Senior Director, Program Management

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The Senior Director, Program Management is a senior cross-functional leader responsible for helping move complex drug development programs from strategy to execution.

This role works across clinical, regulatory, CMC, nonclinical, commercial and other functions to connect plans, build and maintain the integrated program timeline, identify risks and trade-offs, prepare for key decisions, and drive follow-through.

The Senior Director must understand drug development well enough to contribute meaningfully to program discussions, challenge assumptions, and help the team understand the implications of different choices. At the same time, this person must be strong in the core mechanics of program management, including timelines, dependencies, risks, decisions, actions and execution.

The role reports to the Vice President, Program Management.

Employees designated as onsite or hybrid are expected to be onsite at Rigel’s South San Francisco headquarters during business hours on Wednesdays and Thursdays each week. Employees designated as remote are expected to be onsite during business hours on Wednesdays and Thursdays at least twice per month, and more frequently as business needs require.

• Develop a strong understanding of the program’s objectives, development strategy and key scientific, clinical, regulatory, CMC and commercial considerations.
• Partner with functional leaders to translate agreed program strategy into an integrated and executable plan.
• Lead integration of functional plans, assumptions and dependencies across the program.
• Build, own and maintain the integrated program timeline, including key milestones, decision points, critical paths and cross-functional dependencies.
• Work with functional leaders to obtain, challenge and confirm the assumptions, durations and dependencies underlying the timeline.
• Identify gaps, conflicts and trade-offs across functional plans and help drive them to resolution.
• Develop integrated scenarios and timelines when alternative development paths are being considered.

• Monitor progress against the integrated plan and identify material changes in timing, scope, resources or assumptions.
• Assess and communicate the impact of changes on the broader program.
• Identify major program risks early and work with accountable functions to ensure mitigation or contingency plans are in place.
• Drive clear actions, owners and timelines following key discussions and decisions.
• Ensure decisions are reflected in updated plans and follow-through.
• Escalate unresolved issues when they cannot be addressed within the program.

• Anticipate upcoming program decisions and ensure the right information is available to support them.
• Help clearly define the decision needed, relevant assumptions, options, risks and execution implications.
• Distinguish between facts, assumptions, risks and unresolved questions.
• Ensure functional input is aligned and areas of disagreement are clear before major decisions are brought forward.
• Prepare concise program updates for senior leadership and governance discussions.

• Build strong working relationships across functions and levels.
• Facilitate productive discussion when priorities, timelines or perspectives differ.
• Ask informed questions and challenge assumptions constructively.
• Maintain focus on the overall program rather than any one functional perspective.
• Drive cross-functional execution while keeping functional accountability clear.
• Ensure material changes are communicated to affected…