Job Description

Job Description

As a member of the R&D Strategy, Portfolio Operations and Communications (SPOC) function, the Director, R&D Strategic Innovation (SI) will lead cross-functional teams composed of internal Biogen colleagues and/or contracted external resources to develop unique and highly credible solutions in the areas of portfolio enablement, process improvement, operations, ways of working, strategy, technology and other business challenges/opportunities with discernable impact on cost, efficiency and effectiveness. This role will assume a leadership position to coordinate cross-functional activities, ensuring the appropriate stakeholders are involved and providing a single point of accountability responsible for driving the entire process of designing, developing and deploying high impact and strategically aligned solutions.

The Director, R&D Strategic Innovation (SI) will work with the Head of Program Leadership &Strategic Innovations (PLSI), the Head of SPOC, and R&D Leadership to:

* Assess the current R&D organizational structure to identify opportunities to improve efficiencies and enhance the pace of drug discovery.
* Identify, evaluate and implement novel solutions and approaches for high priority R&D focus areas, including emerging therapeutic modalities, clinical trial operations and pre-clinical research technologies.
* Strategic planning and operational support for activities designed to expand Biogens external portfolio assets to complement and enhance the existing Biogen pipeline.
* Enhance the learning and change agility of the R&D organization, by, for example, implementing infrastructure to support colleague-driven solutioning for persistent microproblems, expanding and integrating continuous learning and improvement and bolstering leadership enablers such as scenario planning and decision-making.

The role requires strategic thinking as well as an ability to manage complex details and drive actions across a variety of areas. The candidate must build strong relationships with senior leaders across the company and enhance his/her understanding of enterprise structure and function, developing a solid understanding of all aspects of Biogens business.

The Director will need to be highly proactive, work collaboratively with other groups, have strong attention to detail along with written, verbal and listening skills, presentation skills, teaming, facilitation and relationship building skills. He/she will need to have a demonstrated understanding of the business and strong organizational skills.
Qualifications

Education:

* Undergraduate degree required; MBA and/or Advanced scientific degree (ie. PhD, MD) strongly preferred.

Experience:

* At minimum, 6-8 years of R&D drug development experience in-house at a pharmaceutical firm.
* Demonstrated strength in managing multiple projects and/or programs (i.e., collection of sub-projects) and business analysis.
* Direct and/or indirect drug development experience, particularly in roles or assignments aimed at advancing and optimizing the drug discovery and development processes and/or enabling pipeline and portfolio activities
* Extensive experience with aligning stakeholders, facilitating conflict, and communicating information in a way that enables leaders to have transparency on the underlying issues and potential solutions in varying settings including workshops, small group sessions or one-on-one meetings.
* Able to interact, partner and provide thought leadership for executives with comfort and ease.
* Experience managing projects within matrixed organizations
* Strong financial analysis and rigor to apply quantifiable metrics and assess value and impact
* Strong business sense and high degree of learning agility
* Experience with consulting methodologies and frameworks including strategy, analysis, expertise in operating models, governance, visual storyboarding methodologies, change management and process re-engineering
* Strong interpersonal and influencing skills including ability to maintain productive dialogue and pushing back on senior management as appropriate
* Excellent oral and written communications capabilities
* Strong presentation and facilitation skills
* Basic understanding of finance and budgeting
* Must be able to manage large teams across multiple functions and have a working knowledge of each function
* Fluent with technology solutions to manage projects including appropriate Microsoft Office programs (i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Visio) and also SharePoint

Additional Information

The Director, R&D Strategic Innovation (SI) is a key partner to the Head, Program Leadership & Strategic Innovation (PLSI) and works to ensure successful execution of the strategic vision for R&Ds innovation and improvement capabilities. This role provides strategic planning and operational execution for both day-to-day R&D operations as well as special projects designed to enhance R&D processes and capabilities.