Senior Director - Strategic Project Lead

GSK; Irvine; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health care benefits

Retirement benefits

Paid holidays

Vacation time

Caregiver/Parental leave

Job summary

GSK is seeking a senior leader to drive Digital & Tech project delivery within RDM DT, overseeing large programs typically £30m+ and ensuring OTIF delivery. You will own governance, funding, vendor management, and value reporting as you steer migration to a single cloud capability and advance AI-enabled transformation across R&D.

This is an enterprise transformation role requiring executive-level influence, strong budgeting discipline, and a track record of delivering complex cloud-driven

Qualifications

• 12+ yrs experience in technology program management within a global organization.
• Led large, complex enterprise transformation programs (cloud modernization, digital transformation).
• Owns end-to-end program outcomes including governance, risk, and dependencies.
• Tracks value delivery, budgets, and vendor relationships with executive stakeholders.
• Experience with cloud providers and AI-enabled delivery methodologies.
• Background in digital/tech, operations, or related fields.

Responsibilities

• Define program outcomes and value; secure business case approval.
• Provide executive-level governance, reporting, and strategic oversight.
• Define budgets, secure funding, manage spend within tolerance.
• Establish governance, forums, and reporting cadence for alignment.
• Manage cross-functional risks, dependencies, and vendor relationships.
• Build the project team and structure to deliver; drive OTIF milestones.
• Hold delivery partners accountable; challenge plans, estimates and quality.
• Deliver on time and in full; track value against business case.
• Champion AI-enabled delivery and automation; improve cycle time.
• Ensure compliance with GSK policies, including data security and GxP where applicable.

Skills

Program leadership

Cloud migration

Vendor management

Budget governance

Executive reporting

Stakeholder mgmt

AI delivery

Problem solving

Change management

Compliance awareness

Financial acumen

Job description

Business Introduction GSK remains committed to achieving bold commercial ambitions for the future. By 2031, we aim to deliver £40 billion in annual sales, leveraging our existing strong performance momentum to significantly increase our positive impact on the health of billions of patients globally. Our Ahead Together strategy is centered on early intervention to prevent and alter the course of disease, thereby protecting people and supporting healthcare systems. Our diverse portfolio consists of vaccines, specialty medicines, and general medicines. Through continuous innovation and a dedicated focus on scientific and technical excellence, we strive to develop and launch new, groundbreaking treatments that address critical health challenges.

Position Summary

GSK's R&D Digital & Tech (RDM DT) organization exists to accelerate the delivery of medicines and vaccines to patients by putting the right technology, data, and AI capabilities behind GSK R&D. You will act as the overall accountable leader for the Digital and Tech delivery of one or more large technology projects within the RDM DT portfolio of strategic programs - typically investments of £30m or more each - and own the governance, delivery, financial management, and value outcome reporting each program executes against. Your first program is likely to be GSK R&D's migration to, and adoption of, a single cloud capability from the two large strategic clouds in place today - a business-critical consolidation, expected to take 12-18 months, that underpins GSK's future cloud platform strategy and AI ambitions. This is an enterprise transformation leadership role: program leadership comes first, and deep cloud engineering expertise is not required. Our cloud and technology partners will bring migration execution expertise; you will ensure delivery, quality, governance, and business outcomes, holding those partners accountable and operating with confidence alongside GSK's most senior leaders. You will define the outcomes, secure the funding, build the team, and modernize how we deliver through AI and automation, ensuring these Tech projects are delivered on time, in full (OTIF), and to budget, in turn enabling pipeline value delivery to GSK R&D.

Responsibilities

This role will provide YOU the opportunity to lead key activities to progress YOUR career. These responsibilities include some of the following:

• Partner with senior leaders and at all levels of the project team to define program outcomes and value, and gain business case approval.
• Operate with confidence at the executive level, giving CIOs, executive committees, and senior business and technology leaders the governance, status reporting, and strategic oversight they need to trust the program.
• Define the budget and secure funding, building a financial case that holds up with finance and executive sponsors, then managing spend within budget tolerance.
• Establish the governance that enables delivery - the decision rights, forums, and reporting cadence that keep stakeholders aligned and programs moving.
• Define and manage cross-functional risks and dependencies, tracking and resolving risks, issues, and dependencies across technology functions, vendors, and business partners.
• Build the project team, establishing the right structure and resourcing to deliver.
• Own major vendor relationships - selecting solution and delivery providers, defining contracts, and leading cloud providers, consulting partners, and technology suppliers with clear contract governance and commercial accountability so they deliver on their commitments.
• Hold partners accountable with credibility, navigating technical discussions with cloud providers such as Microsoft or Google and with internal technology leaders, and challenging plans, estimates, and quality where needed.
• Deliver on time and in full, partnering across technology functions to hit 100% of agreed milestones (OTIF).
• Maintain strong budget discipline, keeping project spend and headcount variance within agreed thresholds.
• Track value delivery against the approved business case, ensuring committed value is realized and reported clearly to senior leadership.
• Champion AI-enabled ways of working, adopting modern AI and automation delivery methodologies that free team capacity, drive efficiencies, and accelerate migration - and challenging vendors to deliver AI-supported efficiencies of their own.
• Ensure compliance by design, confirming that solutions delivered meet GSK policies and standards, including GxP where applicable.
• Protect information security, ensuring appropriate controls are maintained throughout the delivery of the program.
• Drive a quality transition of solutions into BAU, with ongoing support and maintenance in place.
• Role-model and promote GSK's culture, focusing on trust, psychological safety, collaboration, inclusion, and brilliant basics.
• Attract, develop, and support outstanding people, partnering to embed learning and development initiatives.
• Foster a supportive, connected environment where teams are ready to thrive in an AI-driven future.
• Define how we keep score — delivering assigned Strategic Priority Projects to 100% of agreed milestones (OTIF), accelerating delivery cycle time through automation and AI, delivering the value committed in the business case to the agreed budget, and demonstrating improvements in culture across trust, inclusion, and brilliant basics.

Why You? Basic Qualification

We are seeking professionals with the following required skills and qualifications to help us achieve our goals

• 12+ yrs Significant experience in technology program management within a complex, global organization.
• Track record of leading large, complex enterprise transformation programs - global, multi-year, high-value technology initiatives such as cloud modernization, digital transformation, or enterprise platform migrations - from business case approval through delivery and transition into BAU.
• Direct ownership of end-to-end program outcomes, beyond PMO coordination, including governance, risk management, and complex dependency management.
• Proven track record of driving program delivery, automation, and cycle-time improvement, delivering strategic initiatives on time and at scale.
• Experience presenting to and influencing executive stakeholders, such as CIOs, executive committees, and senior business and technology leadership teams.
• Direct involvement in program financial management, including defining budgets, securing funding, managing spend within tolerance, and tracking value against an approved business case.
• Prior responsibility for owning major supplier relationships, including vendor selection, contract governance, commercial accountability, and leading consulting partners and technology providers.
• Working knowledge of cloud transformation concepts sufficient to engage credibly with cloud providers and technology leaders and to challenge vendors on plans and quality.
• Understanding of AI and automation and how they can accelerate large-scale technology delivery and migrations.
• Background in digital/tech, operations, or related fields.

Preferred Qualification

• Experience in pharma, life sciences, or other highly regulated environments; candidates from big tech or enterprise technology organizations looking to move into life sciences are also encouraged to apply.
• Experience leading large-scale cloud migration or cloud consolidation programs.
• Prior technical leadership experience, followed by a move into program or transformation leadership.
• Experience navigating GxP, information security, and compliance requirements in technology delivery.
• Experience leveraging AI-enabled or automated delivery methodologies to accelerate program delivery.

Skills

• Change Management
• Compliance Risk Management
• Dependency Analysis
• Executive Reports
• Financial Acumen
• Portfolio Performance Management
• Portfolio Prioritization
• Problem Solving
• Project Management Governance
• Shareholder Communications
• Stakeholder Management

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 $188,925 to $314,875. 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.

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.

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. We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are. Should you require adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us at [e-mail] where you can also request a call. Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments, we will not be able to support you through these channels. However, we have created a Recruitment FAQ guide. We have created a Recruitment FAQ guide.