Sanofi

Strategy Lead, Portfolio and Planning, Specialty Care GBU

Sanofi$232K — $335K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree required, preferably in a scientific or business field.
  • Advanced degree (MD, PhD, or PharmD) and/or MBA is preferred.
  • At least 8 years of experience in pharmaceutical or biopharma strategy, portfolio management, or strategic planning, ideally in specialty areas.
  • Proven track record in strategic planning cycles and portfolio reviews in a large, matrixed organization.
  • Strong analytical skills in portfolio management, including prioritization and investment trade-offs.

Responsibilities

  • Coordinate the annual strategic planning cycle of the Specialty Care GBU.
  • Implement a standardized, high-quality planning process with clear timelines and outputs.
  • Collaborate with franchise teams and key functions like Medical Affairs and Finance to align strategies.
  • Connect planning efforts to corporate cycles and leadership reviews.
  • Lead the long-term strategic direction for therapeutic areas within the GBU.
  • Conduct market and competitive analysis to inform strategy development.
  • Support portfolio governance and investment decisions, ensuring clarity and rigor across franchises.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to grow talent and career through promotions or lateral moves internationally.
  • Comprehensive rewards package recognizing contributions.
  • Diverse health and wellbeing benefits including high-quality healthcare and wellness programs.
  • Generous gender-neutral parental leave policy of at least 14 weeks.
Full Job Description

Job title: Strategy Lead, Portfolio and Planning, Specialty Care GBU

Location: Cambridge, MA/Morristown, NJ

About the job

Join the team transforming care for people with immune challenges, rare diseases, cancers, and neurological conditions. In Specialty Care, you’ll help deliver breakthrough treatments that bring hope to patients with some of the highest unmet needs.

The Strategy Lead, Portfolio & Planning shapes how the Specialty Care GBU sets its longer-term direction and manages its portfolio. Sitting within the Strategy & Operations team, you will coordinate the GBU through its annual strategic planning cycle and play a central role in how the GBU understands, governs, and evolves its portfolio across the franchises and therapeutic areas.

Reporting to the Global Head of Strategy & Operations, Specialty Care GBU, this is a senior individual leadership role. You will work in close partnership with the franchise teams and with key functions, in particular Medical Affairs, Market Access, and Finance, to run a consistent, high-quality planning process and to bring a clear, GBU-level view of the portfolio to leadership.

Main responsibilities:

Annual Strategic Planning Cycle

  • Coordinate the Specialty Care GBU through its annual planning cycle, from the early portfolio review through the strategic plan, executive review, operating plan and budget, and into brand planning across the franchises.

  • Set and run a standardized, high-quality planning process, with clear timelines, inputs, and outputs, so the GBU plans consistently and to a high standard year on year.

  • Work hand in hand with the franchise teams and with key functions, in particular Medical Affairs, Market Access, and Finance, to align inputs and produce a coherent GBU plan.

  • Connect the GBU9s planning to the corporate cycle and to leadership and executive reviews, so decisions and priorities carry through into the following year9s plans and resourcing.

Long-Range Strategy

  • Lead the development of the GBU9s longer-term strategic direction across its therapeutic areas, framing where the GBU should focus and grow.

  • Bring market, competitive, and scenario analysis into the strategy, anticipating the shifts that matter most for the portfolio.

  • Translate complex strategic analysis into clear narratives and choices for GBU leadership.

Portfolio Understanding & Governance

  • Play a coordinating leadership role in how the GBU understands and evolves its portfolio, with a particular focus on the internal portfolio across the franchises.

  • Bring a single, GBU-level view of the portfolio together to support prioritization and investment trade-offs across the therapeutic areas.

  • Support the governance of the portfolio, helping leadership weigh where to invest, sustain, or step back, and keeping the rationale clear and consistent.

  • Maintain the cross-therapeutic-area comparability and rigor that sound portfolio decisions depend on.

Thought Partnership

  • Serve as a thought partner to the Global Head of Strategy & Operations on the GBU9s long-range strategy and portfolio.

  • Prepare the strategic content and analysis that leadership and executive reviews depend on.

  • Capture and share good practice across the franchises to raise the standard of strategic planning in the GBU.

About you

Education:

  • Bachelor9s degree required; scientific or business field is preferred.

  • An advanced degree in life sciences (MD, PhD, or PharmD) and/or an MBA is preferred.

Experience:

  • Minimum 8 years of progressive experience in pharmaceutical or biopharma strategy, portfolio management, or strategic planning, ideally with exposure to specialty therapeutic areas.

  • A track record of running or coordinating strategic planning cycles and portfolio reviews in a large, matrixed organization.

  • Strong portfolio and analytical capability, including prioritization, investment trade-offs, and scenario analysis across a multi-asset portfolio.

  • Experience working closely with Medical Affairs, Market Access, Finance, Commercial, and R&D, and the credibility to align them around a common plan.

  • Experience gained in a top-tier strategy consulting environment is an advantage.

  • Must be able to travel 20% domestic and international.

Skills & Competencies:

  • Strategic acumen: turns complex market, scientific, and portfolio inputs into clear strategy and choices.

  • Portfolio fluency: comfortable with portfolio prioritization, value and risk assessment, and the trade-offs across a therapeutic-area portfolio.

  • Scientific grounding: able to engage credibly on mechanism, clinical rationale, and competitive landscape across the GBU9s therapeutic areas.

  • Process leadership: brings structure, standardization, and rigor to a complex, multi-team planning cycle.

  • Influence: strong communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the credibility to align franchise and functional teams without direct authority.

Leadership skills:

  • Strategic thinking: connects long-range direction, the planning cycle, and portfolio choices into one coherent story for the GBU.

  • Relationships and influence: politically astute, builds trust across franchises and functions, and role-models collaboration.

  • Result orientation: brings rigor and pace, anticipates issues, and keeps the focus on the choices that matter most.

  • Agility: comfortable with ambiguity and able to adapt quickly in a fast-paced, matrixed global environment.

Languages:

  • Fluent in English.

Why Choose Us?

  • Bring the miracles of science to life alongside a supportive, future-focused team.

  • Discover endless opportunities to grow your talent and drive your career, whether it9s through a promotion or lateral move, at home or internationally.

  • Enjoy a thoughtful, well-crafted rewards package that recognizes your contribution and amplifies your impact.

  • Take good care of yourself and your family, with a wide range of health and wellbeing benefits including high-quality healthcare, prevention and wellness programs and at least 14 weeks9 gender-neutral parental leave.

The salary range for this position is:

$232,500.00 - $335,833.33

All compensation will be determined commensurate with demonstrated experience. Employees may be eligible to participate in Company employee benefit programs. Additional benefits information can be found through the .

About Sanofi

Sanofi is a global pharmaceutical company that specializes in the research, development, and manufacturing of prescription drugs and vaccines. The company operates in over 170 countries and has a diverse portfolio of products that includes treatments for diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and rare diseases. Sanofi is committed to improving global health and has a strong focus on innovation and sustainability. The company has received numerous awards for its research and development efforts and is recognized as a leader in the pharmaceutical industry.
Learn more about Sanofi
Market Cap
$121.6 billion
Industry
Net Income
$12.3 billion
Founded
1990
5 Year Trend
+2.5%
Revenue
$37.3 billion
NASDAQ

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