Director, Launch Excellence – USBU, Marketing and Content Operations

Takeda•Lexington, MA

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Launch Excellence in the USBU plays a critical role integrating launch discipline capabilities, consistency, and best practices across the USBU portfolio. This leader is responsible for developing and sustaining the frameworks, tools, and governance models that drive consistent, high-quality launches across the US Business Unit. The Director serves as a strategic advisor, collaborating with brand/franchise and cross-functional teams to integrate launch excellence into management for effective planning, execution, and post-launch optimization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required
10–15+ years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry
5+ years specifically within a commercialization environment in life sciences.
Proven track record supporting or leading multiple US product launches.
Expertise in Launch Excellence, Agile, Six Sigma, Lean or similar operational excellence approaches.
Strong experience in US Commercial Strategy, Marketing, Launch Management, or Commercial Operations
Demonstrated success working in highly matrixed, global organizations
Able to thrive in a highly dynamic, fast paced, continuously changing environment.
Demonstrated experience in applying program management principles including Delivering strategic value with complex, cross functional activities, managing interdependencies, enabling disciplined decisions, measure and evaluation, risk and mitigation and adapting to change.
Strong strategic thinking combined with operational rigor
Ability to influence without authority and lead through collaboration
Excellent communication and executive level presentation skills
Strong analytical mindset with comfort using data to drive decisions
High level of compliance awareness and ethical judgment
Resilient, adaptable, and comfortable navigating ambiguity
Inclusive leader who builds trust across functions and geographies

Responsibilities

Develop and enhance US Launch Excellence frameworks, playbooks, and tools to drive consistency throughout the USBU and quality across product launches.
Partner with US Brand and Franchise teams to integrate launch excellence methodologies, training, and tools into brand program management and launch planning processes.
Coach brand, franchise, and cross functional teams on launch excellence principles, ensuring appropriate adoption and thoughtful customization based on brand needs.
Institutionalize key launch excellence milestones, such as launch planning kickoffs, mock launch exercises, and KPI readiness assessments.
Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) on launch practices, capturing learnings and embedding best practices into future launch strategies.
Lead US launch governance, liaising with brand teams on milestone planning, cross functional decision forums, and risk identification/mitigation processes and forums for US BU ELT elevation.
Define and harmonize US launch KPIs across brands, including access, demand uptake, and early performance indicators.
Serve as a resource for cross functional launch readiness workshops, guiding teams through governance structures, gap identification, risk assessment, interdependencies, and mitigation planning.
Manage the Launch Excellence Community of Practice within the USBU and coordinate with SPD and OBU counterparts as appropriate.