Strategic Initiatives Lead

Proxima • New York, NY

1d • Remote

About The Position

As Strategic Initiatives Lead, you will be at the center of our internal drug discovery engine, driving the programs that deliver on the promise of AI-native proximity therapeutics. Reporting to the VP of R&D Strategy & Operations, you will have a direct line to Proxima's C-Suite, board, investors, and pharma partners, giving you unusual visibility and influence for a role at this level. You'll shape how our R&D engine gets built and run across internal programs, platform development, and pharma partnerships, helping leadership decide which bets to push, which to kill, and where to place the next ones. On the strategic side, you'll synthesize signal from ML, wet lab, chemistry, and partner teams into the insights that drive portfolio decisions, board conversations, and BD strategy. On the operational side, you'll make sure the right experiments happen at the right time, cross-functional teams stay aligned, and leadership has what they need to move fast with conviction. If you want to sit at the intersection of cutting-edge science, AI, and strategy, and help build the playbook for a new kind of drug discovery company, this is the role.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a life sciences discipline; biology or chemistry preferred
• 3-5 years of experience in biotech operations, program management, or strategy roles within AI-driven drug discovery, pharma, or a related environment
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder programs with competing timelines
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Python, and GitHub
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate scientific information for non-scientific stakeholders

Nice To Haves

• Experience in a strategy and operations role in biotech, life sciences consulting, or venture capital
• Track record of influencing senior leadership and driving decisions without direct authority
• Familiarity with CRO management, drug discovery workflows, or proximity-based therapeutic modalities
• Strong sense of ownership; comfort operating in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment with minimal direction
• AI/tech and life sciences business acumen with understanding of the pharmaceutical or computational biology landscape

Responsibilities

• Conduct competitive landscaping, benchmarking, and internal forecasting to inform program prioritization.
• Prepare materials and context for investor updates, partner discussions, and board-level program reviews
• Own end-to-end coordination of R&D programs, including timelines, milestones, deliverables, and cross-functional dependencies across ML, biology, chemistry, and proteomics.
• Own end-to-end coordination of internal R&D programs, including timelines, milestones, deliverables, and cross-functional dependencies across computational, biology, chemistry, and proteomics teams
• Build and maintain program-level dashboards, trackers, and reporting cadences that give the C-Suite, board, and external stakeholders clear line-of-sight into progress, risks, and resource needs
• Manage CRO relationships in service of internal programs, including SOW alignment, timeline tracking, data delivery, and vendor performance
• Support platform-related initiatives where they intersect with internal programs, from experiment planning through data integration and analysis
• Design and implement processes, tools, and workflows that keep programs running efficiently, reduce communication overhead, and surface issues early
• Coordinate interactions with Key Opinion Leaders and Scientific Advisory Board members as they relate to internal program strategy

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Associate degree