Strategy and Operations Associate Director, Cell & Genetic Therapy Research

Job Description

The Strategy & Operations Associate Director is a strategic leadership role responsible for translating enterprise and disease area strategies into Cell & Genetic Therapy (CGT) Research-specific execution plans. This role facilitates leadership decision-making and serves as the bridge between Leiden Campus (LC) Research and critical cross-functional partnerships.

Bringing a strong combination of scientific and business acumen, the Associate Director advances multiple cross-functional strategic initiatives across Leiden Campus and Cell & Genetic Therapy (CGT) Research. Partnering closely with senior leaders within and outside LC Research, the role helps shape strategic direction, secure alignment, and drive execution against shared goals and priorities. Positioned at the intersection of strategy, operations, and communication, the incumbent supports goal setting, prioritization, resource allocation, and trade-off management across LC Research functions while providing strategic advisory support, leadership enablement, and clear communications to site and functional leadership.

The Strategy & Operations Associate Director applies strategic thinking, options analysis, and cross-functional collaboration to identify opportunities, frame complex decisions, and enable LC Research to execute with clarity, speed, and integration.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategy Translation & Decision Support

• Translate enterprise and disease area strategies into LC Research-specific execution plans and implications, including capacity requirements, shared platform constraints, sequencing decisions, resource trade-offs, and key milestones.
• Frame strategic options and trade-offs for leadership decision-making, providing decision-ready analysis that accounts for execution risks, resource constraints, and cross-functional dependencies.
• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the Head of LC Research Strategy & Operations and LC Research Site Head, conducting scenario planning and options analysis to evaluate strategy and operations decisions and challenge assumptions.
• Drive LC Research goal setting, prioritization frameworks, and management of execution risks across research functions, while identifying opportunities to improve operating processes, coordination, and overall efficiency.
• Partner with Finance on OpEx planning, headcount management, and resource allocation to align investments with strategic priorities.

Leadership Enablement & Communications

• Develop clear, compelling executive communications, including presentations, briefing materials, and decision documents for diverse audiences: LC Research leadership, Disease Strategy Teams (DSTs), CSO organization, Executive Committee members, and external scientific collaborators.
• Synthesize complex scientific, operational, and strategic information into decision-ready insights tailored to audience needs.
• Lead development of narratives, reporting, and executive communications that frame LC Research priorities, progress, risks, milestones, and strategic choices for internal and external stakeholders.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Program Portfolio Management (PPM) to align LC priorities with capacity/demand insights and provide timeline and resource inputs.
• Collaborate with DSTs to understand approved disease strategies and translate them into LC execution implications.
• Lead interactions with Finance, HR, Operations, and other enabling functions to support integrated planning, decision-making, and advancement of functional priorities.
• Coordinate and lead cross-functional teams across LC Research functions to ensure alignment on shared priorities, constraints, interdependencies, decisions, and execution against agreed action plans.
• Support the Head of RS&O as the liaison between LC Research and Business Development/External Innovation (BD/EI), translating external opportunities into research implications and communicating research needs to inform external opportunity evaluation.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Strategic Thinking: Advanced ability to translate high-level strategy into actionable execution plans; frame complex problems; conduct options analysis and scenario planning.
• Analytical Rigor: Strong business case development, resource management, and prioritization frameworks; comfort with quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Communication Excellence: Exceptional written and oral communication skills, including the ability to craft compelling narratives and presentations for scientific and non-scientific audiences at all levels.
• Leadership Influence: Proven abil