Executive Director Technical Operations

Role Summary

The Executive Director Technical Operations is accountable for end-to-end operational leadership—from strategic planning and site selection through design, construction, commissioning, operational readiness, and ramp-up to steady-state operations at our Saratoga, NY location. This role sets the vision, establishes governance, and directs cross-functional teams and external partners to deliver a world-class facility that meets business growth objectives, ensuring local and global harmonization and collaboration. The Executive Director will translate enterprise strategy into executable roadmaps, ensure disciplined capital stewardship, and build high-performing teams and processes that enable reliable, scalable operations from Day 1.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Site Development: Leading site strategy and master planning, including location analysis, property acquisition/lease negotiations, and long-range capacity planning for production, labs, offices, warehousing, utilities, and support services; defining the operational vision (people, process, technology) and the phased roadmap from groundbreaking to commercial operations.
• Capital Planning & Governance: Collaborating with Senior Leadership on multi-year capital planning and portfolio governance for large programs, ensuring rigorous business cases, stage-gate approvals, cost controls, and risk management; establishing KPI dashboards for cost, schedule, safety, quality, and readiness and driving corrective actions to keep projects on track.
• Program & Project Leadership: Overseeing the full lifecycle—from concept design to handover to Operations; chairing the Program Steering Committee and managing scope, timelines, and change control across multiple workstreams.
• Operational Readiness & Start-Up: Building the site operating model, organizational structure, staffing and shift plans, training curricula, standard work, and maintenance strategies; leading start-up readiness and stabilizing operations to targeted throughput and quality metrics.
• Regulatory, Quality & EHS Compliance: Ensuring adherence to regulations and standards; driving audit readiness and continuous improvement in quality and safety culture; integrating quality by design into facility and process layouts and developing site policies and SOP frameworks.
• Cross-Functional & Executive Stakeholder Management: Partnering with senior leaders across Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Engineering, Finance, IT/OT, and HR; communicating program status, risks, and decisions to executive leadership and the Board as needed.
• Technology & Infrastructure: Championing resilient utilities and digital plant solutions; driving data governance for real-time performance management; advancing sustainability initiatives and ensuring infrastructure scalability; pursuing modernization of facilities and paperless operations.
• Talent, Culture & Leadership: Recruiting and developing a diverse, high-performing team; establishing clear accountabilities and succession plans; fostering a culture of safety, integrity, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.

Qualifications

• Required: BS/BA in Construction Management, Engineering, Life Sciences or related field; 15+ years of relevant experience, including 12+ years of progressive management experience, preferably in pharmaceutical/biotech operations. Equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• Required: Experience with and understanding of cGMPs, regulatory requirements, engineering, automation and validation principles; experience managing capital improvement projects, fit-out planning and construction, or related significant-value ($30M+) projects, preferably in pharmaceutical/biotech operations; adept at reading Architectural, Structural, Civil and related plans.
• Preferred: Demonstrated ability to translate enterprise strategy into executable roadmaps and manage large, cross-functional programs with complex stakeholder networks.

Skills

• Regulatory compliance and quality management (cGMP/GxP, OSHA, EPA)
• Capital planning, portfolio governance, and cost control
• Program and project lifecycle leadership (concept to handover)
• Cross-functional collaboration and executive communication
• Digital plant solutions (MES, EAM/CMMS, BMS/EMS) and data governance
• Change management and risk mitigation

Education

• BS/BA in Construction Management, Engineering, Life Sciences or related field