Director, R&D IT – Cell Therapy Project Management

Role Summary

The R&D IT Cell Therapy Project Management Director leads interrelated global projects and programs with a total value of up to $10M, delivering IT solutions that meet the prioritized needs of the cell therapy R&D sector from initiation through closure.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the determination and delivery of solutions within approved budget and schedule constraints, ensuring compliance with required quality standards.
• Focus on stakeholder management, risk management, and realization of business benefits.
• Adhere to established project management standards and contribute to the continuous development of project/program management capabilities.
• Build and nurture relationships with business and IT leaders to support strategic planning and project prioritization, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
• Apply knowledge of portfolio management to enhance practices, standards, reporting, and tools.
• Lead within a business-facing R&D IT cell therapy team.
• Oversee, drive, and approve plans for projects/programs, including activities, resources, costs, roles, responsibilities, and quality as defined in the IT Project Management Methodology (ADF).
• Manage and coordinate project/program budgets, forecasts, tasks, schedules, risks, change management, and status for effective decisions and reporting to stakeholders and review boards.
• Coordinate interdependencies between projects and program workstreams (intra- and cross-portfolio).
• Manage relationships with senior business stakeholders to capture requirements and commit to objectives; lead steering/stakeholder meetings and communicate status, issues, and risks.
• Drive effective risk and issue management; ensure problems are resolved and escalated when appropriate.
• Build a cohesive project/program team and provide leadership to maximize success.
• Own improvement plans and oversee remediation execution.
• Manage scope changes, ensuring impacts are approved and communicated to stakeholders and review boards.
• Develop service transition plans to ensure sustainability within a BAU environment, including hand-over to operational support...
• Ensure adherence to standards (ADF, quality, compliance), processes, capabilities, and best practices; establish governance and attend review meetings.
• Ensure benefits realization aligns with deliverables and is understood by stakeholders and the team.
• Support/lead development of a world-class center of excellence for project management capabilities and reinforce best practices.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of relevant experience as a project/program manager or equivalent
• Experience in cell or gene therapy
• Proven skills in managing large project, programme, and portfolio budgets
• Experience leading global project teams
• Evidence of shaping innovative solutions with major business impact
• Experience in a global organization with geographically dispersed stakeholders
• Experience at associate director level in a major biopharmaceutical company, or manager level in a major consulting firm
• Project/Program Management certifications (APM/PMI)
• Portfolio Management certification
• Experience with JIRA
• Experience with SNOW PPM
• Strong understanding of the biopharmaceutical R&D process and data
• Strong PM/Program Management skills
• Knowledge of Financial Management and Benefits Delivery practices
• Agile and Waterfall experience
• Broad understanding of IT systems and technology in a business context
• Excellent communication and relationship management skills
• Experience with internal and external suppliers and solutions
• Strong business acumen with environmental awareness
• Knowledge of GxP and SaMD standards

Desirable Skills/Experience

• PhD or MBA
• Strong Portfolio Management Skills
• Business Case Development
• Leadership experience with senior leaders
• Lean & Six Sigma Skills