Description

The Role:

The Executive Director of Program & Alliance Management is a key role at Generate that will lead our agile team of program and alliance managers. This leader will shape and execute upon program and alliance management with input from various stakeholders across the organization ensuring a fit-for-purpose model that helps to enable Generate’s science without creating unnecessary bureaucracy or process.  

This role will report to the SVP of Business Development and Strategy and will have a strong interface with R&D leaders and other leaders across the organization including in finance, operations, legal and technology.  

Here's how you will contribute:

The successful candidate will be a leader, passionately able to provide direction for team members and the organization at large while being equally comfortable as a doer, rolling their sleeves up to support programs, collaborations and decision making. This person will be detail oriented but able to see the broader context of the company’s strategy and portfolio. They will demonstrate excellent communication skills- both internally and externally with partners and an ability to quickly build trust across a range of cross-functional stakeholders. This person will also have deep experience with program and alliance management across a range of programs spanning various stages of development from preclinical through later stage clinical development ideally in both pharma and biotech settings.  

Establish a new function and team responsible for program and alliance management (these functions have historically been separate)—set the vision and direction for these functions within Generate and execute swiftly towards that 
Build strong relationships with our partners across Amgen, Novartis, MDACC, Roswell Park Cancer Center and Pioneering Medicines (part of Flagship Pioneering) and own the alliance relationship along with members of their team 
Refine, change and establish the right level of process and governance around our programs to ensure appropriate accountabilities, visibility and speedy decision making 
Lead, support, coach and develop a team of program and alliance managers, helping to ensure they are best positioned to support the program teams and collaborations 
Act as a strategic partner and mentor to program leads, enabling informed decision-making through scenario planning, risk assessments, and cross-functional alignment. 
Potentially serve as a lead program manager for one or more late-stage programs, responsible for driving execution against key milestones, timelines, and deliverables. 
Establish a minimum viable model for program and portfolio level reporting across the org and leadership—e.g., milestones, progress, status updates 
In collaboration with other functions (e.g. clinical operations, quality assurance), ensure  systems are inspection- and diligence-ready. 
Collaborate across the organization to continuously improve how we conduct our program and alliance management work and contribute to strategic initiatives including budget setting, portfolio strategy and long-range planning—including with others in Strategy and Business Development, but also across R&D, finance, legal, and technology. 

Requirements

The Ideal Candidate will have:

14+years of relevant experience in biotechnology/pharma plus a Master’s degree in life sciences or business-related field, including significant hands-on program management experience across stages of development (preclinical through clinical development, a plus if experience includes later stage development)  
Experience working with external partners ideally through alliance management 
Experience working in biotech in addition to pharma would be highly valued 
Strong communicator and leader across all levels—ability to set the tone for a team, strong coaching and ability to motivate others, ability to influence and lead complex cross functional initiatives  
Strong project management fundamentals: milestone planning, dependency mapping, scenario analysis, and risk mitigation. 
Experience guiding and enabling the work of a program management team.