Associate Director, Program Management

Role Summary

The Associate Director (AD), Program Management will be a strategic leader responsible for driving cross-functional drug development programs from early research through clinical development and potential commercialization. This individual will partner with the VP or Program Strategy and Functional leads to ensure alignment on program strategy, execution of key deliverables, risk management, and resource planning. The AD will play a critical role in enabling effective communication and decision-making, ensuring the organization meets its scientific, clinical, and business objectives.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary program manager for one or more development programs, overseeing timelines, budgets, and deliverables across functions (R&D, Clinical, Regulatory, CMC, Commercial, etc.).
• Partner with Program lead to define program strategy, milestones, and decision points, ensuring alignment with corporate goals.
• Lead cross-functional program team meetings, driving effective communication, issue resolution, and proactive risk management.
• Develop and maintain integrated project plans, including scenario planning and contingency strategies.
• Prepare executive-level updates, dashboards, and reports for senior leadership, governance committees, and the Board as appropriate.
• Facilitate decision-making and governance processes, ensuring timely escalation of risks and issues.
• Partner with Finance and functional leads to track program budgets and resource allocation.
• Mentor and coach junior program managers and contribute to the build-out of best practices, tools, and processes for program and portfolio management.
• Contribute to portfolio-level planning, prioritization, and long-range strategy.

Qualifications

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in life sciences or related field.
• Preferred: Advanced degree (PhD, PharmD, MBA, or equivalent).
• Required: 7+ years of relevant experience in biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry, with at least 5+ years of program management experience in drug development.
• Required: Demonstrated track record of successfully managing cross-functional drug development programs through major milestones (e.g., IND, FIH, Ph2, pivotal studies, regulatory filings, launch).
• Required: Strong understanding of drug development process, including preclinical, clinical, CMC, regulatory, and commercial considerations.
• Required: Excellent leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills; ability to influence without authority.
• Required: Proven ability to develop and maintain complex project plans and budgets, and to manage risks proactively.
• Required: Experience presenting to executive leadership, governance committees, and external stakeholders.
• Required: Highly organized, detail-oriented, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced, dynamic biotech environment.
• Required: Evaluate, customize, and deploy software / tools to improve efficiency and effectiveness of our project management and knowledge management capabilities.
• Preferred: Prior experience in rare disease, oncology, or gene therapy strongly preferred.
• Preferred: PMP or other project management certification a plus.
• Preferred: Demonstrated ability to build and scale program management capabilities in a growing organization.

Additional Requirements

• Hybrid work environment; team members are expected to be onsite about 50% of the time to support collaboration and connection.