Project Vice President, Portfolio Management

zealandpharma; Søborg; On-site; DKK 1,000,000 - 1,600,000; Full time

Job summary

Zealand Pharma A/S seeks a Project Vice President, Portfolio Management to design and implement the portfolio management process across R&D governance. You will lead cross-functional due diligence on external development opportunities, including licensing and partnerships, embedding this discipline at the heart of Zealand's pipeline.

You will develop analytics, scenario models, and dashboards to inform decisions, translate strategy into portfolio choices, and provide leadership with a trusted,

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in portfolio management, R&D strategy, or project management in pharma/biotech.
• Proven track record designing and implementing portfolio processes or decision-support systems.
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills including portfolio valuation and risk assessment.
• Experience leading cross-functional due diligence and translating assessments into recommendations.
• Deep understanding of the drug development lifecycle and stage-gate governance.

Responsibilities

• Establish end-to-end portfolio management process for R&D governance across projects.
• Develop analytics, criteria, and scenario models to inform go/no-go decisions.
• Deliver integrated portfolio views for toll gate discussions and trade-offs.
• Build tools, dashboards, and reporting for leadership visibility on progress and risk.
• Drive portfolio risk identification, mitigation, and periodic long-range planning.
• Lead cross-functional due diligence of external drug development opportunities.

Skills

Portfolio management

R&D strategy

Project/program management

Portfolio valuation

Due diligence leadership

Education

Advanced degree in life sciences

Job description

Does it excite you to shape where a fast-scaling biotech places its R&D bets, and do you have deep experience building and running pharmaceutical portfolio management? If this sounds like you, and you are ready to take on a broad area of responsibilities, then you could be our new colleague.

Your new position

As Project Vice President, Portfolio Management, you will design, implement, and maintain the portfolio management process by which Zealand Pharma Governance selects, funds, balances, and prioritizes its R&D portfolio. Working across Research and Development, you will provide objective data and trusted analysis so that Governance can see the whole portfolio clearly and make data-driven decisions. You will also lead cross-functional due diligence on external development opportunities, including in-licensing, partnerships, strategic collaborations, and acquisitions. It is a rare opportunity to build a discipline from the ground up and embed it at the heart of how Zealand advances its pipeline.

We offer exciting responsibilities:

• Establish and maintain an end-to-end portfolio management process for R&D Governance, spanning project selection, funding, prioritization, and portfolio balancing
• Develop the analytics, criteria, and scenario models that quantify project and portfolio value, risk, and resource demand to inform go/no-go and investment decisions
• Deliver integrated, decision-ready portfolio views for toll gate and prioritization discussions, translating corporate strategy into transparent portfolio choices and trade-offs
• Build the tools, dashboards, and reporting that give leadership a single, reliable view of portfolio progress, resource allocation, and risk
• Drive portfolio-level risk identification and mitigation, and lead periodic portfolio reviews and long-range planning cycles
• Lead and coordinate cross-functional due diligence of external drug development opportunities, synthesizing multidisciplinary assessments into clear recommendations and integrating outcomes into portfolio strategy and investment decisions

Your profile

You are a strategic thinker who is equally comfortable in the data and in the room where decisions are made. You bring structure to complexity, hold an objective line under competing priorities, and build trust with senior stakeholders through clarity and rigor. You are a builder, energized by creating process and capability where little existed before, and a strong communicator who can turn analysis into decisions.

• Extensive experience in portfolio management, R&D strategy, or project/program management within the pharmaceutical or biotech industry
• Proven track record of designing and implementing portfolio management processes, frameworks, or decision-support systems
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, including portfolio valuation, risk assessment, and resource/scenario modeling
• Proven track record of leading cross-functional due diligence and translating complex assessments into portfolio and investment recommendations
• Deep understanding of the drug development lifecycle and stage-gate governance
• Advanced degree in life sciences

Your new team

You will join the Project Management Office (PMO) and report to the SVP of PMO. The role works in close partnership with the Head of PMO, Governance, Finance, Strategy, and project leaders across the portfolio.

Let's work together and make a difference

We have a strong culture built on teamwork, collaboration, and engagement across the company, and we hope you will help us make it even stronger.

Working together is an important part of who we are. Whether we are developing new medicines for patients, collaborating with partners, or supporting each other as colleagues, we achieve more when we connect and share ideas. We value curiosity, openness, and the courage to think differently as we work toward new solutions and innovations.

We are committed to an inclusive recruitment process and welcome applications from all qualified candidates.

About Zealand Pharma A/S

Zealand Pharma A/S (Nasdaq: ZEAL) is a biotechnology company focused on advancing medicines for obesity and metabolic health. Combining more than 25 years of peptide R&D expertise with a proprietary data platform that leverages advanced data-driven and AI/ML approaches, Zealand Pharma aims to lead a new era in obesity and metabolic health. To date, more than ten Zealand Pharma-invented drug candidates have entered clinical development, of which two products have reached the market and three candidates are in late-stage development. The Company has collaborations with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners for research, development, and