this role is preparing the company — and its manufacturing partners — for FDA CVM Pre-Approval Inspections (PAIs) and ensuring Loyal’s quality infrastructure can support both current clinical programs and future commercial operations.

This role requires a builder mentality. The successful candidate will strengthen quality systems, establish practical governance across regulated activities, and build a QA organization capable of supporting a growing biotech company.

The role reports to the Chief Technical Operations Officer (CTOO) and partners closely with leadership across CMC, Clinical, Regulatory, Operations, and Commercial. 

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and continuously advance Loyal’s enterprise-wide GxP Quality Management System, ensuring compliance across GMP, GLP, and GCP domains.
• Drive sustained inspection readiness, including strategic preparation for FDA CVM Pre-Approval Inspections (PAIs) and other global regulatory inspections.
• Identify the highest regulatory and compliance risks early and make sure the organization focuses time and resources on addressing those first.
• Use risk-based judgment when making quality decisions, distinguishing between issues that could impact regulatory approval or inspections and those that are lower risk.
• Act as the company’s independent quality authority, with clear responsibility to raise compliance concerns, escalate risks, and stop activities that do not meet regulatory standards.
• Provide executive oversight of GCP quality systems, including clinical trial governance, CRO oversight, TMF compliance, protocol adherence, vendor qualification, and audit readiness for active and future studies.
• Ensure robust GMP oversight and effective sponsor governance across CMC development, manufacturing partners, and testing laboratories.
• Oversee GLP compliance for pivotal laboratory-based studies and CROs .
• Lead enterprise audit strategy, including internal audits, supplier audits, clinical site audits, and mock regulatory inspections.
• Establish and maintain quality agreements and oversight frameworks for CDMOs, CROs, testing laboratories, and other GxP vendors.
• Provide executive oversight of deviations, investigations, CAPAs, change controls, and risk management processes to ensure timely and defensible resolution.
• Develop and monitor quality metrics and dashboards to provide executive visibility into compliance performance and organizational risk.
• Serve as the primary quality representative during regulatory inspections and interactions with FDA CVM and other global animal health authorities.
• Recruit, build, and lead a high-performing QA organization with scalable governance structures and clear accountability.
• Foster a proactive, risk-based quality culture that supports operational agility while maintaining regulatory rigor, including clear expectations for GxP training, documentation practices, and inspection readiness behaviors across the organization.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• 20+ years of progressive Quality Assurance leadership experience in regulated pharmaceutical, biotech or animal health environments, including senior leadership roles within sponsor organizations.
• Demonstrated track record of personally leading organizations through FDA regulatory inspections as the senior Quality leader, including successful FDA Pre-Approval Inspections (PAIs) with favorable outcomes.
• Proven experience designing, building, and scaling enterprise-wide GxP Quality Management Systems (GMP, GCP, GLP) in startup or high-growth environments, supporting clinical development through regulatory approval and commercialization.
• Deep expertise across GMP, GCP, and GLP quality systems, including CRO governance, clinical quality oversight, manufacturing oversight, and supplier qualification.
• Experience overseeing sponsor-side governance of outsourced manufacturing, CROs, CDMOs, and testing laboratories, including quality agreements, risk-based audit programs, and inspection readiness across the external supply network.
• Demonstrated ability to assess, remediate, and strengthen quality systems and compliance programs in organizations transitioning toward regulatory approval and commercial readiness.
• Executive presence with the ability to serve as an independent and credible quality authority at the leadership level, with the judgment and authority to escalate compliance risks and halt activities that do not meet regulatory standards.
• Experience building and scaling QA organizations, establishing clear functional ownership across quality systems, GCP clinical quality, GMP oversight, training governance, and vendor quality management.
• Demonstrated ability to implement fit-for-purpose quality systems that balance regulatory rigor with operational agility in fast-growing or startup environments.

Preferred Attributes

• Experience supporting first-time commercial launches.
• Experience in animal health or closely related regulated environments.
• Knowledge of FDA CVM requirements and relevant global guidelines.
• Experience leading organizations through significant growth, transformation, or quality system evolution.
• Strong systems-thinking mindset and disciplined, risk-based decision-making capabilities.

Salary Range: $240,000 - $320,000

Loyal benefits

• Full-coverage health insurance — medical, dental and vision — for you and your dependents
• $1,000 home office equipment stipend
• $1,200/year learning budget for books, courses, etc.
• $250/month wellness budget for gym, cleaners, spa, food, etc.
• All 3-day weekends are turned into 4-day weekends 🎉
• Unlimited vacation and paid holidays
• Paw-ternity leave — adopt a dog and get a day off with your new family member 🐶
• Competitive salary
• Company equity options grant for new hires

Loyal is founded and led by a first-gen female CEO and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate against applicants based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other applicable characteristics protected by law. 

Our values

Lean into moonshots

We don’t settle for incremental change. We have the bravery to take risks and shoot for the impact we want to have.

Opportunity is at the intersection

We lean into combining disciplines, expertises, and perspectives not normally adjacent. We design our organization to facilitate cross-pollination and cross-collaboration. We reject silos.

Expertise without ego

Titles do not determine who has a voice. We work on hard technical problems and have a ton of fun while at it.

Learning by doing

Our path is novel and many things we are doing have never been done before. We lean into MVPs and are open to unexpected outcomes.

Lead with context

We value leading with context. We equip people with the context and background necessary to make their own decisions and act in the best interest of Loyal. We empower teams to succeed.

Empathy and respect for all life

Our patients are not just numbers. Our work is intentional, thoughtful, and guided by respect for life. We take our responsibility to pets and pet parents seriously.