Director, Portfolio Planning

Job Summary

The Director, Vaccine Portfolio Strategy & External Partnerships leads execution of vaccine portfolio strategy, translating internal and external pipeline priorities into actionable plans aligned with enterprise objectives. This role leads cross-functional evaluation of strategic opportunities, integrating commercial, scientific, financial, and external partnership perspectives to translate complexity and ambiguity into clear recommendations that inform portfolio strategy, business development, and investment decisions. The Director enables trade-off decisions, stakeholder alignment, and prioritization of portfolio investments, lifecycle opportunities, and growth initiatives across short- and long-term horizons.

The role requires strong cross-functional influence, executive communication, and the ability to align stakeholders around practical next steps.

The role also supports external opportunity assessment and negotiation readiness in close collaboration with Business Development, Transactions, and Legal, including support for CDAs, MTAs, service agreements, and related contracting needs during search and evaluation activities.

This is a hybrid role, which offers a combination of an onsite and remote work schedule.

Principal Accountabilities

1. Vaccine Portfolio Planning, Opportunity Assessment & Business Case Development - 40% of Time Spent

• Own the execution of vaccine portfolio planning across inline, lifecycle, pipeline, and external opportunities, applying strategic thinking to synthesize diverse insights, ask critical questions, pressure-test assumptions under ambiguity, shape recommendations, and drive clarity through a decision-gate approach that supports trade-off decision-making aligned with enterprise strategy, internal and external pipeline priorities, and business objectives.
• Translate internal and external pipeline priorities into actionable portfolio plans, investment recommendations, and execution roadmaps.
• Develop structured business cases, opportunity screens, prioritization frameworks, valuation inputs, scenario models, risk assessments, and strategic rationale to support portfolio and investment decisions.
• Lead commercial and portfolio assessments for internal and external opportunities by integrating market, epidemiology, clinical, access, pricing, competitive, financial, and R&D inputs.
• Apply knowledge of AI and its application to assess potential opportunities, including evidence synthesis, target/product profile evaluation, development feasibility, scenario modeling, assumption testing, and risk identification.
• Partner with R&D inclusive of Research, Clinical Development and Medical affairs, Global Market Access & Pricing, Business planning, Manufacturing & Supply, Legal, and regions to evaluate strategic fit, commercial attractiveness, risk-adjusted value, implementation feasibility, and ensuring these inputs are appropriately reflected in portfolio assessments and business cases.
• Lead external-facing commercial discussions with potential partners, vendors, and customer-facing stakeholders to frame opportunity assessments, clarify assumptions, support negotiation strategy, and advance business case alignment.
• Collaborate with Legal and External Partnerships/Business Development to support contract-related inputs for confidential disclosure agreements, material transfer agreements, services agreements, and related partner/vendor arrangements.

2. Strategic Diligence, Portfolio Prioritization & Governance - 30% of Time Spent

• Lead strategic diligence for new vaccine targets, platform opportunities, lifecycle investments, and portfolio expansion options through a commercial lens.

• Support transparent stage-gate and portfolio governance by preparing decision materials, tracking asset assessment status, escalating risks or evidence gaps, and capturing lessons learned.
• Influence prioritization, funding, resource allocation, and investment decisions across short- to long-term time horizons through concise, evidence-based recommendations.

3. Cross-Functional Leadership, Alignment & Value Optimization - 30% of Time Spent

• Influence and communicate effectively across all organizational levels and cross-functional audiences, adapting style and approach to drive alignment, clarity, and timely decision-making.
• Translate complex insights into simple, credible recommendations for senior leaders and stakeholders.
• Build strong internal and external partnerships to advance portfolio strategy, business case quality, negotiation readiness, executional excellence, and value optimization.

Project Work

The Director will lead or support time-bound strategic assessments and business case work, including:

• Commercial opportunity assessments for pipeline assets, platform technologies, market-entry options, and external partnership candidates.

• Decision-ready business cases and governance materials for investment, licensing, co-development, co-commercialization, and portfolio prioritization decisions.

• External-facing…