(contract) Director, Program Management

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq: CNTA) new kind of pharmaceutical company with a deconstructed R&D environment that prioritizes data driven decision making led by subject matter experts. Centessa is advancing a portfolio of high conviction programs with strong biological validation.

Our asset-centric model offers a unique R&D logic that has been applied by single asset companies to improve productivity. This operating model has minimal centralized infrastructure, reduced hierarchy, and exclusive focus on data driven capital allocation. Our teams are uniquely incentivized to expeditiously interrogate key scientific hypotheses. We believe the asset-centric model can lead to improved success rates for programs with greater speed and modest costs.

Director, Program Management (contract)  

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq: CNTA) new kind of pharmaceutical company with a deconstructed R&D environment that prioritizes data driven decision making led by subject matter experts. Centessa is advancing a portfolio of high conviction programs with strong biological validation.

Our asset-centric model offers a unique R&D logic that has been applied by single asset companies to improve productivity. This operating model has minimal centralized infrastructure, reduced hierarchy, and exclusive focus on data driven capital allocation. Our teams are uniquely incentivized to expeditiously interrogate key scientific hypotheses. We believe the asset-centric model can lead to improved success rates for programs with greater speed and modest costs.

Description of Role

Centessa is seeking a (contract) Director of Program Management to manage one or more high complexity global R&D program. The Director, Program Management (PM) partners with the Global Team Leader (GTL) to lead cross‑functional planning and execution across the drug development lifecycle. Reporting to the Senior Vice President, Global Program Leadership, this role oversees creation and maintenance of fully integrated program plans, timelines, and risk‑management tools, ensuring clear communication of priorities, dependencies, and progress to teams and senior leadership.

The (contract) Director of Program Management drives operational excellence by facilitating team meetings, managing dashboards, issues, and risks, coordinating budgets and vendor deliverables, and supporting governance and regulatory submission activities. Success requires strong collaboration, structured decision‑making, and the ability to lead complex programs in a fast‑paced environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with the GTL (Global Team Leader) to project manage a cross-functional matrix team, and select sub-teams
• Lead the development of and continuously maintain detailed and fully cross-functionally integrated program Gantt chart as a company-wide “Single Source of Truth,” incorporating all relevant dependencies, and provide fit-for-purpose summary views for team use and executive management reviews
• Identify and manage interdependencies, critical path and at-risk activities to support program level scenario planning and risk management strategies
• Develop and maintain relevant dashboards to communicate status and track progress 
• Manage cross-functional team meetings including scheduling, preparing agendas, presentation materials, and minutes that ensure proper follow up of action items
• Develop and maintain issue logs and risks registers, and ensure team proactively resolve issues in a timely manner and that risks are mitigated as appropriate
• Work with cross-functional team and Finance to develop and update budgets, and manage program spend within approved budget
• Manage select external vendors (timelines, budgets, MSA/SOW documents, etc.) and integrate deliverables into program Gantt
• Support development of Governance and Executive presentations
• Provide support for the planning and preparation of documents to a quality standard required for Regulatory/Health Authority submissions
• Contribute to establishment and refinement of best practices, processes and procedures

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in science or related field; advanced degree in a scientific discipline preferred
• 10+ year’s experience in pharmaceutical/biotech R&D environment, or MS/MBA plus 6+ years in pharmaceutical/biotech R&D environment, including 4+ years in program or project management 
• PMP certification is highly desired
• Proven expertise in drug development and registration, including early and late-stage clinical, nonclinical, CMC development, and regulatory interactions, submissions/reviews globally
• Highly motivated, proactive, detail-oriented and organized self-starter with stro