Associate Director, Strategic Operations

IQVIA; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 85,000 - 237,000; Full time

Job summary

IQVIA, a global leader in clinical research and healthcare intelligence, seeks an Associate Director of Strategic Operations in Durham, NC. You will guide external partners through complex transformations, shaping adoption roadmaps, and aligning governance across internal and external stakeholders.

You will drive structured change programs, mentor leaders, and ensure initiatives deliver measurable adoption and value while maintaining cross‑functional alignment with strategic priorities.

Qualifications

• 3+ years Change Manager experience required.
• Pharmaceutical industry experience required.
• Preferential PROSCI or ACMP Certification.
• Extensive program and project planning and execution skills.
• Experience with Prosci, Kotter, etc.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills.
• Ability to empower teams toward project goals.
• Analytical mindset to interpret usage data.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a strategic change management advisor to external partners, guiding complex transformation initiatives across organizational boundaries.
• Shape and align change strategies that enable collaboration, adoption, and value realization across stakeholders.
• Translate transformation objectives into scalable adoption roadmaps spanning operating models, governance, roles, and behaviors.
• Anticipate adoption risks across interdependent organizations and propose mitigation strategies to senior leaders.
• Advise leadership on change impact, readiness, and trade-offs with evolving strategic partnerships.
• Design and deliver structured change management approaches including communications, training, engagement, and reinforcement.
• Assess readiness, define change impacts, and sequence adoption activities with stakeholders.
• Establish governance, decision frameworks, and KPIs to drive accountability across multi-workstream initiatives.
• Track and report adoption and value metrics; adjust strategies based on insights.
• Act as trusted advisor to leaders navigating complex, cross-organizational change.
• Facilitate CM upskilling and coaching of senior leaders, managers, and experts.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, in scope, on budget, aligned with priorities.
• Maintain standards, templates, and best practices for project management and change delivery.
• Communicate status, risks, and tradeoffs to executive sponsors and senior leaders.

Skills

Change Management

Pharma Industry

PROSCI/ACMP Certification

Program Planning

Project Execution

Lean Six Sigma

Executive Communication

Stakeholder Management

Agile

Global Collaboration

Decision Making

Tools

MS PowerPoint

Smartsheet

MS Office

Job description

The Associate Director, Strategic Operations serves as a strategic change management advisor, with primary responsibility for supporting external partners through complex transformation initiatives. This role provides expert guidance on change strategy, adoption best practices, and cross-organizational alignment to enable effective collaboration, accelerate adoption, and drive measurable value realization across organizational boundaries. The Associate Director partners closely with internal and external stakeholders to align approaches, mitigate adoption risks, and ensure change strategies are scaled appropriately as strategic partnerships evolve.

Responsibilities

Strategy

• Serve as a strategic change management advisor to external partners, guiding complex transformation initiatives across organizational boundaries.
• Shape and align change strategies that enable effective collaboration, adoption, and value realization across external and internal stakeholders.
• Translate transformation objectives into scalable adoption roadmaps spanning operating models, governance, roles, and behaviors.
• Anticipate adoption risks across interdependent organizations and recommend mitigation strategies to senior leaders.
• Advise leadership on change impact, readiness, and trade‑offs associated with evolving strategic partnerships.

Execution

• Design and deliver structured change management approaches supporting external partner transformations, including communications, training, engagement, and reinforcement.
• Partner with internal and external stakeholders to assess readiness, define change impacts, and sequence adoption activities.
• Establish clear governance, decision frameworks, and KPIs to drive accountability and momentum across multi‑workstream initiatives.
• Track and report adoption and value metrics, adjusting strategies based on insights and feedback.
• Act as a trusted advisor to leaders and teams navigating complex, cross‑organizational change.
• Facilitate CM upskilling and coaching of senior leaders, frontline managers and business experts to champion the change and reinforce new behaviors
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, in scope, on budget, and aligned with strategic priorities
• Help maintain standards, templates, and best practices around project management and change delivery
• Communicate clearly with executive sponsors and senior leaders on project status, risks, tradeoffs, and outcomes.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to leaders navigating complex change.

Skills Required

• 3+ years Change Manager experience required
• Pharmaceutical industry experience required
• Preferential PROSCI or ACMP Certification
• Extensive program / project planning and execution skills in handling large and complex change and transformation programs/projects
• Experience of using a variety of project and business change management methodologies (Prosci, Kotter, etc.)
• Proven adaptability skills that enhance communications, trainings and ultimately adoption
• Expert user of MS PowerPoint, Smartsheet
• Fluent in MS Office.
• Understanding of Lean / Six Sigma and Continuous Improvement
• Proven experience building or formalizing project and/or change management functions, not just operating within them.
• Exceptional communication skills, including facilitation and executive presentations.
• Excellent negotiation and conflict resolution skills
• Customer management with a global attitude decision-making, influencing and challenging ability
• Ability to empower others toward project goals
• Strong program governance and delivery leadership with the ability to guide project teams through CM activities when working in Agile environments.
• Proven track record of deploying Change Management in enterprise/commercial settings, with measurable business outcomes.
• Adaptability across cultures, roles, and learning needs
• Analytical mindset to interpret usage and learning data

IQVIA is a leading global provider of clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. We create intelligent connections to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments to help improve patient outcomes and population health worldwide. Learn more at https://jobs.iqvia.com

IQVIA is proud to be 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, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other status protected by applicable law. https://jobs.iqvia.com/eoe

IQVIA is committed to integrity in our hiring process and maintains a zero tolerance policy for candidate fraud. All information and credentials submitted in your application must be truthful and complete. Any false statements, misrepresentations, or material omissions during the recruitment process will result in immediate disqualification of your application, or termination of employment if discovered later, in accordance with applicable law. We appreciate your honesty and professionalism.

The potential base pay range for this role, when annualized, is $85,000.00 - $237,000.00. The actual base pay offered may vary based on a number of factors including job-related qualifications such as knowledge, skills, education, and experience; location; and/or schedule (full or part-time). Dependent on the position offered, incentive plans, bonuses, and/or other forms of compensation may be offered, in addition to a range of health and welfare and/or other benefits.