Senior Director, Portfolio and Operations R&D CC and AI COE

Role Summary

The Senior Director, Portfolio and Operations is a strategic leadership role within Pfizer Digital, responsible for driving portfolio governance, operational excellence, and business operations across the organization. This role ensures alignment of portfolio initiatives with enterprise priorities, optimizes resource utilization, and enables transparent decision-making. It oversees continuous improvement and communications for the R&D Creation Center and AI Center of Excellence, leads Digital-wide Operations Planning, and manages support for the Digital Capital Budget. Reporting to the VP, Strategic Initiatives and Delivery, the Senior Director leads the Portfolio and Operations team and provides horizontal leadership across all lines of business.

Responsibilities

• Portfolio Governance & Strategy: Provide strategic oversight of portfolio governance and prioritization to ensure initiatives align with enterprise objectives and deliver maximum value.
• Operational Excellence: Drive operational planning and continuous improvement to streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and support organizational goals.
• Financial Management: Oversee financial stewardship for portfolio and operations, including capital budget management, forecasting, and performance reporting.
• Communications & Stakeholder Engagement: Lead transparent communication strategies and facilitate leadership engagement to ensure alignment and informed decision-making across the organization.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Offer cross-functional leadership, fostering collaboration and capability development to enable successful portfolio delivery and operational execution. Lead team of portfolio managers and change management colleagues.
• Team Culture: Cultivate an inclusive, high-performance team culture that promotes innovation, accountability, and engagement across all levels of the organization.

How You Will Achieve It

• Portfolio Strategy & Governance: Lead portfolio management team and oversee portfolio prioritization and governance processes, ensuring alignment with enterprise objectives and compliance with governance standards. Partner with category leadership and decision-analysis teams to evaluate portfolio performance, risks, and opportunities, enabling data-driven investment decisions. Implement processes for portfolio resource management, including dynamic funding and scenario planning to maximize value within budget constraints.
• Operational Leadership: Lead annual and operational planning cycles, integrating portfolio priorities with business objectives. Establish and monitor KPIs and milestones to track progress across programs and ensure timely delivery. Drive continuous improvement initiatives to optimize workflows, reduce costs, and enhance operational efficiency.
• Financial Management: Integrate portfolio management with finance capital and operating budget processes for the portfolio, including forecasting, variance analysis, and reporting. In partnership with Finance Director, proactively identify financial risks and opportunities, providing recommendations to senior leadership for strategic adjustments.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Communication: Serve as a chief of staff to VP, Strategic Initiatives and Delivery, facilitating town halls, leadership team meetings, and cross-functional communications. Develop and execute communication strategies to ensure transparency and alignment across internal and external stakeholders.
• Risk Management & Compliance: Conduct risk assessments for portfolio initiatives and develop mitigation strategies. Ensure adherence to regulatory and compliance standards across all operational processes.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Provide horizontal leadership across multiple business units, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing. Mentor and develop team capabilities to support portfolio delivery and operational excellence. Lead team of portfolio managers and change management colleagues.
• Team Culture: Foster Diversity and Inclusion: Champion initiatives that create a collaborative environment where diverse perspectives are valued and integrated into decision-making. Empower and Develop Talent: Implement strategies for professional growth, recognition, and engagement to build a motivated and resilient team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline required, advanced degree preferred.
• 12+ years of pharmaceutical, healthcare, or other relevant project management experience
• Exceptional interpersonal and engagement skills with the ability to establish relationships, influence decisions, and drive to business outcomes.
• Outstanding communicator, skilled storyteller, excellent at developing highly visual and effective content, and delivering presentations to a variety of audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to develop talent and build effective teams. Passionate about growing, coaching, and mentoring others.
• Experience managing large complex dynamic budgets.
• Strategic and creative thought partner with ability to lead in strong co-creation and collaboration with Digital and business partners across Pfizer.
• Experienced leading in large global distributed matrixed environments. Skilled at utilizing resources outside of direct authority and championing and executing cross-functional horizontal initiatives.
• Strong skills in analysis, critical thinking, planning, consensus building, facilitation, negotiation, and the ability to readily learn a new business area.
• Excellent organizational skills, detail oriented, able to analyze large volumes of data and quickly derive and communicate key data points and insights.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree
• Relevant pharmaceutical industry experience
• Breadth of diverse leadership experiences and capabilities including the ability to influence and collaborate with peers, develop and coach others, oversee and guide the work of other colleagues to achieve meaningful outcomes and create business impact

Non-standard Work Schedule, Travel Or Environment Requirements

• Travel expectations will vary but you will need to be capable of travel within the region and globally.
• Work Location Assignment: Flexible.