Associate Director, Program Management

Job Description

General Summary:

The Associate Director (AD) of Portfolio and Program Management (PPM) sits within the COO's organization at Vertex and leads programs from Research through early Development. This role will support both an early disease strategy team and the program team in a neurology disease area. The AD will partner with program leads and cross-functional teams to establish cross-functional strategy and plans to ensure execution against program goals.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Support disease strategy development in research and drive decision-making throughout drug research and early development lifecycle

• In partnership with the early disease strategy chair and cross functional team establish disease area strategy and goals, early clinical plan and path to IND for lead program.
• In partnership with the program leader guide research and development (R&D) efforts to establish a high performing and data-driven team that delivers on corporate objectives and priorities.

• Support defining the approach and identifying key stakeholders for cross-functional decision-making and issue resolution

• Collaborate and communicate cross-functionally to measure and achieve program goals
• Lead the generation of disease area assumptions for annual resource allocation and budgeting across research and development functions
• Effectively manage meetings, inclusive of stakeholder management and preparation, communication, and management of action items, decisions and follow-through.
• Communicate complex topics to stakeholders through effective storytelling and content creation
• Develop integrated program planning timelines and reporting. Define critical path activities, interdependencies, and anticipate bottlenecks.
• Proactively manage project risks, through identification, assessment, mitigation and escalation of gaps, challenges, and potential roadblocks
• Identify, communicate, and manage resource constraints, synergies, and redundancies.
• Establish team operating norms and identify opportunities to improve team performance
• Work with Portfolio and Program leadership team to build, manage, coach and retain PM staff.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Comprehensive knowledge of project and portfolio management principles, best practices, tools, technology and methods
• Leadership experience managing cross-functional teams
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including well-developed presentation skills
• Comprehensive pharmaceutical drug discovery and development knowledge across multiple disciplines
• Exceptional organizational skills and an ability to manage multiple priorities
• Strong collaboration skills to effectively interact with internal or external stakeholders at all levels of the organization
• Ability to work in a fast-paced and collaborative environment and manage multiple concurrent projects with a high degree of independence
• Experience in carrying out Risk Analysis, Decision Analysis and Contingency Planning
• A desire to be part of a highly innovative company aimed at transforming the lives of people with serious diseases, their families and society
• Ability to embody the Vertex Core Values of Uncompromising Commitment to Patients, Fearless Pursuit of Excellence, Innovation is Our Lifeblood, and "We" Wins

Education and Experience:

• Typically requires an advanced degree in Life Sciences or a relevant field, (PhD degree preferred or strong demonstration of equivalent combination of relevant educational and professional training)

• Typically requires 8 years of experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience
• Experience with drug development on cross-functional teams and/or in more than one function

Flex Designation:

Flex Eligibility Status:

Company Information

Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation.

Vertex is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital status, or any characteristic protected under applicable law. Vertex is an E-Verify Employer in the United States. Vertex will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities, in accordance with applicable law.

Any applicant requiring an accommodation in connection with the hiring process and/or to perform the essential functions of the position for which the applicant has applied should make a request to the recruiter or hiring manager, or contact Talent Acquisition at ApplicationAssistance@vrtx.com