Senior Director, Head of Research & Early Development

Jazz Pharmaceuticals; Dublin; Remote; EUR 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Jazz Pharmaceuticals seeks a Senior Director, Head of Research and Early Development Project Management to scale and lead project management across discovery, IND/CTA through FIH. You will partner with CSOs, governance, and finance to accelerate pipeline progression and ensure portfolio continuity.

You will champion the Orchestra Operating Model, build high-performing teams, and own cross-functional execution while sometimes hands-on guiding priority projects to optimize development timelines.

Qualifications

• Extensive biopharmaceutical industry experience in early drug development.
• Proven ability to lead senior project/program managers.
• Strong executive presence with Csuite interaction.
• Hands-on experience with PPM tools (Planisware, Smartsheet, Oracle).
• Experience embedding operating models and fostering cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead scalable project management capabilities across discovery and early development.
• Partner with CSOs, Strategy, Governance and Finance to optimize portfolio.
• Embed Orchestra Team Operating Model across early development teams.
• Own governance, risk management, and stage-gate decision processes.
• Mentor and develop a global team of project managers and leaders.
• Balance budget stewardship with capacity planning and strategy execution.

Skills

Leadership

Executive presence

Portfolio management

Cross-functional collaboration

PPM tools

Education

Bachelor’s in Life Sciences

Advanced degree preferred

PMP certification

Tools

Planisware

Smartsheet

Oracle

Job description

Brief Description:

The Senior Director, Head of Research and Early Development Project Management is an executive-level operational and strategic leader accountable for establishing scalable, world-class project management capabilities across Jazz Pharmaceuticals’ growing discovery and early pipeline. Reporting directly to the Vice President, Head of Pipeline and Project Management, this leader will drive process optimization throughout the drug development life cycle from Candidate Drug Nomination through First-in-Human (FIH) clinical trials.

This newly created role ensures robust cross-functional project execution across Oncology, Neuroscience, and emerging Rare Disease indications. The incumbent will cultivate high-performing project managers who operate as the operational leaders (“COOs”) of their respective drug programs, institutionalize the Orchestra Team Operating Model, and ensure seamless portfolio continuity into late-stage development. By partnering closely with Chief Scientific Officers, Corporate Strategy, Governance, and Finance, this leader will optimize development cycle times, accelerate pipeline progression, and translate scientific innovation into clinical assets for patients. Additionally, as a player-coach, this leader may personally lead high-priority projects and take on direct hands-on project work as needed to support portfolio capacity and strategic demand.

Essential Functions

1. Process Optimization & Life Cycle Progression (Discovery to FIH)

• Path Acceleration: Champion continuous process improvement across the early drug development continuum from Discovery and Candidate Nomination through Investigational New Drug (IND) / Clinical Trial Authorization (CTA) and First-in-Human (FIH).

• Cycle-Time Excellence: Establish standardized cycle-time benchmarks, identify key operational bottlenecks, and remove development friction to accelerate high-priority early medicines.

• Scalable Infrastructure: Design and scale R&D operational processes to support the increasing demand of a growing neuroscience, oncology, and rare disease early-stage pipeline.

2. Portfolio Oversight, Risk Management & Governance Partnering

• Early Portfolio Monitoring: Maintain holistic, end-to-end operational visibility over risk profiles, critical-path dependencies, and strategic opportunities within the early-stage portfolio.

• Governance Partnership: Partner with the Governance and Portfolio Management Lead to design and align consistent templates for early-stage governance presentations and rigorous post-governance project tracking.

• Accountability Frameworks: Establish frameworks to ensure projects stay precisely on track with agreed-upon target timelines, milestones, and approved development budgets.

3. Orchestra Operating Model & High-Performing Teams

• Model Integration: Lead the active embedding and continuous sustainment of the Orchestra Team Operating Model across all early-stage project teams, clarifying roles, responsibilities, and team decision rights.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Break down traditional functional silos to build highly collaborative, high-performing drug discovery and early development teams.

• PPM Vision Alignment: Embed the department’s core strategic pillars into day-to-day operations, shaping project managers as the strategic “COOs of their projects”.

4. Executive Stakeholder Collaboration & Strategic Prioritization

• C-Suite & CSO Engagement: Serve as an influential strategic partner to the Oncology and Neuroscience Chief Scientific Officers (CSOs), Corporate Strategy, and Governance leads.

• Goal Setting & Trade-offs: Facilitate prioritization reviews and stage-gate trade-off scenarios to support R&D annual goal setting and executive-level portfolio prioritization.

• Continuity Partnering: Collaborate actively with Late Development Project Leads to ensure seamless transitions, operational continuity, and robust portfolio-wide resource balancing.

5. People Leadership & Talent Development

• Line Management: Directly manage, mentor, and inspire a global team of early development project managers (Associate Directors and Directors).

• Talent Strategy: Champion career progression, professional project management capability building, and capability development within the PPM organization.

• Agile Resource Allocation: Strategically deploy team resources across early development programs while coordinating cross-portfolio support for late-stage programs when critical demand peaks.

6. Financial Stewardship & Enterprise Systems

• Budget Management: Partner with R&D Finance to develop, embed, and continuously optimize best practices for early-stage project budget formulation, forecasting, and financial governance.

• Enterprise Mastery: Champion the rigorous use of enterprise planning tools, ensuring high data quality at the source:

• Planisware: For enterprise work breakdown structures, schedule tracking, and detailed resource demand planning.

• Smartsheet: For agile operational trackers, milestones, and executive-level dashboards.

• Oracle: For project-level financial ledger tracking and variance analyses.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Experience Level: Extensive progressive biopharmaceutical industry experience, including extensive direct experience in early drug development (Discovery and Pre-clinical through IND enabling and FIH).

• Leadership & Line Management: Proven track record of line-managing, coaching, and developing highly skilled, senior project/program managers.

• Executive Presence: Outstanding capability to lead, align, and influence executive-level scientists, C-suite leaders, and scientific governance bodies without direct authority.

• Technical & Platform Mastery: Hands-on experience and professional proficiency with PPM enterprise tools, specifically Planisware, Smartsheet, and Oracle.

• Pathway Optimization: Proven, referenceable track record of optimizing drug development pathways, driving process redesign, and reducing pre-clinical cycle times.

Required/Preferred Education and Licenses

• Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences, Engineering, Business, or related field required.

• Advanced degree (PhD, PharmD, MS, or MBA) strongly preferred.
• PMP or equivalent professional project management certification is a plus.

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