Senior Director, Strategy Planning and Operations, Early Clinical Development

ROLE SUMMARY

Reporting to the Senior Vice President, Head of Early Clinical Development (ECD), this leader is responsible for leading the design of strategies and initiatives to enable portfolio delivery and providing senior-level operations support to the Head of ECD and the ECDLT.  S/He should be a motivated self-starter with strong organizational skills, strategic thinker with the ability to execute, ability to manage multiple priorities, pay attention to detail, collaborate across WRDM and the enterprise, and enhance existing processes or implement new ones, where appropriate.  S/He will also be responsible for establishing a framework and action plan for processes like strategic planning, portfolio resource planning, and budget management.   This individual will oversee aspects of Strategy, Operations, Compliance/Regulatory, Portfolio Management, Partnership with WRDM Strategy and Compliance Groups and Effective Leadership and Influence across ECD and WRDM. They will also be responsible for leading strategy and implementation of new initiatives and seamlessly aligning new groups into ECD, setting the go-forward strategy as ECD matures as an organization, and leading on organizational design.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Strategic planning and implementation:  Works closely with ECDLT to plan, develop and implement short and long-term business strategies and align -biannual goals to meet WRDM objectives.
• Engages with the ECDLT to identify opportunities and challenges with regard to portfolio delivery in their specific areas, designs cross-ECD strategies that enable portfolio delivery and works with ECDLT to implement. Forms close relationships with other RUs and PLs to ensure ECD’s focus and strategies align with and support work across WRDM and the enterprise.
• Leads on strategic planning as new technologies, groups, or modalities are identified and incorporated into ECD (for example, incorporating clinically focused early development computational biomedicine scientists/AI oriented clinical experts as a key area of focus for the enterprise going forward).
• Co-ordinates business processes such as the annual business/operating plan.
• Designs and implements new ways to analyze productivity that are transparent to customers and clearly demonstrate the ROI for ECD functions.
• Measures output and efficiency of ECD against external benchmarks and recommends solutions to improve performance.
• Ensures best practices are applied to effectively and efficiently advance our pipeline and improve the overall efficiency of the organization.
• Liaises with leaders and colleagues across the organization to ensure the right level of information is available in a timely manner for the head of the group.
• Works proactively with HR, Strategy and Finance leads to deliver robust planning and partnerships.
• Ensures and tracks adequate allocation of resources (e.g. financial, staffing, platform technologies, etc.) in a proactive and timely manner.
• Supports the continuous implementation of ECD and WRDM governance models and deliverables, specifically with relation to the Technical Review Committee, Protocol Review Committee, CPSDC, etc.
• Develops Board reports and presentations liaising appropriately with the leadership team and office of the President of WRDM.
• Ensures compliance to local and global clinical policies and procedures including preparing, coordinating and remediation planning for ECD related audits.
• Establishes and maintains external collaborations and works with ECD’s external advisors to specified timelines and milestones.
• Tracks delivery of portfolio of projects and collaborations against goals and ensures alignment of portfolio with research and business unit priorities.
• Develops and implements new processes to drive the efficient operation of ECD. 
• Develops an understanding of biology and scientific elements of the programs in ECD and the Research Units.
• Provides advice and guidance to the SVP ECD pertaining to internal events as well as the external environment. Serves as an objective sounding board.
• Thinks ahead to anticipate needs of the SVP of ECD including issues that may impact the area or strategy.
• Works closely and collaboratively with the Chief of Staff for ECD to ensure that the roles and responsibilities of that position are supported and promoted.
• Supervises a team of business support professionals to lead strategy, clinical operations, compliance across ECD and WRDM, where appropriate.

Candidate demonstrates a breadth of diverse leadership experiences and capabilities including: the ability to influence and collaborate with peers, develop and coach others, oversee and guide the work of other colleagues to achieve meaningful outcomes and create business impact.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Experience

• MSc or PhD or MBA
• Advanced strategic planning, business analysis, communication and business software skills required.
• 15+ years of experience with a proven track record in life sciences organizational management, strategic, financial and business planning, operations, and business development (5+ years of relevant experience advising or consulting senior leaders in life sciences)

Additional Requirements

• Strong evidence of business acumen.
• Demonstrated ability to be a change agent within a senior leadership team working across disciplines.
• Demonstrated success in leading a complex global team where resources are not in direct control.
• Clearly demonstrated skills in working collaboratively across the whole spectrum of WRD relationships.
• Ability to manage many competing demands to successful completion through a changing environment.
• Demonstrated ability to transform creative ideas into finished products that are impactful; proven ability to develop a range of creative solutions to business challenges.
• Coaches and mentors other; motivates other to maintain a consistent level of excellence in project management and outcomes.
• Acts decisively making timely and effective decisions applying business and financial acumen. Acts with urgency and removes barriers that hinder productivity making decisions in a timely manner, sometimes with incomplete information and under tight deadlines and pressure. Able to make quick decisions when necessary.
• Takes accountability for self, others and for outcome of decisions. Sets high standards for performance and holds others accountable to their commitments. Clearly manages and measures performance assigning responsibility, setting clear objectives and measures, monitoring progress and results, and designing progress checks into work.
• Strives for positive results and can be counted on to exceed expectations regularly. A consistent top performer who is focused on the bottom-line and steadfastly pushes themselves and others to achieve excellence. Proactive problem solver with a passion for science and a strong desire to learn and grow.
• Anticipates future consequences and trends accurately and is able to create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans. Ability to set direction and to lead change with respect for people. Copes with change effectively and can be decisive and act without having the total picture. Isn’t fazed by uncertainty and doesn’t strive for over-completeness, competently handling risks and uncertainty.
• Self-aware, recognizing personal strengths, limitations and motivation. Actively seeks feedback, learns from mistakes, is open to criticism without being defensive. Proactive in developing skills and networks and gathering the information needed to be successful. Is self-reliant in problem solving and learning.
• Understands other peoples’ unspoken as well as explicit concerns. Adapts approach and behavior depending on situation to be more effective, inclusive, and to have positive impact on others. Shows high emotional intelligence changing behavior quickly to increase effectiveness. Strong capability to successfully manage and resolve conflict. Able to communicate ideas and provide answers clearly and succinctly.  Shows willingness to contribute to discussions and is able accept challenge to their ideas or answers.

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

• Reports to the Senior Vice President, Head of ECD     
• Is a member of the ECD
• Maintains a strong relationship with the Pfizer WRD Clinical Research Groups and Precision Medicine groups
• Partners with GPD (Development Operations), RU Clinical Research Heads, Finance, Business Units (BUs) and Research Units (RUs)
• Works closely with other WRD Strategy and Operations Leads

OTHER JOB DETAILS

• Eligible for Relocation Package
• Eligible for Employee Referral Bonus
• #LI-PFE

Pfizer requires all U.S. new hires to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to the first date of employment.  As required by applicable law, Pfizer will consider requests for Reasonable Accommodations.

Sunshine Act

Pfizer reports payments and other transfers of value to health care providers as required by federal and state transparency laws and implementing regulations.  These laws and regulations require Pfizer to provide government agencies with information such as a health care provider’s name, address and the type of payments or other value received, generally for public disclosure.  Subject to further legal review and statutory or regulatory clarification, which Pfizer intends to pursue, reimbursement of recruiting expenses for licensed physicians may constitute a reportable transfer of value under the federal transparency law commonly known as the Sunshine Act.  Therefore, if you are a licensed physician who incurs recruiting expenses as a result of interviewing with Pfizer that we pay or reimburse, your name, address and the amount of payments made currently will be reported to the government.  If you have questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact your Talent Acquisition representative.

EEO & Employment Eligibility

Pfizer is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status.  Pfizer also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA.  Pfizer is an E-Verify employer.

Bus Dev & Strategic Planning