Associate Director, Business Operations

The Opportunity:

The Associate Director, Business Operations is an internal project manager with a consultant mindset and hands-on approach. This is an execution-focused role that strengthens the business capabilities in the Development & Clinical Sciences (DCS) organization.  This role partners closely with the Development Leadership Team and the Program Leads to design and implement capabilities building projects that enable growth and evolve our ways of working. The role is ideal for a Associate Director –level professional who thrives on execution, can drive several projects in parallel, can navigate a matrix environment, and brings strong project leadership, communication and change management experience.

Responsibilities:  

• Enablement Programs & Tools

  • Design and deploy practical solutions (e.g., templates, toolkits, playbooks, workflows) that enable DCS teams in their day-to-day work.

  • Ensure solutions are practical, scalable, and embedded into existing processes.

  • Partner with subject-matter experts to translate complex DCS practices into clear, usable resources.

  • Conduct needs assessment to evolve business processes and drive operational performance.

• Execution & Delivery

  • Implement frameworks, tools, and processes that enable growth.

  • Own day-to-day planning, coordination, and delivery of capabilities project initiatives, ensuring timelines, quality, and outcomes are met.

• Data, Insights & Continuous Improvement

  • Track adoption and effectiveness of capabilities enablement initiatives using defined metrics and stakeholder feedback.

  • Identify capability gaps and execution challenges; drive continuous improvement actions.

  • Provide leaders with clear visibility into the capabilities readiness and progress.

• Stakeholder Partnership & Change Enablement

  • Partner with DCS leaders to support consistent implementation and change adoption.

  • Identify potential resistance points and execute mitigation actions to support engagement.

  • Coordinate closely with functional partners to ensure aligned execution.

Required Skills, Experience and Education:

• 15+ years’ experience in change management, project management or consulting with at least 5 years in pharma/ biotech environment.

• BS/BA degree in life science, business management, organizational psychology or related discipline.

• Experience leading complex organizational change efforts.

• A thorough understanding of the clinical development process within biopharma

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to distill the key points into a succinct summary.

• Strong interpersonal skills to interact daily with diverse cross-functional internal and external stakeholders.

• Comfortable providing counsel to senior leaders

• Self-motivated and able to work independently to execute strategic direction.

Preferred Skills:

• MSc, MA, MBA or Ph.D. a plus.

• Proactive, and collaborative team-player with high energy to keep pace with our growing and evolving company environment.

• Experience building professional working relationships at all levels within and across the organization.

• Adaptable, proactive personality style that can prioritize, quickly adapt to changing conditions.

• Able to function independently in a fluid environment under tight timelines.

• Advanced skills with MS Office software (Excel, PowerPoint, Word) and Smartsheet. 

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