Assoc. Dir., Discovery and Translational Portfolio Management (Hybrid)

Merck • Boston, MA

13d • Hybrid

About The Position

Global Project and Alliance Management (GPAM) sits in the R&D organization at our company's (Research Laboratories). The Project, Portfolio, and Alliance Managers in GPAM are core members of discovery, development, and alliance teams at our company. Project and Portfolio Managers drive these cross-functional teams to deliver projects and products that improve human health and our company's business, and Alliance Managers ensure successful collaborations with our R&D alliance partners.
Position Description/Summary
The Associate Director, Discovery & Translational Portfolio Management, is a core functional area member of Project and Leadership teams in Discovery and Early Development. Partnering with therapeutic area and functional area leadership, the Associate Director, Discovery & Translational Portfolio Management will help plan and execute our company's discovery, translational biomarker, early development, and in-line portfolio efforts. Portfolio managers are seen as strategic partners to the Functional Leads and/or Therapeutic Area (TA) Leads and Governance Committee Chairs and may manage multiple cross-functional and/or cross-divisional committees. They are also expected to contribute to ongoing business process improvement and talent development in GPAM.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; concentration in a scientific or applied discipline strongly preferred
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in project or portfolio management or a related role required.
• Demonstrated leadership and ethics; demonstrated ability to hold others accountable for delivery
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team setting, including demonstrated experience building and leading teams, committees, task forces, etc.
• Strong collaboration and problem-solving skills; able to establish effective working relationships with employees at all levels, resolve conflict and provide feedback, and to devise and implement creative solutions to problems
• Strong communication skills, both oral and written; demonstrated ability to speak up appropriately and to raise issues to teams and management

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree preferred (MS, PhD, MBA)
• Experience in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry strongly preferred, specifically in the phases of discovery, preclinical and/or early development.
• Project management certification (PMP), Portfolio management certification (PMP) and/or formal coursework/training in project or portfolio management

Responsibilities

• Understands, synthesizes, and aligns biomarker and translational needs across Discovery and Development portfolios, including anticipated timing, in partnership with the Translational biomarker leads and cross-functional stakeholders
• Works with Translational, Biomarker, and cross-functional partners within a matrixed environment to ensure strategy is supported by executable plans, appropriate timelines, and realistic assumptions.
• Maintains accurate portfolio data in enterprise databases.
• Summarizes portfolio metrics, issues and documents/presentations for senior management/governance committees to inform decision-making, with a focus on strategy and execution of Translational work.
• Provides our company's organizational and process expertise to teams to enable navigation of discovery, development, and corporate governance and business requirements.
• Collaborates effectively with functional areas, support functions, and alliance partner functions (if applicable) to facilitate project/portfolio delivery.
• Manages strategic, cross-functional or cross-divisional management, governance, or alliance committees
• Prepares for, facilitates, and documents outcomes of leadership team meetings, ensuring meetings have clear purpose and objectives and that conflict is surfaced and resolved.
• Proactively identifies and helps address opportunities for process improvement in translational biomarker workflows, tools, and systems
• Provides mentoring, coaching, and oversight to Specialist/Senior Specialist project/Portfolio Managers working on common projects
• Actively participates and completes ongoing training and personal development activities to increase leadership competency and to gain knowledge and skill in the discipline of project/portfolio management and the business and science of pharmaceutical product discovery and development and associated translational activities.
• Partners with Finance to ensure resource/budget planning and management.

Benefits

• The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.
• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees