Associate Director, Lab Asset Management

3316 Takeda Development Center Americas•Boston, MA

5d•Onsite

About The Position

This role offers the opportunity to provide strategic and operational leadership for laboratory asset maintenance and service coverage across Takeda’s U.S. R&D sites. The successful candidate will partner closely with Takeda stakeholders and oversee the on-site third-party asset management vendor responsible for coordinating preventative maintenance, calibrations, and corrective repairs for laboratory equipment. This role will define, monitor, and improve key performance indicators for the on-site vendor and help drive performance expectations for OEM and third-party service providers across contracted and time-and-materials service models. As a key partner to scientific, finance, and procurement teams, this leader will develop data-driven service coverage strategies that maximize uptime for critical lab assets, strengthen asset lifecycle management, manage budgets, and demonstrate measurable cost savings and financial impact for Takeda.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, engineering, operations, business, supply chain, or a related field; advanced degree or relevant certifications are a plus.
Significant experience in laboratory operations, lab asset management, scientific equipment maintenance (vendor or customer side), vendor management, or related operational functions, ideally within pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences, or other highly regulated environments.
Strong working knowledge of laboratory equipment service models, including preventative maintenance, calibration, break/fix support, service contracts, vendor coordination, and performance management.
Demonstrated ability to use data, metrics, and operational insights to drive cost savings, improve service quality, increase efficiency, and support informed business decisions.
Experience partnering with Procurement, Finance, scientific teams, and business stakeholders on contract strategy, spend analysis, sourcing activities, budget management, and supplier performance.
Excellent communication, influencing, stakeholder management, and escalation management skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships across scientific, operational, technical, and business audiences.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree or relevant certifications are a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead day-to-day and strategic oversight of the on-site third-party lab asset management vendor responsible for coordinating preventative maintenance, calibrations, corrective repairs, and break/fix services across US R&D sites.
Define clear expectations, governance routines, escalation pathways, and performance standards that enable consistent, responsive, and high-quality service delivery.
Monitor vendor performance against service level agreements, key performance indicators, response times, completion rates, customer satisfaction, documentation quality, and financial expectations.
Serve as a trusted escalation partner for service issues, equipment downtime, vendor performance concerns, and complex cross-functional challenges that may impact scientific operations.
Partner with the on-site vendor to establish and improve performance goals for OEM and third-party service providers, across both contracted and time-and-materials service models.
Develop asset coverage strategies that align maintenance approach to asset criticality, utilization, risk, warranty status, age, service history, and scientific need.
Partner with stakeholders to determine the appropriate service model for each asset, including OEM contracts, third-party coverage, time-and-materials support, preventative maintenance plans, or other fit-for-purpose solutions.
Ensure accurate tracking of maintenance coverage, calibration requirements, service history, repair activity, and asset status to support reliable operations and data-driven decisions.
Identify opportunities to reduce downtime, improve equipment reliability, standardize workflows, and enhance the scientist experience.
Identify, quantify, and deliver cost savings through right-sized service coverage, contract optimization, vendor consolidation, warranty utilization, and repair-versus-replace analysis.
Partner with Finance and Procurement to develop and manage budgets for maintenance, calibrations, preventative maintenance programs, service contracts, and repair activity.
Review service spend, quotes, invoices, entitlements, contract terms, and vendor recommendations to ensure Takeda receives appropriate value and avoids unnecessary spend.
Develop dashboards, reports, and business cases that communicate service performance, budget status, spend trends, financial impact, risk areas, and savings opportunities to leadership.
Act as a trusted partner to scientists, Lab Operations, Facilities, EHS, IT, Finance, Procurement, and site leadership to ensure maintenance practices support business continuity and research priorities.
Lead change management efforts related to new processes, vendor operating models, system enhancements, reporting routines, and service coverage strategies.
Promote consistent processes, clear accountability, and strong governance across US R&D sites.
Support continuous improvement initiatives that simplify service request pathways, improve data quality, strengthen compliance, and enhance the customer experience.