Associate Director, Resource Forecasting and Analytics Capability Lead

Takeda•Boston, MA

20d•$154,400 - $242,550

About The Position

This role owns the resource demand forecasting, availability and capacity planning capability delivered through CAPTIVATE, Takeda R&D's Planisware platform. It combines hands-on ownership of Planisware resource management modules—including configuration, release testing, data integrity and ongoing maintenance—with process leadership to turn platform data into portfolio-level resourcing decisions. The role connects the functions that supply resource data, the Therapeutic Area Units and Business Units that use it, and the governance bodies that act on it. The role leads the integrated resourcing process across demand, supply and capacity, supporting long-term portfolio objectives, scenario planning and trade-off decisions with a trusted resource-data source. It serves as the resource management subject matter expert and thought partner for R&D, and partners across Therapeutic Area Units, Business Units, Research, Finance and line functions to refine assumptions, algorithms, resource profiles and planning practices. The role also builds Planisware and analytics capability into the everyday work of project managers, functional resource managers and planning subject matter experts. The position owns Planisware resource-module design, configuration and maintenance; leads forecasting cycles; maintains resource-supply data; governs capacity planning and scenario analysis; and develops reporting, dashboards, training and continuous-improvement initiatives. It supports leaders' portfolio-level resource decisions through accurate data, consistent processes and decision-ready insights.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a science, business or related field.
Minimum 6 years of industry experience.
Minimum 3 years in a drug development project management, resource management or portfolio planning role.
Thorough understanding of the drug development process and the resource drivers behind it.
Experience working in a global organization, including successful cross-functional team leadership.
Knowledge of project management skills and methods.
Hands-on experience with Planisware or a comparable enterprise portfolio and resource management system, including configuration, testing and release support.
Practical command of resource-planning mechanics, including full-time-equivalent modelling, resource breakdown structures, demand and capacity algorithms, allocation and levelling.
Strong data and analytics skills, including advanced Excel and experience with reporting and visualization tools used for portfolio and resource dashboards.
Working knowledge of Microsoft Project, PowerPoint and Word; comfort operating in a validated, change-controlled system environment.
Proven leadership and strategic problem-solving ability, including anticipating issues and identifying workable solutions.
Strong written and verbal communication and presentation skills; ability to translate complex resource data into focused recommendations and comfort delivering training.
Flexibility and tolerance for managing change and differing opinions with diplomacy and competence.
Excellent organizational skills and proactive management of multiple tasks of varied complexity.
Negotiation, persuasion and positive influencing ability across a matrixed organization.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in health, business or information technology services.
PMP certification.
SQL or relational database familiarity.

Responsibilities

Own the functional design, configuration and lifecycle maintenance of Planisware resource management modules, including resource breakdown structures, role and skill taxonomies, cost and effort attributes, calendars, and demand and capacity views.
Translate business resourcing requirements into system requirements and user stories, partnering with the business administrator, capability leads, Digital, Data & Technology (DD&T), and the vendor on solution design, build, release planning and defect resolution.
Lead user acceptance testing, regression testing and validation for Planisware releases and resource-management configuration changes; document test evidence and secure business sign-off.
Maintain data integrity across Planisware integrations and interfaces with project schedules, HR and finance data sources; define and monitor data-quality rules, reconciliation checks and exception handling.
Own the operational support model for the resource-management capability, including user issue triage and resolution, configuration and process documentation, change control, and the enhancement backlog and roadmap.
Lead recurring resource demand forecasting cycles in Planisware, including planning calendars, submission windows, data-readiness checks and close-out communications.
Develop, maintain and pressure-test functional algorithms, standard resource profiles and driver-based assumptions for demand from studies, programs and platform activities.
Ensure demand is consistently captured across unfunded, planned and approved work, and remains aligned with project schedules, milestones and Portfolio Review Committee approvals.
Analyze forecast accuracy and forecast-to-actual effort variance, and work with functions on corrective actions to improve reliability.
Partner with Finance to reconcile resource demand with budget, headcount and external-spend assumptions.
Maintain Planisware resource-supply data, including available capacity by function, role and location across internal headcount, vacancies, contingent workers and outsourced capacity.
Define and govern availability-data standards, including full-time-equivalent conventions, productive-time factors, allocation rules and treatment of non-project time.
Work with functional resource managers to keep availability data current and surface capacity gaps, over-allocations and stale data for resolution.
Ensure assignment and allocation practices are applied consistently so availability views are trusted at project and portfolio levels.
Serve as business process owner for portfolio capacity planning, resource governance and scenario analysis; establish standards, ensure data integrity and oversee execution by functional stakeholders.
Govern portfolio capacity views and resource-planning analyses, enabling functional input while ensuring consistency, transparency and alignment with enterprise planning objectives.
Provide strategic oversight and decision support for portfolio resource-planning and governance forums.
Drive cross-functional alignment on planning assumptions, methodologies and resource-management practices.
Monitor governance outcomes and accountability, follow up on agreed actions, and escalate risks, issues and conflicts when needed.
Design and maintain reporting and dashboards for resource demand, availability and capacity using Planisware data and the supporting analytics layer.
Serve as the primary customer interface for assigned Therapeutic Area Units and functions, promoting accurate and consistent resource and portfolio attributes in the system.
Lead compliance and completeness tracking for resource-management data; publish timeliness, coverage and quality metrics and follow up on remediation.
Create visuals and insights for recurring resource-management reviews that clarify current allocation choices and future investment needs for leaders.
In collaboration with the RBE training team, develop and deliver Planisware resource-management training, onboarding and super-user programs, including materials, handbooks, job aids and release-specific guidance.
Facilitate working sessions with functions and program teams to embed planning discipline and resolve resourcing questions in the tool.
Support and strengthen the project management and resource management Community of Practice, capturing and sharing best practices across R&D.
Identify improvement opportunities and lead continuous-improvement initiatives that advance CAPTIVATE goals and encourage robust approaches.