Manager, Agency

Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Lexington, MA

This position will lead agency performance initiatives that strengthen governance, performance, capability, innovation, and consistent ways of working across agency, brand, and internal stakeholder teams. In this role you will report to the Associate Director, Agency and Vendor Performance. This is an individual-contributor role with no direct reports.

• Operational Excellence:
  Oversee Agency Performance projects and workplans by coordinating stakeholders, tracking milestones, and ensuring timing commitments and deliverables are met.
• Stakeholder Enablement & Standards:
  Develop agency performance standards, tools, playbooks, and training to build capability, improve process adoption, and promote consistent ways of working across agencies and brand teams.
• Agency Performance Management:
  Manage agency KPIs across quality, speed, efficiency, cost, and other agreed measures. Identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities, and coordinate actions with agencies and internal stakeholders.
• Agency Governance & Relationship Management:
  Coordinate governance activities, including performance reviews, issue and risk management, escalations, and action tracking. Strengthen collaboration and accountability across agencies and internal partners.
• Agency Innovation & Capability Development:
  Support pilots of new agency capabilities and ways of working, including modular content, AI-assisted production, and automation. Assess results and recommend opportunities to scale successful approaches.

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 5-7+ years of experience in pharmaceutical/biopharma/healthcare marketing, communications, advertising.
• Experience in commercial strategy, marketing operations, or agency management in the pharma or healthcare sector.
• Experience leading large agency ecosystems (e.g., content, media, digital).
• Direct experience working in regulated pharma environments.
• High accountability for quality, compliance, and cost efficiency.
• Ability to balance innovation with risk mitigation.
• Comfortable challenging agencies and internal teams.
• Skilled at navigating Medical and Commercial priorities.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of ensuring clarity and understanding across diverse markets and stakeholders.
• External stakeholder management, incl. agency performance governance, and KPI development.
• Financial and cost management acumen.
• Strong knowledge of procurement processes.
• Understanding of RFP design and contract negotiation partnership.

We understand compensation is an important factor as you consider the next step in your career. We are committed to equitable pay for all employees, and we strive to be more transparent with our pay practices.

Location:

Lexington, MA

U.S. Base Salary Range: $ - $. The estimated salary range reflects an anticipated range for this position. The actual base salary offered may depend on a variety of factors, including the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, specific and unique skills, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job.

The actual base salary offered will be in accordance with state or local minimum wage requirements for the job location.

Locations:
Lexington, MA

Worker Type:
Employee

Worker Sub-Type:
Regular Time Type

Full time

Job Exempt:
Yes

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Takeda is an industry-leading, global pharmaceutical company with an unwavering dedication to putting patients at the center of everything we do. We live our values of Takeda-ism - Integrity, Fairness, Honesty, and Perseverance - and are united by our mission to strive towards Better Health and a Brighter Future for people worldwide through leading innovation in medicine. Here, everyone matters and you will be a vital contributor to our inspiring, bold mission.

At Takeda, you will make an impact on people’s lives - including your own.

Takeda is proud in its commitment to creating a…