Associate Director - Project Office

Novo Nordisk•Lexington, MA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Our Research & Development organization brings together the best minds in life science innovation. The teams located in facilities in Lexington, Watertown, Cambridge and Seattle reflect the full R&D continuum, from early research through late-stage clinical development. Here, we are building for the future, creating a distinct R&D community based on collaboration, partnerships, and cutting-edge research across multiple modalities and therapeutic areas. We recognize that improving human health starts here and that patients rely on us. Our R&D hub merges biotech speed and agility with large pharmaceutical company quality, resources, and stability, uniting the best of both worlds to develop new medicines for patients. The Position The Associate Project Director provides on site leadership, coordination, and execution support for a multi year digital program within the R&ED organization. Based in Lexington, this role ensures cross functional alignment, supports implementation of key R&D platforms, and drives effective delivery of data, system, and process improvement initiatives that will support the new Waltham research facility. Relationships Reports to the Head of IT Project Office in Lexington, MA, and works closely with lab and scientific research groups, R&D Tech Delivery and broader IT organization globally, primarily in Denmark.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university with a minimum of nine (9) years of project management experience required.
Pharma/Biotech experience required
Must have negotiation skills and experience
Experience in using common project management tools (MS Project or others) and stays updated on project management tools and working methods required
Ability to provide solutions to problems arising in moderate to high complexity projects required
Ability to establish cross organizational collaboration required
Demonstrate proactive stakeholder management at varying levels required
Familiarity with authoring or reviewing standard operating procedures (SOPs) and system operation guides required
Experience in both Waterfall and SAFe / agile project methodologies preferred
Technical, Practical and/or management experience with systems under GxP regulations in pharma/biotech Life Sciences required

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Biology, Chemistry, or related scientific discipline is a strong plus
Experience in both Waterfall and SAFe / agile project methodologies preferred

Responsibilities

Lead planning, execution, and coordination of program and project activities to ensure delivery on time, within scope, and within budget
Define project scope and deliverables in collaboration with stakeholders and establish clear direction for project teams
Drive integrated program planning, governance routines, risk/issue management, and cross track alignment
Identify, assess, and mitigate risks; communicate mitigation strategies to senior leadership and escalate issues when needed
Manage interdependencies across initiatives to minimize delivery risk and ensure alignment between tracks, vendors, and global partners
Support implementation of key R&D platforms, including ELN, LIMS, Data Capture, Registration systems, Data Hubs, and workflow/automation tools
Lead moderate to high complexity projects involving global and senior stakeholders
Prepare consolidated program updates, RAID logs, dashboards, and executive ready presentations
Facilitate cross track stand ups, readiness reviews, workshops, retrospectives, and cutover planning
Provide content and insights for program committees, governance bodies, and steering committees
Ensure timely communication of project status, decisions, risks, and action items across all stakeholders
Coordinate resource planning, onboarding, access, and tooling needs across multiple workstreams
Oversee project team coordination and support productive team culture and collaboration
Mentor and provide daily guidance to project coordinators and other project team members; support feedback loops with functional managers
Address and resolve project team conflicts, resource gaps, and competing priorities, escalating when appropriate
Track budgets, forecasts, accruals, purchase requests, and vendor invoices; support financial analyses and variance tracking
Provide recommendations for corrective actions when financial risks arise while PMO maintains ultimate budget ownership
Administer and optimize PMO tools, templates, cadences, and workflows to support efficient delivery
Promote continuous improvement and process simplification across project teams
Support change management activities, ensuring clear communication, stakeholder readiness, and successful adoption of new systems or processes
Ensure adherence to quality standards and compliance expectations, including GxP requirements where applicable