Associate Director, R&D Contracts & Business Operations Team Lead

CSL Plasma; Wigan; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading biotherapeutics company in the UK seeks an Associate Director for the R&D Contracts & Business Operations Team. This role involves managing a team to support efficient contracting and operations, requiring over 10 years of relevant experience, strong leadership, and stakeholder engagement skills. The position offers a chance to contribute to meaningful therapeutic innovations while working in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10+ years in biotech or pharmaceutical industry supporting R&D contracts.
• Experience managing or leading a team with timely task completion.
• Understanding of the R&D lifecycle, including CMC, non-clinical, clinical operations.

Responsibilities

• Manage and mentor the R&D Contracts & Business Operations team.
• Oversee execution of contracting processes and compliance.
• Act as primary contact between R&D business leaders and operations team.

Skills

Team Leadership

Stakeholder Management

Communication Skills

Organizational Skills

Process Optimization

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Life Sciences, or related field

Tools

SAP

Ariba

Companion

Job description

CSL's R&D organization is accelerating innovation to deliver greater impact for patients. With a project-led structure and a focus on collaboration, we’re building a future-ready team that thrives in dynamic biotech ecosystems. Joining CSL now means being part of an agile team committed to developing therapies that make a meaningful difference worldwide.

The Associate Director, R&D Contracts & Business Operations Team Lead manages a team responsible for delivering centralized contracting and business operations support across CSL’s R&D organization. This role ensures efficient, compliant, and consistent execution of external R&D engagements by coordinating with internal stakeholders and enabling functions. The Team Lead oversees day-to-day workflow management, resource allocation, and performance tracking, ensuring that business owner requests are processed accurately and in alignment with CSL’s policies and standards. The position also supports process optimization initiatives to improve turnaround time, transparency, and stakeholder satisfaction.

Key Responsibilities

• Team Leadership & Operational Management: Manage and mentor the R&D Contracts & Business Operations team to ensure timely, high-quality delivery of contracting and business support services.
• Oversee workload prioritization, task assignments, and progress tracking to meet service level expectations.
• Provide coaching on processes, systems, communication, and stakeholder engagement.
• Contracting & Process Execution: Oversee execution of contracting processes, including coordination with Legal, Procurement, and R&D stakeholders.
• Ensure compliance with company policies and support resolution of contracting or operational issues.
• Guide R&D stakeholders on third-party engagement processes (e.g., contingent labor, KOLs, capital equipment, consumables).
• Stakeholder Partnership & Communication: Act as a primary point of contact between R&D business leaders, enabling functions, and the Contracts & Business Operations team.
• Communicate in a timely manner on request status, priorities, and timelines to ensure transparency and alignment.
• Support consistent application of business operations policies and contracting procedures across R&D functions.
• Performance Measurement & Continuous Improvement: Develop, monitor, and report team performance metrics and SLAs to Portfolio Operations & Excellence (POE) senior leadership.
• Identify and implement workflow and system improvements that enhance efficiency and compliance.
• Contribute to ongoing development of tools, templates, and training to support scalable operations.

Skills and Experience Required

• Required: Minimum 10+ years of experience in biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry supporting R&D contracts and business operations.
• Demonstrated experience managing or leading a team with responsibility for completing a high volume of tasks in a timely manner.
• Solid understanding of the R&D lifecycle (e.g., CMC, non-clinical, clinical, and regulatory operations).
• Strong organizational, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience working with enterprise systems (e.g., SAP, Ariba, Companion).
• Preferred: Experience with service delivery models or centralized business operations in R&D.
• Familiarity with metrics-driven performance management.
• Proven ability to manage competing priorities in a matrixed environment.

Qualifications and Education Required

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Life Sciences, or related field

Our Benefits

We encourage you to make your well-being a priority. It’s important and so are you. Learn more about how we care at CSL.

About CSL Behring

CSL Behring is a global biotherapeutics leader driven by our promise to save lives. Focused on serving patients’ needs by using the latest technologies, we discover, develop and deliver innovative therapies for people living with conditions in the immunology, hematology, cardiovascular and metabolic, respiratory, and transplant therapeutic areas. We use three strategic scientific platforms of plasma fractionation, recombinant protein technology, and cell and gene therapy to support continued innovation and continually refine ways in which products can address unmet medical needs and help patients lead full lives.

CSL Behring operates one of the world’s largest plasma collection networks. Our parent company, CSL, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, employs 32,000 people, and delivers its lifesaving therapies to people in more than 100 countries.

We want CSL to reflect the world around us

At CSL, Inclusion and Belonging is at the core of our mission and who we are. It fuels our innovation day in and day out. By celebrating our differences and creating a culture of curiosity and empathy, we are able to better understand and connect with our patients and donors, foster strong relationships with our stakeholders, and sustain a diverse workforce that will move our company and industry into the future. Learn more about inclusion and belonging at CSL.

Do work that matters at CSL Behring!