Director, R&D DD&T Business Partner - Pharmaceutical Sciences (Cambridge, MA)

Role Summary

Director, Technology Business Partner for Pharmaceutical Sciences R&D Data Digital and Technology (R&D DDT) responsible for driving digital transformation and providing strategic partnership to PharmSci to accelerate drug development and deliver measurable value.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and oversight of a comprehensive digital and technology strategy for Pharm Sci biotherapeutics and synthetic molecule drug and device development and clinical manufacturing through shared partnerships.
• Serve as a strategic advisor and technology domain expert for Pharmaceutical Sciences/CMC scientific and clinical manufacturing informatics and digital solutions.
• Represent PharmSci in strategic planning, investment prioritization, and global technology governance forums.
• Create and maintain strategic roadmaps at functional and regional levels, ensuring alignment with PharmSci business objectives, enterprise priorities, and long-term digital transformation goals.
• Act as the primary liaison between RDDT and business stakeholders, fostering trust and collaboration across global, cross-functional teams.
• Provide executive-level governance for digital initiatives, overseeing budgets, resource allocation, and timelines, and actively participating in steering committees to ensure strategic alignment, timely delivery, and measurable business value.
• Ensure PharmSci demand is effectively captured and routed by leading intake processes, shaping requests into actionable items and aligning with fit for purpose technologies and processes.
• Serve as Single Point of Contact for addressing PharmSci technology needs, inclusive of services and support and ensuring timely routing to the right DDT teams.
• Guide the selection, implementation, and optimization of key systems (e.g., ELN, PLM, SDMS, ERP, MES and lab informatics), ensuring scalability, interoperability, and compliance with global regulations (e.g., GxP, 21 CFR Part 11).
• Identify, evaluate, and drive adoption of emerging and existing technologies, including AI/M applications to enable innovation and accelerate drug development.
• Champion the adoption of existing digital solutions across PharmSci, ensuring they are embedded into workflows, deliver measurable value, and evolve with business needs.
• Develop strategy, process and governance for overall technology management, including, business interactions, new technology needs, cross-functional programs, regulated and non-regulated lab informatics.
• Responsible for stakeholder management, driving cross-functional collaboration and communication to ensure smooth project/product delivery and alignment with stakeholder expectations.
• Drive a culture of transparency, integrity, and continuous improvement across all technology engagements.
• Lead and coordinate cross-functional teams to deliver the portfolio of DDT initiatives supporting PharmSci including oversight of internal contributors, matrixed team members and external partners.
• Collaborate effectively with external partners including vendors, solution providers and strategic collaborators to ensure alignment with PharmSci priorities and successful delivery of technology initiatives.
• Coaches, mentors, and develops, business analysts and business partners along with product managers in the PharmSci domain and/or technology functions, fostering a product mindset.
• Participate in PharmSci leadership team meetings and provide regular updates on planned initiatives and on PharmSci.

Qualifications

• Required:
  • Bachelor‚Äôs degree in Life Sciences, Information Technology, or related field (advanced degree preferred).
  • 10+ years of experience in pharmaceutical clinical development, with at least 5 years in a digital strategy, IT leadership or business partner leadership role.
  • Proven track record in delivering enterprise-scale CMC technologies and digital solutions in a GxP-regulated environment.
  • Deep knowledge of the Drug Discovery, PharmSci CMC functional areas including drug devices and its supporting technologies.
  • Operational knowledge of emerging technologies such as GenAI, automation and data analytics platforms.
  • Strong strategic portfolio planning, stakeholder engagement, and change leadership skills.
  • Ability to work effectively in a highly matrixed, global organization and navigate cross-functional decision-making with clarity and integrity.
  • Experience managing external partners, vendors, and multi-year digital portfolios.

• Preferred:
  • Master‚Äôs degree in Information Technology, Bioinformatics, Science or a related field.

Skills

• Knowledge of current industry trends and emerging technologies in R&D and Pharmaceutical Sciences including automation, lab of the future and lab informatics.
• Knowledge of project management principles and agile methodologies with a proven track record in delivering complex technology projects.
• Exposure to CMC digital solutions including Tetrascience, QbDVision, PAS-X, SAP or Databricks.
• Understanding of regulatory standards in pharmaceutical industry.
• General curiosity and constant desire to learn new scientific domains and technologies.
• Executive level stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Ability to engage in customer dialogue to understand needs before recommending solutions.
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills with adaptability under pressure and shifting priorities.
• Creativity in addressing technical challenges in a highly regulated and complex environments.
• Resilience and ability to thrive in dynamic settings.
• Effectiveness in cross-cultural collaboration across time zones and geographies.
• Strong influencing skills and ability to drive consensus across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Foster solutions-oriented thinking by fostering a culture of performance, accountability, simplicity, empowerment, external orientation and curiosity.
• Enterprise level leadership with the ability to inspire, motivate and drive results.
• Ability to present complex information clearly and with confidence.

Education

• Master‚Äôs degree (Preferred for Information Technology, Bioinformatics, Science or related field).