Head of Site Business Operations - Cambridge, MA R&D

Head of Site Business Operations - Cambridge, MA R&D

BMS' newest R&D site located in Cambridge's Kendall Square is in the heart of a vibrant ecosystem of world-class science, innovation, and business opportunities. Our research in Cambridge will focus on novel targets and pathways for tumors that are resistant to current Immuno-Oncology therapies, as well as innovative discovery and translational medicine platforms to address unmet medical need in cardiovascular disease, immunoscience, and fibrosis. We will continue to foster patient outreach and local external collaborations with biopharma, biotech, and academic partners in our pursuit to help patients prevail over serious diseases.

The Head of Site Business Operations at our Cambridge, MA R&D site is the chief-of-staff to the cross-functional site leadership team (SVPs, VPs, & Function Heads across Discovery and Translational Medicine). In partnership with global leadership and enterprise business partners, this role will enable industry-leading site performance that delivers value to our patients, the local community, and our company. Core responsibilities include enabling strong site performance through business management and operations excellence, performance measurement, alignment with global R&D & the enterprise, and employee & local community engagement. The role is part of the R&D Strategy and Planning (RDSP) division, which is accountable for R&D business strategy & operations, operating model transformation, drug development project & portfolio management, governance management, and R&D learning. The role is part of the RDSP team accountable for Business Strategy & Operations for the Discovery and Translational Medicine divisions of BMS R&D.

The role will partner closely with local and global Discovery, Translational Medicine, RDSP, and enterprise business partners (e.g., Finance, Human Resources, Procurement, Information Technology, Business Insights & Analytics, Business Development, Facilities, Legal, Government Affairs, Corporate Affairs, others) to enable scientific and business performance excellence at our Cambridge R&D site. Accordingly, it is critical that the candidate effectively partner with and engage a matrixed team of internal and external partners to deliver organizational alignment and value.

Core responsibilities of the Head of Site Business Operations - Cambridge, MA are:

• Implementing our Cambridge R&D strategy and operating model, and enabling the delivery of tangible value to our patients, the local community, and our company
• Translating site strategy into site-specific objectives with tangible business outcomes and performance measures, tracking their performance, and proactively course-correcting as needed
• Ensuring ongoing alignment and integration of site and functional strategy, objectives, operations, and book-of-work delivery with parent divisions, global R&D, and the enterprise
• Ensuring ongoing connectivity and collaboration across the site and within the enterprise
• Proactively identifying and mitigating operational risks to pipeline delivery and site performance
• Proactively designing and managing high-priority, site-specific and global initiatives that deliver tangible scientific and business value; selected examples include:
  • Identifying opportunities to accelerate decision making and enhance business impact of investments
  • Facilitating the assessment and uptake of novel scientific capabilities and technology platforms
  • Facilitating the improvement in outcomes & efficiency of core R&D activities and business processes
  • Fostering cross-functional synergies across the site, enterprise, and with strategic external partners
  • Optimizing the utility of project, information, and business management capabilities
• Implementing the site operating model and measuring performance in partnership with global business partners listed above; example measures include:
  • Achievement of site strategy, objectives, and contributions to pipeline goals and enterprise value
  • Impact of scientific and capability investments, contributions to R&D innovation and thought leadership
  • Operational performance, Financial performance (OpEx, CapEx, other), Headcount management and resource allocation, Business continuity
  • Site culture and employee engagement, Workspace effectiveness
  • Internal relationships and connectivity, External relationships and community engagement
• Serving as the chief-of-staff to the cross-functional Cambridge Site Leadership Team:
  • Plan and facilitate site-wide LT meetings, committees, and workshops
  • Plan and facilitate portfolio and site / business performance reviews
  • Manage internal communication strategy, ensuring broad dissemination of strategy, decisions, events, etc.
  • Plan and prepare site-wide Townhalls, communications, and connectivity events
  • Prepare site-specific strategy and performance updates for divisional LTs, BMS LT, and the Board
  • Advise Site Head and LT on site performance and potential risks, and provide recommended mitigations
  • Ensure Site Head and LT are apprised of relevant enterprise and divisional initiatives and available tools (project & business management, onboarding, meeting management, etc.)
• Serving as the site's point-of-contact for foundational business operations support (e.g., management of local budget, headcount, contracts, space, selected business processes, etc.) - and delivering support by leveraging local or global resources as appropriate
• Monitoring the external landscape to stay abreast of industry and business management macro trends to inform and educate stakeholders, and incorporate into Cambridge site management
• Implementing the local community and patient engagement plan; example components:
• Developing a collaboration / engagement evaluation framework to ensure alignment with global strategy and existing collaborations / collaboration management committees
• Managing the planning and execution of on-site and off-site local engagement events
• Leveraging comprehensive site messaging, tailored for different constituencies - academic institutions, life science entrepreneurs, venture, patients, legislators, the broader community, etc.
• Identifying and facilitating targeted local interactions to garner deeper insights and generate mutual value
• Providing Portfolio / Book of Work Management support, facilitating portfolio planning, prioritization, and resource allocation in partnership with the Site Leadership team.
• If appropriate, facilitating connectivity with Business Development to progress potential opportunities

Requirements:

• Undergraduate (BA/BS) degree required; PhD or MBA preferred
• 10 years of professional experience in the life sciences or biopharmaceutical industry
• Scientific experience in discovery and translational medicine preferred
• Business strategy and operations experience required; management consulting experience preferred
• Demonstrated strength in assessing business-critical needs, developing business strategy, operating models, and plans, managing program execution, and delivering measureable business value
• Strong experience with business process design and performance measurement
• Strong business acumen and comfort in agile delivery and learning environment
• Capable of bringing structure to vaguely defined problems while using creative yet pragmatic problem-solving approaches and execution management
• Highly effective written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong presentation, facilitation, and executive-level messaging skills
• Ability to build relationships and influence, and drive organizational engagement
• Strong matrixed team leadership, mentoring, and people development & inclusion skills
• Strong ability to ensure connectivity across multiple functions within a site and with the enterprise

About BMS R&D

Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D is a science-driven, passionate organization determined to discover, develop and deliver medicines that have the potential to transform the lives of patients and establish new standards of care in areas of high unmet need. Patients' needs and scientific discovery are our driving force.

We have a history of scientific excellence. We dramatically changed outcomes in HIV; we helped discover a cure for HCV; and we developed a novel medicine with proven benefit for atrial fibrillation. We also pioneered targeting the immune system in cancer research, breaking new ground in the science of immuno-oncology.

Today, we are transforming the way certain cancers are treated and focusing our research efforts on areas of high unmet need in cardiovascular disease, immunoscience and fibrosis. Our goal is to leave an enduring positive impact on society by making a meaningful difference in the lives of even more patients.

Our people are our greatest asset. Our R&D organization is made up of industry-leading researchers and drug developers who have a passion for science, a curiosity for discovery and a commitment to translating these advances into medicines that make a difference for patients. Our teams are part of a unique global ecosystem that is set up to be agile, interactive and conducive to translating a nascent idea into a powerful treatment.

We follow the science. Our pipeline of promising molecules and medicines is deliberately built through a multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach. We are deepening our understanding of disease biology and uncovering biomarker insights to help predict how patients will respond to treatment with the ultimate goal of making precision medicine a reality for more patients.

We believe partnership and collaboration are essential. Academic research centers, laboratories, clinicians, clinical trials organizations, government, advocates and industry - all of these organizations contribute to a vibrant healthcare ecosystem that is critical to continued scientific advancement. From the global research networks we've created to our creative approach to business development, we complement internal innovation with external innovation - identifying new scientific hypotheses to better understand how to translate research findings into improved patient outcomes.

We believe digital health and data connectivity is transforming our industry. Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of available electronic medical records, genomics and claims data. This, combined with our own data, biomedical and health informatics partnerships, and new analytical tools, is changing how we interact with payers, suppliers and patients. By leveraging the collective power of data & analytics, we are accelerating the pipeline, enhancing the speed of clinical trials, demonstrating the value of our medicines and helping to inform clinical decisions.

We are constantly anticipating what's coming next, navigating and discovering new technologies, enabling our understanding of new ways to use them and applying them to advance drug discovery, development and delivery to patients as quickly as possible.

Our mission is clear: to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines to patients with serious diseases.