Director, Growth Strategy and Operations

Job Specification: Crew Leader 

Growth Team · Flagship Pioneering 

The Opportunity 

The Director, Growth works alongside an assigned Team Principal/Growth Partner. This is an opportunity to partner directly with senior Flagship leadership, across Flagship functions, and GrowthCo teams to drive strategic and financial value creation across a portfolio of GrowthCo companies.  This role is the central node for drawing on Flagship capabilities and serves as the primary coordinator among Flagship resources. 

You will serve as the primary analytical, operational, and strategic business partner to their assigned Team Principal/Growth Partner(s) and will be a trusted number two in a fast-paced, analytic, execution-focused environment who helps extend the Principal's reach across multiple assigned GrowthCos. You will work with the Team Principal to ensure execution of each company’s Value Maximization Strategy, follow Flagship governance, and ensure collaboration across and among the appropriate Flagship teams. 

This role offers rare, full-spectrum exposure across the strategic, operational, scientific, financial, and commercial imperatives that define company-building in life sciences; making it an exceptional opportunity for an emerging executive who wants to see and shape what it takes to build breakthrough companies from the inside. 

 

Key Responsibilities 

Operational Management and Governance Alignment 

• Serve as the Team Principal's right hand on day-to-day execution by keeping workstreams on track, flagging risks and issues early, anticipating what's next, and driving items to closure. 

• Support the Team Principal in ensuring alignment and coordination with Flagship governance processes, including elevating decision points in a timely manner, preparing high-quality materials and ensuring proper follow up at key decision-making forums. 

• Attend key meetings such as Growth Executive Sessions, Portfolio Decision Forums, Strategy Sessions, and Board Meetings to track and help advance key deliverables and ensure proper follow-up. 

• Maintain a clear, current view of each GrowthCo's priorities and open items so the Team Principal is never caught flat-footed; serving as the connective tissue between Flagship and company teams between formal touchpoints 

• Own the meeting-to-action loop: ensure that decisions made in governance forums translate into concrete next steps with clear owners and timelines, and that nothing falls through the cracks across a complex portfolio. 

 

GrowthCo Partnership and Strategic Leadership 

• Ensure that GrowthCos are working in alignment with their Value Maximization Plans, encompassing platform strategy, pipeline prioritization, partnership opportunities, financing strategy, and organizational development. 

• Embed within GrowthCo leadership teams to build trusted relationships, understand evolving needs, and translate high-level strategies into concrete execution plans. 

• Alongside the Team Principal, and relevant senior FSP/portfolio company executives, to co-lead analyses that inform critical strategic recommendations, including (in concert with relevant FSP functional team): 

• Scientific development strategy and indication selection 

• Competitive intelligence and market opportunity assessment 

• Product development and pipeline strategy 

• Financial modeling, valuation, and capital allocation analysis 

• Partnership and business development strategy 

• Serve as an early warning system for the Team Principal; identifying when a GrowthCo is drifting from its Value Maximization Strategy absorbing early signals from company teams before they become escalation-worthy issues. 

• Help GrowthCo leadership teams think through the "Flagship angle" on key decisions (i.e. where sister company capabilities, portfolio relationships, or FSP resources could accelerate execution in ways the company might not see on its own). 

 

Cross-Functional Coordination and Stakeholder Management 

• Lead coordination across Flagship internal functions including Capital Solutions, Strategic Business Operations, Business Development, Finance, HR, Legal/IP, Real Estate, Communications, Digital, Pioneering Medicines, and the Office of the CEO 

• Know when to convene versus when to inform. Develop sharp instincts for which cross-functional situations require active orchestration, and which just need a well-timed heads up, so the right people are engaged without creating unnecessary overhead. 

• Build and maintain strong working relationships across functions proactively, not just when a GrowthCo need arises; so that when speed matters, the Crew Leader can move fast on behalf of the Team Principal without starting from scratch. 

 

Team Integration and Portfolio Contribution 

• Remain tightly connected to the Growth Team, particularly fellow crew leaders, to stay aligned with portfolio-wide standards, frameworks, and innovations. 

• Contribute to shared knowledge bases, common operating models, benchmarking frameworks, and growth analytics that benefit the full GrowthCo portfolio. 

• Participate selectively in cross-portfolio initiatives, informing and learning from ecosystem-wide best practices. 

• Drive adoption of enterprise AI tools and best practices for operational scale, both within the Growth Team and across GrowthCos. 

• Actively bring patterns and insights from their own GrowthCo portfolio back to the broader Growth Team so individual company learnings compound into portfolio-wide intelligence rather than staying siloed. 

• Help newer or less-resourced GrowthCos benefit from the playbooks and relationships that more mature companies have developed, acting as a multiplier across the portfolio not just within their assigned companies. 

 

Experience and Qualifications 

Required 

• Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in life sciences disciplines preferred, with related or equivalent work experience considered.
• 5+ years of experience at the intersection of life sciences and business 
• Exposure to healthcare or life sciences — through prior roles, client work, or academic background — with interest in deepening operational and strategic experience in the sector.
• Demonstrated ability to understand financial models, interpret complex datasets, and translate quantitative analysis into clear strategic recommendations.  
• Trusted, collaborative team player with high emotional intelligence, low ego, and a seasoned sense of curiosity.
• Experience working closely with senior company leadership, cross-functional teams, and external stakeholders.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information for senior audiences and present financial concepts to non-financial stakeholders.
• Proven ability to manage multiple high stakes workstreams with competing deadlines. High-level financial and scientific literacy sufficient to engage credibly across scientific, financing, and partnership discussions.
• Experience operating under pressure, figuring things out without a playbook, and recognizing moments where they can make challenging things happen.
• Confidence in knowing knowledge limitations, comfortable leaning on domain experts, asking the "obvious" question in the room, and building credibility through intellectual honesty. 

 

Ideal Candidate Profile 

• Fluency across finance, science, and strategy 

• Effective time management, prioritization, and leadership skill 

• Trusted right hand— operates with their authority and extends their reach across multiple companies 

• Collaborative spirit and cross-functional effectiveness across Flagship and GrowthCo teams 

• Demonstrated ownership and accountability; ability to see gaps and fill them without being asked, and who holds themselves accountable for outcomes, not just outputs. 

• Comfortable being a smart generalist in a room full of specialists and able to engage credibly across disciplines without needing to be the domain expert, and confident enough to drive decisions forward even in areas of uncertainty. 

• Deep intellectual curiosity, and a bias toward action and continuous improvement. 

• Roll-up-your-sleeves; entrepreneurial attitude and comfort operating with minimal direction in fast-moving, ambiguous environments. 

• Strategic mindset with strong critical thinking and problem-solving ability 

 

LOCATION:  Cambridge, MA. This position is full-time, on-site.