Sr. Director, Alliance and Program Management

ProFound•Boston, MA

2d•$217,000 - $275,000

About The Position

ProFound Therapeutics is seeking a Senior Director, Alliance & Program Management to serve as an operational and strategic partner to the Chief Operating Officer, leadership team, and program teams. This role has two primary responsibilities: (1) serving as the day-to-day operational leader for ProFound's strategic pharmaceutical collaborations and (2) building the company's portfolio and program management capabilities. The role ensures successful alliance and program execution while developing the governance, planning processes, and operating systems that enable disciplined execution across the company's growing portfolio. This is a highly visible role requiring exceptional judgment, operational rigor, and the ability to influence without authority. The successful candidate will lead day-to-day alliance execution, enable governance, implement practical program management systems, and partner with scientific leadership to translate decisions into disciplined execution and ensure that programs remain aligned on objectives, timelines, budget, risks, and resource needs. The ideal candidate is an experienced biotechnology operator who combines strategic thinking with hands-on execution. They thrive in a lean, entrepreneurial environment where priorities evolve rapidly and success depends on bringing structure to complexity, building practical solutions, fostering collaboration, and driving accountability across highly matrixed teams.

Requirements

Ph.D. or M.S. in life sciences, or MBA with at least 5 years of direct experience working closely with scientific teams in a biotech or pharmaceutical setting.
10-15+ years’ experience in biotech or pharma alliance management, portfolio management, program management, and operational leadership.
Demonstrated success managing complex external partnerships, including governance, contractual obligations, and relationship management requiring judgement and influence across multiple stakeholders.
Hands-on experience leading program management across multi-program biotech portfolios, from early discovery through translational development.
Proven track record of building portfolio management processes, governance models, and project management capabilities within a growing biotechnology company.
Experience supporting portfolio prioritization, strategic planning, and executive governance.
Experience working closely with scientific leadership and large pharma partners.
Exceptional judgment and credibility, with a demonstrated ability to influence senior scientific leaders and external partners while navigating complex, cross-organizational decisions.
Outstanding operational rigor and systems thinking, with the ability to build practical governance processes, tools, and execution frameworks that improve accountability and visibility without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
Excellent communication and facilitation skills, translating complex scientific, operational, and business issues into clear decisions, action plans, and executive-level communications.
Proven ability to influence without authority, build consensus, proactively manage stakeholders, and drive accountability across highly matrixed organizations.
Skilled at resolving conflict constructively, balancing diplomacy with accountability while building trusted relationships with internal teams and external partners.
Highly organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to seamlessly shift between execution details and strategic organizational priorities.
Collaborative, low-ego leader with a solutions-oriented mindset and a demonstrated ability to build trust across functions and organizations.
Thrives in lean, fast-paced, entrepreneurial environments, demonstrating adaptability, resourcefulness, and a strong bias toward action.
Demonstrate strategic thinking, extreme teamwork, executional excellence, adaptability, and a commitment to inclusion and diversity.
Intellectual curiosity with a strong bias toward action - comfortable asking a question as they are driving a workstream to close.

Nice To Haves

Some of the experience listed above but not all.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary Alliance Manager and operational leader for ProFound's strategic pharmaceutical collaborations, ensuring successful execution of scientific objectives, governance activities, and contractual commitments.
Build trusted relationships across partner organizations while coordinating cross-functional scientific, legal, finance, IP, and operational teams to drive alliance execution.
Lead Joint Steering Committees (JSCs) and other governance forums, ensuring meetings are well prepared, decisions documented, and actions successfully executed.
Partner with Business Development to help structure new alliances for successful execution.
Translate collaboration agreements into executable operating plans, proactively managing milestones, deliverables, risks, issues, and partner expectations.
Monitor alliance health and performance, resolving conflicts constructively and providing executive leadership with clear visibility into key risks and opportunities.
Build credibility through exceptional execution, proactive communication, sound judgment, and effective stakeholder management.
Build and continuously improve ProFound's portfolio and program management capabilities, including governance, tools, and operating processes.
Lead integrated program management across discovery and early development programs, ensuring visibility into progress, risks, and resource needs.
Train and support scientific teams in adopting practical project management tools and consistent execution practices.
Partner with scientific leadership to implement stage-gate processes, governance frameworks, and portfolio reporting that support timely, high-quality decisions.
Partner with Finance to integrate program plans, budgets, and decision points, framing up options for timely investment, tradeoff, and resource allocation decisions.
Facilitate cross-functional program reviews, ensuring alignment, accountability, and effective follow-through on key decisions and actions.
Foster an operating culture that balances executional discipline with the agility of a growing biotechnology company.
Partner with executive leadership to drive portfolio prioritization, governance, and strategic investment decisions across pipeline and platform initiatives.
Support annual strategic planning, Long-Range Planning (LRP), and portfolio planning by coordinating program assumptions, milestones, timelines, and resource inputs.
Develop executive dashboards and portfolio reporting that improve visibility into organizational priorities, execution, and performance.
Provide program management support for executive governance meetings and other high-priority cross-functional initiatives.