Director, Due Diligence and Integration

About Ipsen: Ipsen is a mid-sized global biopharmaceutical company with a focus on transformative medicines in three therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Disease and Neuroscience. Supported by nearly 100 years of development experience, with global hubs in the U.S., France and the U.K, we tackle areas of high unmet medical need through research and innovation. Our passionate teams in more than 40 countries are focused on what matters and endeavour every day to bring medicines to patients in 88 countries. We build a workplace that champions human-centric leadership and fosters a culture of collaboration, excellence and impact. At Ipsen, every individual is empowered to be their true selves, grow and thrive alongside the company’s success. Join us on our journey towards sustainable growth, creating real impact on patients and society!

Job Description:

WHAT - Summary & Purpose of the Position

The Due Diligence and Integration Director is a key player responsible for driving the assessment of external programs/entities to support Ipsen’s external innovation objectives. Once transacted, he/she would plan and lead the onboarding, transition, and integration of the acquired assets into the Ipsen ecosystem. Identified as a key corporate pillar, the individual will play an important role in fulfilling the global partnering/external innovation driven growth of Ipsen portfolio. He/she would collaborate with enterprise wide cross-functional SMEs and stakeholders including Therapeutic Area Units, R&D functions, Commercial, Medical Affairs, Patient Safety, Technical Operation, Corporate Functions including Finance, Legal/IP, etc. to run a robust diligence and fully integrated recommendation that guides ELT-level decision making on the transaction, followed by post-transaction seamless integration to the Ipsen pipeline/portfolio.

WHAT - Main Responsibilities & Technical Competencies

• Due Diligence:

• Direct key R&D stakeholders to ensure stage appropriate participation of relevant functions to support pre-DD assessment and drive confirmatory due diligence of external programs/entities.
• Manage access to data rooms/internal repositories, and drive data request process to ensure thorough review of science, modality, MoA, clinical/regulatory viability, and CMC feasibility.
• Structure and lead regular meetings and coordinate discussions with internal stakeholders, and external parties, as necessary.
• Drive generation of integrated global development plan for the asset/s including risk-mapping and life-cycle management potential.
• Collaborate with finance to generate development cost models; and provide Probability of Success matrix to support generation of business case and valuation models.
• Summarise the assessment in a stage-gated manner to generate a consolidated cross-functional report including clear recommendations, interdependencies, risks profiles and mitigation plans.
• Prepare and present material for various governance meetings to support decision making process.
• Collaborate with deal team during confirmatory diligence, support preparation of transaction in accordance to deal rational, development plans, and financial models.
• Track and manage archival of due diligence assignments supporting the M&A initiatives across all therapeutic areas.
• Partner with the Ipsen due diligence community to ensure Ipsen processes/playbook and functional support remain state-of-the-art per industry standards.

• Assemble onboarding package capturing all relevant due diligence material to support launch of project/asset teams.
• Manage virtual data rooms including clean rooms/teams; facilitate the data request process pre-close.
• Collaborate with Ipsen stakeholders including relevant corporate functions to define the integration objectives, formulate pre-integration/integration plans to meet these objectives in accordance with the deal model expectations.
• Work closely with Finance to ensure development costs (external and internal) are appropriately reflected and accounted for the execution.
• Support identification of areas for transition support, facilitate development of Transition Services Agreements including cost/resource requirements, and oversee administration of the services.
• Partner with management and staff including that from the acquired businesses to execute integration plan, assimilate into Ipsen, and achieve targets during integration/transition phases.
• Assist in execution of business initiatives during integration/transition period to ensure achievement of financial goals and leading indicators.
• Serve as visible leader and representative from Ipsen to demonstrate culture, values of organization, and welcome new colleagues.
• Partner with integration community to ensure the Ipsen processes/playbook remain state-of-the-art per industry standards.

HOW - Knowledge & Experience

Knowledge & Experience (essential):

• 10+ years’ experience in pharmaceutical industry or healthcare consulting with cross-functional hands-on roles; working knowledge of the drug development process.
• Strong interpersonal, facilitation, communication and organisation skills.
• Strong project management skills with ability to navigate within matrix environment and collaborative teamwork – bring the best out of the team members.
• Applies emerging knowledge and trends; builds strong relationships; contributes to expertise within and beyond assigned area.
• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical product development and LCM strategies.
• SME in one of the functional areas such as clinical, preclinical, CMC, regulatory, medical, commercial.
• Problem solving and decision-making skills, with demonstrated ability to drive initiatives, solve issues, anticipate problems and achieve objectives.
• Strong communication, networking and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Shows courage, maintains composure under pressure, and exercises sound judgment to drive effective implementation of solutions.
• High level of interpersonal skills and integrity.
• Strong conflict management and facilitation skills.
• Good understanding of drug development and its various phases (pre-clinical, clinical phases, registration, post-approval/LCM).
• Strong analytical skills for integrating and interpreting interdisciplinary project information.
• Excellent project management skills (including knowledge and risk management) and ability to inform decision making.

Knowledge & Experience (preferred):

• Direct experience conducting/participating in due diligence and integration is a plus.
• Leading projects such as Technology Transfer, New Product Introductions, Development from discovery through to commercialisation, Regulatory filings, etc. is a plus.

Education / Certifications (essential):

• Master’s degree in science is required.

Education / Certifications (preferred):

• PhD is preferred.
• Project Management certification is a plus.

Language(s) (essential):

• Fluent in English.

Language(s) (preferred):

• French is a plus.