Senior Project Manager - Center for Cancer Innovation

The Ohio State University

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Project Manager is an experienced professional responsible for leading a portfolio of complex Center for Cancer Innovation (CCI) initiatives and strategic industry research partnerships spanning multiple lines of business, internal units, and external organizations. Under the direction of the Director, Operational Excellence, with a functional reporting relationship to the Director, Center for Cancer Innovation, the role supports the James’ innovation portfolio and strategic industry partnership portfolio. The Senior Project Manager partners with executive sponsors, initiative leads, subject-matter experts, and industry collaborators to define opportunities, strategic objectives, value propositions, expected outcomes, and measures of success. The role leads multidisciplinary teams and cross-sector collaborations and manages scope, schedules, budgets, risks, issues, dependencies, stakeholder commitments, and change requests throughout each initiative or partnership lifecycle. Work includes opportunity definition and assessment, planning, experimentation or partnership development, implementation, transition, evaluation, and ongoing portfolio oversight. The role supports consistent processes for evaluating and prioritizing innovation opportunities and potential partnerships; coordinates pilots, limited-scale tests, due diligence, and collaborative workplans; and synthesizes findings into recommendations on whether work should advance, pivot, pause, scale, transition, renew, or conclude. The Senior Project Manager helps build and improve CCI and partnership-related intake, governance, and portfolio management practices, and connects the cancer program, the broader university and medical center, and the external industry ecosystem. Projects may require travel throughout the James and Ohio State University Medical Complex and to offsite locations, including sponsor headquarters and national or international meetings. Primary working hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., but may shift for specific projects, such as meetings at 7:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m.

Requirements

Master’s degree in business or a related field and at least 4 years of relevant project management experience, or a bachelor’s degree and at least 8 years of relevant project management experience.
Strong communication, interpersonal, organizational, active listening, and facilitation skills.
Experience managing, executing, and sustaining major change initiatives.
Demonstrated ability to initiate and complete large-scale projects.
Excellent writing skills and ability to identify opportunities to disseminate information effectively and efficiently.
Advanced experience with computer applications, including Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, and Project) and SharePoint.
Ability to work independently and as part of a team, build relationships, collaborate, and build consensus in a complex environment.

Nice To Haves

Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
Experience supporting strategic partnerships, external collaborations, business development, or industry-sponsored initiatives in a complex health care, academic, research, or similarly regulated environment.
Understanding of oncology clinical research.
Experience in pharma, biotech, diagnostics alliance management, or business development.

Responsibilities

Lead multidisciplinary teams and cross-sector collaborations advancing CCI innovation initiatives and strategic industry partnerships.
Coordinate people, processes, governance, resources, budgets, timelines, and stakeholder commitments to deliver intended outcomes on time and within budget.
Partner with sponsors, initiative leads, subject-matter experts, and industry collaborators to define opportunities, objectives, value propositions, outcomes, and success measures.
Manage scope, schedules, budgets, risks, issues, dependencies, stakeholder commitments, and change requests throughout the initiative or partnership lifecycle.
Support evaluation and prioritization of innovation opportunities and potential partnerships.
Coordinate pilots, limited-scale tests, due diligence, and collaborative workplans as appropriate.
Synthesize findings and recommend whether work should advance, pivot, pause, scale, transition, renew, or conclude.
Monitor progress and recommend course corrections as needed.
Build and continuously improve CCI and partnership-related intake, governance, and portfolio management practices.
Connect stakeholders across the cancer program, university, medical center, and external industry ecosystem, building trust and alignment among parties with differing perspectives and interests.
Travel within the James and Ohio State University Medical Complex and to offsite locations, including sponsor headquarters and national or international meetings, to facilitate CCI work and strategic partnerships.