Illumina Inc

Senior Director, R&D Portfolio & Project Management

Illumina Inc$205K — $307K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Advanced degree in Life Sciences, Business, or related field; MBA or PhD preferred.
  • 12-15+ years of experience in R&D portfolio/project management and operations leadership.
  • Proven success in building PMO capabilities and developing PM talent.
  • Experience managing diverse development programs, including instruments, assays, regulated products, and software.
  • Strong communication and stakeholder management skills in matrixed organizations.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the R&D PMO to ensure execution rigor and operational discipline.
  • Deliver projects on time, on budget, and to quality standards with robust risk management.
  • Continuously improve PMO standards and tools for effective delivery frameworks.
  • Integrate AI into processes for enhanced project efficiency.
  • Operationalize portfolio priorities into actionable programs and roadmaps.
  • Provide execution insights to guide portfolio decisions and governance.
  • Serve as a trusted partner to executives, driving cross-functional alignment.

Benefits

  • Access to genomics sequencing and family planning services.
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Retirement benefits to secure your financial future.
  • Generous paid time off to promote work-life balance.
Full Job Description
The Senior Director, R&D Portfolio & Project Management Office (PMO), reporting into the Head of R&D Strategy and Portfolio, is accountable for execution excellence across a complex and evolving R&D portfolio. Reporting into the Senior Director of R&D Strategy & Portfolio, this role leads and advances best-in-class portfolio, program, and project management capabilities to enable disciplined delivery, predictable outcomes, and transparent execution across R&D.

This leader owns the design, deployment, and continuous improvement of scalable PMO practices, including delivery standards, governance models, and enabling tools. In close partnership with R&D Strategy & Portfolio, the role translates portfolio priorities into integrated execution plans, sequencing, and delivery insights that support effective trade-offs and decision-making. This role also builds and sustains strong PMO talent to support increasingly complex, cross-functional R&D initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:
  • PMO Leadership & Execution Excellence
    • Lead the R&D PMO to ensure execution rigor, predictable delivery, and operational discipline across a complex R&D portfolio
    • Ensure initiatives are delivered on time, on budget, and to defined quality standards, with strong risk and dependency management
    • Own and continuously improve PMO standards, methodologies, governance and tools, including fit-for-purpose product development and delivery frameworks
    • Integrate AI into PMO processes to increase overall project delivery efficiency
  • Partnership on Portfolio Governance
    • Enable effective portfolio governance in partnership with R&D Strategy and Portfolio Operations & Insights, Corporate Strategy, Product Management, and business group leaders
    • Operationalize portfolio priorities into executable programs, roadmaps, and capacity-informed plans
    • Provide execution-based insights to inform portfolio trade-offs, sequencing, and governance decisions
    • Deliver clear, consistent execution reporting, dashboards, and metrics to R&D leadership and cross-functional leadership
  • Stakeholder Engagement & Influence
    • Serve as trusted execution partner to senior executives and cross-functional leaders, in a complex matrixed environment
    • Drive cross-R&D alignment and collaboration to manage interdependencies and accelerate delivery
    • Champion transparency and accountability through effective reporting and insights
  • Talent & Culture Leadership
    • Attract, develop, and retain top-tier PMO and R&D talent
    • Coach and mentor PM talent to strengthen core competencies and career progression
    • Foster a high-performing, inclusive culture focused on innovation, adaptability, and measurable outcomes


Core Competencies
  • Execution excellence: deep expertise in driving delivery rigor across complex, cross-functional portfolios
  • PMO leadership: proven ability to design, scale, and sustain PMO operating models, standards, and tools
  • Data-driven decision making: leverage analytics and insights to inform execution and portfolio decisions
  • Change leadership: effectively lead adoption of new ways of working with minimal disruption
  • Global mindset: operates effectively across geographies, cultures, and matrixed organizations


Qualifications:
  • Advanced degree in Life Sciences, Business, or related field; MBA or PhD preferred.
  • 12-15+ years of experience in R&D portfolio / project management and operations leadership
  • Demonstrated success building PMO capabilities, strengthening delivery performance, and developing PMO talent
  • Experience running development programs that include different product types: instruments, assays, regulated products, and software
  • Advanced understanding of stage-gate product development process and risk management
  • Strong communication, leadership and stakeholder management skills effective in matrixed organizations
  • Ability to work independently and collaboratively across all levels of the organization
  • Positive change agent - experience leading effective change management practices
  • PMP or similar certification preferred


#LI-HYBRID

The estimated base salary range for the Senior Director, R&D Portfolio & Project Management role based in the United States of America is: $205,100 - $307,700. 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.

About Illumina Inc

Illumina, Inc. is an American company incorporated in April 1998 that develops, manufactures and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and biological function. The company provides a line of products and services that serves the sequencing, genotyping and gene expression markets. Its headquarters are located in San Diego, California.
Learn more about Illumina Inc
Size
9,800 employees
Market Cap
$30.3 billion
Industry
Net Income
$656 million
Founded
1998
5 Year Trend
+13.5%
Revenue
$3.2 billion
NASDAQ

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Illumina Inc

More Pharmaceuticals & Biotech Jobs

Find similar Senior Director, R&D Portfolio & Project Management jobs: