Director, New Product Launch Operations- Dermatology & Rheumatology
About The Position
The Director, New Product Launch Operations is a high-impact leadership role supporting commercial initiatives in Dermatology and Rheumatology. The position provides strategic and operational leadership for new product launch planning, cross-functional governance and strategic projects, and pipeline and indication expansion. It balances strategic direction with hands-on execution, building structure, accountability, and alignment in a fast-moving, highly matrixed environment. The role reports to the Head of U.S. Dermatology and Rheumatology. The Director establishes and leads program management frameworks for launch workstreams, indication planning, and strategic programs, while partnering with the MCE Director of Launch Excellence to embed enterprise launch standards and best practices. The role oversees launch readiness plans, cross-functional milestones, risks, dependencies, budgets, resources, governance forums, performance tracking, and executive communications. It also manages early commercial planning for pipeline indications and lifecycle expansion, including the transition from pipeline planning to launch activation.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree.
- At least 10 years of program management or project management experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry.
- Extensive project and program management expertise, including hands-on experience building and leading PMO frameworks and managing complex, multi-workstream initiatives.
- Experience instilling accountability and governance across cross-functional teams in a matrixed environment.
- Knowledge of project management methodologies and frameworks, such as PMP, Agile, and Stage-Gate, and ability to select appropriate methods based on program complexity.
- Proven ability to manage integrated project plans, critical-path dependencies, risk mitigation strategies, and milestone tracking across multiple concurrent programs.
- Experience designing and facilitating governance structures, including steering committees, stage-gate reviews, and executive reporting cadences.
- Track record of driving cross-functional alignment between strategy and execution.
- Experience in budget management, resource planning, and forecasting for large-scale commercial programs and product launches.
- Fluency with project management tools and platforms, such as Smartsheet and Microsoft Project, and experience creating dashboards and reporting mechanisms.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, executive presence, and ability to influence senior stakeholders, facilitate decisions, and drive accountability.
- Understanding of the U.S. pharmaceutical commercial landscape.
Nice To Haves
- MBA or advanced degree.
- Experience with specialty or immunology product launches.
Responsibilities
- Establish and lead a PMO framework for cross-functional launch workstreams, indication expansion planning, and strategic programs.
- Partner with the MCE Director of Launch Excellence to implement enterprise launch frameworks, governance standards, readiness methodologies, tools, and best practices.
- Monitor project progress, risks, dependencies, and milestones across concurrent initiatives, with proactive management of critical-path activities.
- Escalate roadblocks and drive issue resolution, timely execution, and accountability across workstreams.
- Lead execution of comprehensive launch readiness plans, including critical-path milestones, cross-functional workstreams, and stage-gate reviews.
- Establish launch operating models and onboard launch teams to planning tools, governance templates, playbooks, roadmaps, decision and risk logs, and agreed ways of working.
- Serve as the primary launch-team contact for readiness planning, stage-gates, self-assessments, readiness scorecards, and challenge sessions.
- Coordinate Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Medical Affairs, Analytics & Insights, Digital/Data & Technology, and Manufacturing around launch priorities and deliverables.
- Communicate launch status, risks, and key decisions to senior leadership and cross-functional steering committees.
- Establish mechanisms to track commercial performance against forecast and support rapid course correction.
- Improve launch meetings and governance forums by setting objectives, agendas, and action items and ensuring follow-through.
- Oversee launch budget planning, resource allocation, and forecasting.
- Capture lessons from readiness reviews, challenge sessions, launch execution, and post-launch reviews, and help update enterprise playbooks, tools, and best practices.
- Own end-to-end project management of early commercial planning for pipeline indications and lifecycle expansion opportunities, including workstreams, milestones, and deliverable timelines.
- Manage the transition from pipeline planning to launch activation, including integrated plans, critical-path dependencies, and cross-functional handoffs.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
