Associate Director, Medical Program Management

Job Description

Objective/

Purpose:

• Provide strategic program leadership at the asset level for complex Medical priorities, ensuring that TA and asset strategies are translated into executable program plans that are well-governed, transparent, and deliverable with clear accountability and disciplined decision-making.

• Serve as a core PMO partner to Therapeutic Area and Medical leaders, shaping execution approaches, governance frameworks, and cross-functional alignment for key programs, launches, lifecycle initiatives, and transformation efforts within assigned scope.

• Improve program-level execution confidence by integrating milestone management, dependency tracking, risk signaling, budget visibility, and structured escalation pathways across highly matrixed Medical teams.

• Contribute to strengthening the Medical PMO operating model by applying standards, mentoring junior PM talent, and advancing consistent, data-enabled execution practices aligned to GCM principles to improve speed, transparency, and delivery quality.

Scope:

• Lead end-to-end execution management for complex Medical programs (asset-level), establishing integrated plans, governance structures, milestone frameworks, and escalation pathways that enable reliable delivery and visibility.

• Partner closely with Medical leaders to translate program and asset priorities into actionable, sequenced execution plans, including clear accountabilities, resource assumptions, interdependencies, and decision forums.

• Provide program-level visibility into execution health, synthesizing milestones, risks, dependencies, budget implications, and operational constraints into clear, leadership-ready updates and recommended actions.

• Drive program-level governance and decision-making, facilitating structured discussions, surfacing trade-offs, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring timely closure of critical program decisions.

• Lead management of complex risks and issues within assigned programs, proactively identifying barriers, coordinating resolution across functions, and escalating appropriately where senior intervention is required.

• Support prioritization and scenario planning with Medical and PMO leadership, helping determine program-level trade-offs, sequencing adjustments, and escalation needs to maintain delivery credibility.

• Provide oversight of program-level budget and resource considerations, partnering with Finance and functional leads to assess feasibility, identify pressures, and inform execution trade-offs.

• Contribute to the evolution of the Medical PMO by applying and refining core standards, governance approaches, and reporting frameworks, and supporting adoption of digital and data-enabled tools at the program level.

• Model Takeda values and reinforce a culture of integrity, scientific credibility, inclusion, accountability, and continuous improvement in all program management activities.

• 10-12+ years of relevant experience in pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, or other regulated environments, including demonstrated leadership of complex global programs at the asset level.

• Proven experience partnering with Medical and cross-functional leaders to translate strategy into executable program plans and guide key program-level decisions in matrixed organizations.

• PMP, Agile, change management certification, or comparable project/program management credentials preferred.

• Strategic program execution: translates asset and TA priorities into actionable delivery plans, governance structures, and program control mechanisms that enable effective execution.

• Program-level insight and integration: identifies dependencies, trade-offs, and execution risks within and across programs, ensuring alignment and proactive mitigation.

• Leadership communication: synthesizes program status, risks, implications, and recommendations into clear, structured, and leadership-ready communications.

• Stakeholder influence: builds alignment across cross-functional teams and stakeholders to drive execution, facilitate decisions, and maintain focus on delivery outcomes.

• PMO contribution and team development: applies and reinforces PMO standards and contributes to advancing consistent, data-enabled execution practices across programs.

• Digital enablement mindset for PMO:
  Applies a digital enablement mindset to improve PMO processes, using tools, data, and automation to increase efficiency, reporting quality, and cross-functional collaboration.

Zurich, Switzerland

Base Salary Range:

CHF - CHF

Employee

Regular

Full time