Associate Director, Decision Analyst

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.; San Rafael (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A global biotechnology company is seeking an Associate Director, Decision Analyst in San Rafael, California. This role involves driving strategic decision-making by analyzing complex data and scenarios. Candidates should possess a strong background in portfolio management within a pharmaceutical environment and demonstrate exceptional analytical and communication skills. Ideally, applicants will have over 7 years of experience and a relevant Bachelor's or advanced degree. The position entails supporting portfolio optimization, risk assessments, and enhancing decision quality across teams.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in strategy or portfolio management within pharmaceutical/biotech.
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally across various teams.
• Proven ability to perform in-depth analyses and synthesize actionable insights.

Responsibilities

• Improve decision quality by developing analysis methodologies.
• Facilitate workshops to analyze uncertainties in portfolios.
• Enhance processes for estimating clinical probabilities of success.

Skills

Decision analysis methodologies

Portfolio modeling

Scenario planning

Business acumen

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Excellent communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in a scientific or technical field

Advanced degree (MS or MBA) preferred

Tools

Modeling and simulation software

Job description

Who We Are

BioMarin is a global biotechnology company that relentlessly pursues bold science to translate genetic discoveries into new medicines that advance the future of human health. Since our founding in 1997, we have applied our scientific expertise in understanding the underlying causes of genetic conditions to create transformative medicines, using a number of treatment modalities. Using our unparalleled expertise in genetics and molecular biology, we develop medicines for patients with significant unmet medical need. We enlist the best of the best – people with the right technical expertise and a relentless drive to solve real problems – and create an environment that empowers our teams to pursue bold, innovative science. With this distinctive approach to drug discovery, we’ve produced a diverse pipeline of commercial, clinical and preclinical candidates that have well-understood biology and provide an opportunity to be first-to-market or offer a substantial benefit over existing therapeutic options.

Team Overview

The Portfolio Strategy team plays a critical role in ensuring that portfolio investments are strategic, data-driven, and aligned with corporate priorities. This team operates across research, development and commercial functions to provide structured insights and enable executive decision-making.

Position Summary

The Associate Director, Decision Analyst, will be responsible for analyzing data, creating scenarios, and providing recommendations. This individual will tackle complex asset and portfolio investment questions, integrating scientific, financial, and other insights to drive high-impact decisions. As a strategic thought partner, they will ensure that portfolio and asset strategies align with our broader corporate objectives.

Responsibilities

• Support efforts to improve decision quality in the organization by developing and continuously improving decision analysis methodologies and best practices.
• Facilitate workshops to incorporate uncertainties into asset and portfolio scenario analysis.
• Work with Asset Teams, Program Management Leads, and SMEs to determine planning confidence levels and develop risk-adjusted development timelines and scenarios.
• Enhance and facilitate processes to estimate pre-clinical and clinical probabilities of success.
• Collect inputs for portfolio models that integrate attrition rates, clinical probability of success, timeline uncertainties, and commercial forecast scenarios to inform decision-making.
• Support portfolio optimization processes during financial planning cycles. Build, maintain and execute portfolio analysis processes and tools to support strategic decision making.
• Structure and perform scenario analyses and simulations to model and value strategic alternatives and trade-offs with the aim of maximizing value at an asset and a portfolio level.
• Provide support to teams for decision framing and decision analysis by demonstrating established methodologies.
• Support periodic end-to-end portfolio performance reviews and health checks.
• Support teams with governance preparations by evaluating phase transition business cases, collecting portfolio analysis inputs, and providing a portfolio perspective to inform a recommendation to leadership.
• Drive continuous improvement in portfolio operations, leveraging data and analytics to inform strategic decisions, and enhance execution efficiency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a scientific or technical field (e.g., Biology, Chemistry, Engineering) or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of experience in strategy or portfolio management within pharmaceutical/biotech company, or equivalent experience in management consulting or other industry with strong discipline in decision analysis.
• Ability to perform and synthesize in-depth analyses of asset and portfolio information, integrating findings into insights and actionable recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally across research, clinical development, commercial, and manufacturing teams.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills.
• Strong organizational and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Advanced degree preferred (MS or MBA), with a strong understanding of drug development, R&D strategy, and decision analysis.

Skills

• Application of various decision analysis methodologies and tools.
• Portfolio modeling, scenario planning, or strategic investment frameworks using modeling and simulation software.

• Business & Financial Acumen: Understanding of business objectives, strategies, and Discounted Cash Flow Analysis.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Working effectively with diverse teams.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Flexibility to adapt to changing environment.

Note: This description is not intended to be all-inclusive, or a limitation of the duties of the position. It is intended to describe the general nature of the job that may include other duties as assumed or assigned.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled
An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on basis of disability.