Associate Director, Pipeline Project Management for BD

GSK plc; Stevenage; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Health care

Retirement benefits

Paid holidays

Paid leave

Job summary

GSK is seeking an Associate Director, Pipeline Project Management for Business Development to lead R&D project management from diligence through integration and BAU. You will partner with Business Development, Alliance Management and R&D to align timelines, resources, and costs for value realization across multiple therapeutic areas.

The role emphasizes cross-functional planning, governance readiness, risk management, and seamless tech transfer support to enable timely deal execution and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Life Sciences, Business, or related field.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in R&D, drug/vaccine development or related experience.
• Minimum 3 years in global project or portfolio management in pharma.
• Two or more years using Planisware, MS Project, or similar tools.
• Two or more years of experience assessing risk, budgets, and resource management.

Responsibilities

• Provide R&D project management throughout diligence, contracting, and integration, identifying critical path activities and risks.
• Develop integrated cross-functional development plans for BD opportunities, aligning strategy, timelines, costs, and value drivers.
• Facilitate cross-functional evaluation of development and integration scenarios and mitigate risks to maximize deal value.
• Liaise with BD, Alliance Management, and R&D to ensure SMEs participate in diligence and knowledge transfer discussions.
• Support BD in reviewing contracts and tech transfer obligations for smooth deal implementation.
• Set expectations with SMEs and ensure knowledge transfer within their line function.
• Manage moderately complex R&D integration, separation, and reversion activities across therapeutic areas.
• Drive governance readiness through high-quality plans, risk assessments, and recommendations.

Skills

Communication

Cross-Departmental Collaboration

Decision Making

Financial Acumen

Innovation

Leadership

Project Controls

Project Management

Project Governance

Project Planning

Project Tracking

Risk Management

Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder Management

Strategic Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Life Sciences

Bachelor’s Degree in Business

Advanced degree (PhD/MS or MBA)

Tools

Planisware

MS Project

Job description

At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. Our R&D focuses on discovering and delivering vaccines and medicines, combining our understanding of the immune system with cutting‑edge technology to transform people’s lives. GSK fosters a culture ambitious for patients, accountable for impact, and committed to doing the right thing, making sure that we focus our efforts on accelerating significant assets that meet patients’ needs and have the highest probability of success. We’re uniting science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together.

Find out more:

Our approach to R&D

The Associate Director, Pipeline Project Management for Business Development provides R&D project management for Business Development opportunities and transactions from early diligence through governance, deal execution, integration, and transition to business as usual (BAU), as well as in cases of separation or reversion. Acting as a strategic partner to Business Development, Alliance Management, and R&D stakeholders, the role drives cross‑functional alignment to deliver robust, ambitious, fit‑for‑purpose development plans that support timely and informed decision making. This includes leading cross‑functional planning, governance readiness, risk management, and integration activities while enabling efficient execution and value realization from BD transactions.

The Associate Director leverages drug development across multiple therapeutic areas and phases of development, project management, and stakeholder relationship expertise to identify and manage risks, challenge assumptions, drive alignment on timelines, resources, and costs, and ensure successful transfer of knowledge and accountability into ongoing development teams. Operating within a complex matrix environment, the role manages multiple projects of moderate complexity with support, contributes to continuous improvement of PPM BD ways of working, and helps foster a culture of collaboration, agility, and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide R&D project management throughout diligence, contracting, and integration by identifying critical path activities, resource constraints, and execution risks, ensuring issues are actively managed and escalated to Business Development and to enable timely transition to Business As Usual (BAU).
• Develop integrated cross‑functional development plans for Business Development opportunities, aligning strategy, timelines, resources, costs, assumptions, dependencies, and key value drivers to support governance and decision making.
• Facilitate cross‑functional evaluation of development and integration scenarios by challenging assumptions, facilitating trade‑off discussions, identifying risks and opportunities, and recommending mitigation and acceleration strategies to maximize deal value and execution success.
• Liaise with BD colleagues to ensure the appropriate subject matter experts (SMEs)/functional leads are included in diligence and knowledge transfer/integration discussions at the appropriate time to ensure adequate planning pre‑deal, during contracting, and post‑deal while also ensuring BD teams remain right sized, fit for purpose, and agile.
• Support BD as needed in reviewing the contract and ensuring inclusion of information related to tech transfer obligation to support smooth implementation of deals.
• Set expectations and timelines with SMEs and hold them accountable for delivering on their due diligence and knowledge transfer responsibilities and for adequately transferring knowledge within their line function if team members must transition.
• Manage moderately complex R&D integration, separation, and reversion activities across all therapeutic areas and stages of development.
• Drive governance readiness through development of high‑quality plans, risk assessments, and recommendations that support timely decision making and value realization.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of PPM BD processes, tools, and ways of working while fostering a culture of collaboration, agility, learning, and operational excellence.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Life Sciences, Business, or related field.
• Minimum 7 years of experience in R&D, drug/vaccine development or related experience.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in a global project or portfolio management role preferably in the pharmaceutical industry (small molecules, biologics, and/or vaccines) with experience managing drug development projects across multiple phases of development and therapeutic areas.
• Two or more years of experience utilizing Planisware, MS project, or similar tools.
• Two or more years of experience assessing risk, budgets, and resource management.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced degree (PhD or MS in Life Sciences or related field or MBA)
• PMP certification
• Experience working in matrixed, cross‑functional environment
• Experience with Business Development due diligence and/or Integration/Divestment management.
• Experience in Oncology, Respiratory, or Infectious Disease PM

Skills

Communication, Cross-Departmental Collaboration, Decision Making, Financial Acumen, Innovation, Leadership, Project Controls, Project Management, Project Management Governance, Project Planning, Project Tracking, Risk Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Stakeholder Management, Strategic Leadership

If you are based in Cambridge, MA; Waltham, MA; Rockville, MD; or San Francisco, CA, the annual base salary for new hires in this position ranges $139,425 to $232,375. The US salary ranges take into account a number of factors including work location within the US market, the candidate’s skills, experience, education level and the market rate for the role. In addition, this position offers an annual bonus and eligibility to participate in our share based long term incentive program which is dependent on the level of the role. Available benefits include health care and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, paid holidays, vacation, and paid caregiver/parental and medical leave. If salary ranges are not displayed in the job posting for a specific country, the relevant compensation will be discussed during the recruitment process.

Please visit GSK US Benefits Summary to learn more about the comprehensive benefits program GSK offers US employees.

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale. People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

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GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.