Associate Director, Pipeline Project Management for BD

At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. Our R&D focuses on discovering and delivering vaccines and medicines, combining our understanding of the immune system with cutting-edge technology to transform people’s lives. GSK fosters a culture ambitious for patients, accountable for impact, and committed to doing the right thing, making sure that we focus our efforts on accelerating significant assets that meet patients’ needs and have the highest probability of success.

The Associate Director, Pipeline Project Management for Business Development provides R&D project management for Business Development opportunities and transactions from early diligence through governance, deal execution, integration, and transition to business as usual (BAU), as well as in cases of separation or reversion. Acting as a strategic partner to Business Development, Alliance Management, and R&D stakeholders, the role drives cross-functional alignment to deliver robust, ambitious, fit-for-purpose development plans that support timely and informed decision making. This includes leading cross-functional planning, governance readiness, risk management, and integration activities while enabling efficient execution and value realization from BD transactions.

The Associate Director leverages drug development across multiple therapeutic areas and phases of development, project management, and stakeholder relationship expertise to identify and manage risks, challenge assumptions, drive alignment on timelines, resources, and costs, and ensure successful transfer of knowledge and accountability into ongoing development teams. Operating within a complex matrix environment, the role manages multiple projects of moderate complexity with support, contributes to continuous improvement of PPM BD ways of working, and helps foster a culture of collaboration, agility, and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide R&D project management throughout diligence, contracting, and integration by identifying critical path activities, resource constraints, and execution risks, ensuring issues are actively managed and escalated to Business Development and to enable timely transition to Business As Usual (BAU).
• Develop integrated cross-functional development plans for Business Development opportunities, aligning strategy, timelines, resources, costs, assumptions, dependencies, and key value drivers to support governance and decision making.
• Facilitate cross-functional evaluation of development and integration scenarios by challenging assumptions, facilitating trade-off discussions, identifying risks and opportunities, and recommending mitigation and acceleration strategies to maximize deal value and execution success.
• Liaise with BD colleagues to ensure the appropriate subject matter experts (SMEs)/functional leads are included in diligence and knowledge transfer/integration discussions at the appropriate time to ensure adequate planning pre-deal, during contracting, and post-deal while also ensuring BD teams remain right sized, fit for purpose, and agile.
• Support BD as needed in reviewing the contract and ensuring inclusion of information related to tech transfer obligation to support smooth implementation of deals.
• Set expectations and timelines with SMEs and hold them accountable for delivering on their due diligence and knowledge transfer responsibilities and for adequately transferring knowledge within their line function if team members must transition.
• Manage moderately complex R&D integration, separation, and reversion activities across all therapeutic areas and stages of development.
• Drive governance readiness through development of high-quality plans, risk assessments, and recommendations that support timely decision making and value realization.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of PPM BD processes, tools, and ways of working while fostering a culture of collaboration, agility, learning, and operational excellence.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Life Sciences, Business, or related field.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in R&D, drug/vaccine development or related experience.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in a global project or portfolio management role preferably in the pharmaceutical industry (small molecules, biologics, and/or vaccines) with experience managing drug development projects across multiple phases of development and therapeutic areas.
• Two or more years of experience utilizing Planisware, MS project, or similar tools.
• Two or more years of experience assessing risk, budgets, and resource management.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced degree (PhD or MS in Life Sciences or related field or MBA).
• PMP certification.
• Experience working in matrixed, cross-functional environment.
• Experience with Business Development due diligence and/or Integration/Divestment management.
• Experience in Oncology, Respiratory, or Infectious Disease PM.

Skills: Communication, Cross-Departmental Collaboration, Decision Making, Financial Acumen, Innovation, Leadership, Project Controls, Project Management, Project Management Governance, Project Planning, Project Tracking, Risk Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Stakeholder Management, Strategic Leadership.