About the Role:
The Senior Director will lead a team of program managers with varying levels of experience and will translate therapeutic area and disease-area strategy into integrated, executable development plans. This role drives portfolio prioritization and investment trade-off decisions and leads cross-functional program teams from discovery through registration, launch, and lifecycle management.

The successful candidate combines deep scientific fluency in drug development with expert program and portfolio management capabilities and demonstrates the judgment to independently engage in scientific, clinical, development, and portfolio strategy discussions at the most senior levels of the organization. Drive team performance and communication to ensure cross-functional alignment on goals, priorities, and timelines and that teams are equipped to deliver milestones on or ahead of schedule. Connect cross-functional partners and develop strong relationships with key functional stakeholder groups and their leadership across the organization. Provide strategic and operational leadership across assigned therapeutic areas and programs, translating portfolio and development strategy into executable plans. Identify barriers, risks, and cross-functional dependencies early and work with teams and leadership to develop pragmatic solutions.

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Your Contributions (include, but are not limited to):

Portfolio Strategy & Strategic Partnership

• Serve as an operating partner to therapeutic area and program leadership, coordinating cross-functional, disease-area, and portfolio lifecycle strategy and driving alignment from strategy through execution

• Lead portfolio prioritization, scenario planning, and investment and resource trade-off analyses; identify asset and portfolio inflection points, acceleration opportunities, and critical risks

• Independently develop and review program strategies and development plans, evaluate trade-offs, and recommend enterprise-minded actions to senior leadership

• Connect integrated development across the value chain, including product design, CMC and manufacturing, biomarkers, clinical endpoints, regulatory gates, and commercial readiness

Governance & Decision Quality

• Structure therapeutic area council and asset-team discussions to enable robust, agile decision-making; prepare teams for governance readiness and help them navigate decision bodies effectively

• Own portfolio reviews, executive reporting, and decision-ready communications to R&D and executive leadership

• Apply decision analytics, including probability-of-success frameworks, capacity and budget modeling, and integrated portfolio data, to improve decision speed and quality and surface issues early

Program & Portfolio Operations

• Ensure program quality across the portfolio, including integrated development plans, critical paths, risk and issue management, recovery plans, budgets, and resource health

• Oversee program management assignments and resource allocation, driving consistency and shared standards across asset and disease-area teams

• Maintain accountability for major portfolio milestones, including first-in-human, proof-of-concept, pivotal study starts, submissions, approvals, and commercialization

• Evolve the program-team operating model, operating cadence, and program management standards as the portfolio and organization grow

People Leadership

• Recruit, develop, and retain program management talent; raise program management standards through coaching, mentoring, and shared learning in a player-coach model

• Lead a team of program managers with varying levels of experience and provide appropriate coaching, oversight, and development to strengthen overall team capabilities

• Provide second-line leadership as the organization scales, including succession planning and development of future program management leaders.

• Carry financial and human-resource accountability for the function and represent Program Management & Portfolio Strategy in governance forums and with senior leaders

• Other duties as assigned

Requirements:

• BS/BA degree in a life science 14+ years of multi-disciplinary experience in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry

• Master’s degree AND 12+ years of experience in biopharmaceutical drug development, including substantial cross-functional program leadership experience in a matrix environment

• PhD, PharmD, MD AND 10+ years with the scientific depth to independently engage in development, clinical, and regulatory strategy highly preferred

• End-to-end development lifecycle experience spanning discovery or early development through registration, launch, and lifecycle management, including late-stage and global program experience

• Expert program and portfolio management capabilities, including integrated development planning, scenario planning, risk management, governance, resource and budget planning, and portfolio analytics

• Direct people leadership experience with a demonstrated track record of building, developing, and retaining high-performing program management talent

• Demonstrated executive presence and the ability to influence, communicate, and drive alignment with senior R&D and commercial leadership

• Advanced knowledge of the drug development process and the interdependencies among key functions, including research, pharmaceutical development, nonclinical, clinical pharmacology/PK, metabolism, clinical development, regulatory, manufacturing, and commercial

• Advanced knowledge of early- and late-phase pharmaceutical program management, including IND/CTA and NDA/MAA submissions

• Acts as a trusted advisor across the company and may be recognized as an external expert

• Provides strategy, vision, and direction regarding issues that may have company-wide impact

• Requires in-depth knowledge of the functional area, business strategies, and the company27s goals

• Possesses industry-leading knowledge of pharmaceutical development and program and portfolio management

• Outstanding written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to effectively interact with individuals at all levels across the organization

• Demonstrated ability to drive consensus and decision-making in complex cross-functional environments

• Strong leadership, coaching, and employee development skills

• Ability to influence others with or without direct authority at all levels of the organization

• Proactive and innovative, with excellent problem-solving skills

• Ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team and matrix environment

• Demonstrated ability to lead a complex, enterprise-critical asset through Phase 3, successful commercialization, and lifecycle management

• Excellent team member with a strong willingness and ability to work across projects at different stages of development in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment

Strongly Preferred

• Therapeutic area experience in neuroscience, psychiatry, immunology, metabolic disease, or endocrinology

• Experience across multiple modalities, including both small molecules and biologics

• Experience with portfolio management systems and analytics platforms, such as Planisware, and building decision-ready dashboards

#LI-CL1

The annual base salary we reasonably expect to pay is $218,700.00-$298,000.00. Individual pay decisions depend on various factors, such as primary work location, complexity and responsibility of role, job duties/requirements, and relevant experience and skills. In addition, this position offers an annual bonus with a target of 35% of the earned base salary and eligibility to participate in our equity based long term incentive program. Benefits offered include a retirement savings plan (with company match), paid vacation, holiday and personal days, paid caregiver/parental and medical leave, and health benefits to include medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans.