The Director, R&D Strategic Partnership Management will establish and lead a team to drive execution of a portfolio of Illumina’s most complex, high-value strategic partnerships. This role is responsible for building a scalable operating model that ensures disciplined execution, clear accountability, proactive risk management, and senior leadership visibility across multi-year, cross-functional partnerships. This leader will manage a team of partnership program managers and serve as an orchestration layer across R&D, corporate & business development, commercial, service & support, and focused business groups, as well as with external partners, combining best-in-class alliance & project management practices and governance models.
Key Responsibilities
Build and scale the R&D strategic partnerships team:
- Shape and evolve the vision, scope, and mandate of the R&D Strategic Partnership Management function
- Establish a clear operating model, governance, and decision rights to enable speed, accountability, and transparency
- Define and standardize partnership execution practices, templates, and operating cadences, while maintaining flexibility for partnership-specific needs
- Design and actively manage a flexible prioritization and staffing model to deploy resources against highest-impact partnerships
- Build, lead, and scale a high-performing team of Partnership Program Managers, including hiring, coaching, and performance management
- Ensure effective hand-offs and transitions from Corporate Strategy, Business Development, and other teams as partnerships transition into execution-heavy phases
Strategic partnership portfolio execution & governance
- Oversee execution of strategically important, cross-functional partnerships with significant R&D complexity and delivery risk
- Serve as the central execution leader for named partnerships, aligning stakeholders on roles, responsibilities, escalation paths, and ways of working
- Establish and lead governance forums, including executive Steering Committees, cross-functional core team cadences, and joint partner meetings
- Ensure partner commitments are clearly tracked, delivered, and escalated appropriately, closing gaps between strategic intent, contractual agreements, and on-the-ground execution
- Proactively manage dependencies, risks, and resource constraints across matrixed internal teams and external partners
- Own portfolio-level visibility through dashboards, executive readouts, and governance materials for internal and external stakeholders
Executive engagement, influence, and alignment
- Manage interactions with senior leaders and governance forums to surface risks, tradeoffs, opportunities, and recommendations
- Influence decision-making to ensure alignment with enterprise strategy, priorities, and resource plans
- Serve as a trusted thought partner to leadership, helping navigate ambiguity and drive decision‑oriented discussions
- Continuously evolve partnership and program management practices to improve clarity, accountability, and execution speed
- Build strong internal and external relationships to enable alignment and delivery
Strategic program leadership – in addition to scaling the team, this role may directly own execution across select high-value partnerships or initiatives
- Serve as the single accountable program manager to own execution, leveraging cross-functional resources
- Establish partnership governance and operating cadence across steering committees, cross-functional core team, extended and function-specific teams, and external partner forums
- Develop and manage program plans, milestones, success metrics, critical paths, and decision points aligned with executive priorities
- Translate scope, budget, timeline, and risks into actionable plans, proposals, and execution strategies
- Ensure consistent progress, follow‑through, and timely escalation of issues impacting strategic outcomes
- Partner with functional leaders on risk mitigation, contingencies, and change management plans, reinforcing a high quality partner experience
Qualifications / Success Profile
- MBA, PhD or other advanced degree preferred; technical or scientific background strongly preferred with strong business acumen
- 12+ years of experience in strategic program management within life sciences, healthcare, or regulated industries
- Proven leader of people and of a portfolio of partnerships, with experience scaling teams while managing strategic partnerships with significant complexity and enterprise visibility
- Demonstrated ability to translate strategic intent into executable plans and sustain momentum across multiple workstreams
- Effective in matrixed organizations, influencing stakeholders at all levels, including senior executives
- Strong written and verbal communicator; skilled at executive-level synthesis, facilitation, and decision framing
- Outcome-oriented, adaptable, and comfortable operating amid ambiguity; anticipates and proactively addresses risks early
- Ownership mindset with a strong sense of urgency and personal accountability; brings structure to complexity without adding unnecessary overhead
- Experience with project and program management tools (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, PPM platforms), PMP or equivalent certification preferred
#LI-HYBRID
The estimated base salary range for the Director, R&D Strategic Partnership Management role based in the United States of America is: $187,400 - $281,000. Should the level or location of the role change during the hiring process, the applicable base pay range may be updated accordingly. The range reflects long‑term growth in the role; therefore, most candidates are hired between the minimum and middle of the range. Placement depends on experience, skills, location, and internal equity. Additionally, all employees are eligible for one of our variable cash programs (bonus or commission) and eligible roles may receive equity as part of the compensation package. We offer a wide range of benefits as innovative as our work, including access to genomics sequencing, family planning, health/dental/vision, retirement benefits, and paid time off.
