Director, Pipeline Project Management for Business Development

GSK site preferred locations: Upper Providence – Collegeville, PA; Stevenage, UK; GSK House, UK.  On-site presence of 2-3 days per week on average is required.  Additional flexible arrangements considered on a case-by-case basis.

** New GSK UK Headquarters - move from GSK House, Brentford **

We’re moving towards a more sustainable future with our new headquarters. With better public transport links and proximity to world-class science and technology institutions, we’re excited for our move to the vicinity of Earnshaw Street, London WC1A (“the New HQ”) by end H1 2024.

Job Purpose:

The Director, Pipeline Project Management for Business Development is responsible for managing individual BD project-activities related to BD deals pre-diligence, during due-diligence and governance phase, during the contracting phase and then during the implementation or integration phase until business as usual (BAU). 

The role works in close collaboration with the Business Development and Alliance Management counterparts as well as counterparts within PPM managing internal pipeline projects and is responsible for agile, fit-for-purpose execution of the processes being created to support BD and is expected to leverage their drug development, leadership, and project management expertise to contribute to refining/optimizing these processes where appropriate.

The role is responsible to ensure the quality and robustness of the integrated development plans that will be developed for governance, and for the planning and the execution of the integration/knowledge transfer plans and for ensuring project risks are being actively tracked and managed.

The Director has experience managing multiple complex pipeline projects within a matrix organization and experience with project management of due-diligences, integrations, or reversions. The Director can independently manage multiple projects and is considered a strategic thought partner to the Medicines Development Lead and Business Development Lead.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide overall project management support for R&D Due Diligence through end of knowledge transfer/integration until Business As Usual (BAU) is achieved (ensure transition to execution team/BAU is seamless)

• Drive cross functional alignment on development plan(s), integrated timelines, resource and cost estimates for new BD opportunities, and ensure R&D risks associated with diligence and/or execution post deal are identified, tracked, and actively managed until BAU.

• Facilitate cross functional discussion within R&D team to challenge assumptions, identify risks and mitigation strategy, and drive options analysis for different development scenarios. 

• Lead team members to identify critical path activities, resource constraints, and risks that could impact the project schedule, timelines and costs for key value drivers. Drive acceleration where possible and appropriate.

• Liaise with BD colleagues to ensure the appropriate subject matter experts (SMEs)/functional leads are included in diligence and knowledge transfer/integration discussions at the appropriate time to ensure adequate planning pre-deal, during contracting, and post-deal while also ensuring BD teams remain right sized, fit for purpose, and agile.

• Support BD as needed in reviewing the contract and ensuring inclusion of information related to tech transfer obligation to support smooth implementation of deals.

• Set expectations and timelines with SMEs and hold them accountable for delivering on their due diligence and knowledge transfer responsibilities and for adequately transferring knowledge within their line function if team members must transition.

• Manage the R&D integration/reversion activities for new deals/divestments (to include knowledge transfer for in-licensed assets, out-licensed assets, partnerships, and broader M&A deals); track and manage risks related to knowledge/data transfer deliverables and escalate to key stakeholders as appropriate.

• Leverage growth mindset and can-do attitude to help optimize ways of working within the PPM BD organization and foster an environment of collaboration and operational excellence.

Why you?

Basic Qualifications:

We are looking for professionals with these required skills to achieve our goals:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Life Sciences required.

• Minimum 10 years of experience in drug development, with breadth of understanding to include research/discovery through launch. 

• Minimum 5 years of experience in a global project or portfolio management role preferably in the pharmaceutical industry (small molecules, biologics, and/or vaccines) with experience managing projects across multipl