Senior Program Manager

We are seeking a driven Senior Programme Manager to lead R&D programmes, pipeline and platform development across functional teams. This role involves strategic and day-to-day management of drug development programmes, as well as helping to establish the project management office, including tools, processes, and culture. The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in drug development and proven experience coordinating cross-functional programmes across clinical, regulatory, pre-clinical, commercial, BD, and CMC. They will work closely with the SVP of Business Planning and Operations, CSO, and Asset Development Lead to manage the portfolio and governance in line with company strategy. This is a contract role requiring 3 days on-site in Cambridge.

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for the day-to-day planning and oversight of the successful delivery of long and short-term programme objectives.
• Work with the project leader and team to update programme driven business plans, budgets, forecasts, and report actual performance against plan, identifying and analysing key variances against plan, and highlighting critical path activities.
• Work with the team to identify risks and manage these with understanding of impact for this programme and others.
• Ensure timely, accurate, and comprehensive project information is available for reporting and governance meetings.
• Support effective discussion, decision making and execution within the project team by coordinating and managing effective team meetings, including ensuring agendas are distributed prior to the meeting and minutes and actions are distributed timely after the project meeting.
• Support the team in identifying financial, operational, and other risks to the project and implement mitigation strategies.
• Find innovative ways to resolve problems through scenario planning, contingency planning, risk assessment and management, problem solving, ensuring teams have the right information to support them through decision making at the right time.
• Build, develop and maintain project Gantt charts, and other project plans within project management and other project tools which reflect the scope of the programme and are accurate with timely updates.
• Prepare periodic management reports (e.g. monthly reports, programme milestones, dashboards).
• Contribute to the development of the PM team and embed programme management tools and best practices across all programmes, including alignment with governance, reporting, budget and resource allocation.
• Have a good understanding of the wider companies strategic and portfolio level objectives.

Key Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required; scientific background.
• 5+ years’ experience in pharma/biotech industry, exposure to IND/CTA readiness and clinical development highly desirable.
• 3+ years project management experience in pharmaceutical or biotech setting required.
• Understanding of the development of a product from discovery through research, pre-clinical development and early clinical development.
• Ability to track performance against objectives, use of effective meeting management tools and techniques.
• Ability to maintain sources of programme information, and to integrate and distribute appropriate information to senior management and external partners.
• Experience in working within a project management office and the suite of tools, processes and systems needed to support this.
• Demonstrated success supporting integrated cross-functional teams.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills including attention to detail.
• Experience in use of project management software solutions, including skills in critical path analysis.
• Strong technology skills including PowerPoint, MS Project, Excel, MS Teams, and MS Project.
• Experience in Oncology/small molecule drug development highly desirable.