Business Engagement & Technology, Associate Director - Clinical & Early Development

Vertex Pharmaceuticals LLC; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 164,000 - 247,000; Full time

Job summary

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is seeking a Business Engagement Lead in a hybrid capacity to partner with Clinical Development and Early Development teams. The role focuses on translating priorities into scalable digital solutions, shaping roadmaps, and ensuring regulatory and quality alignment across functions.

Strong relationship management, executive communication, and cross-functional leadership are essential. The Associate Director will guide capability roadmaps, collaborate with product,

Qualifications

• 10+ years in business engagement or IT/DTE partnering
• Experience supporting Clinical Development or Early Development functions
• Proven ability to translate business priorities into scalable systems
• Experience delivering AI business use cases to accelerate operations
• Experience in regulated biotech/pharma environments

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary DTE business engagement lead for Clinical Development and Early Development
• Partner with business leaders to understand priorities and capability needs
• Translate business needs into scalable systems, workflows, and digital solutions
• Shape and manage demand intake, prioritization, and roadmap planning
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, user experience, and operational effectiveness
• Collaborate with product, engineering, data, analytics, quality, security, and compliance teams to deliver aligned solutions
• Support business case development and system enhancement planning
• Ensure solutions align with regulatory, governance, validation, security, and quality expectations
• Drive stakeholder alignment, change management, adoption, and continuous improvement
• Communicate plans, risks, dependencies, and outcomes to senior leaders

Skills

Business engagement

Relationship management

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Agile delivery

Education

Bachelor's degree

MBA

Tools

Metworx

Certara Phoenix

PK/PD data environments

Modeling tools

Job description

General Summary:

The Business Engagement Lead role within DTE to support our Clinical Development and Early Development business function role serves as a strategic partner between the business and DTE, translating business priorities into scalable, compliant, and fit-for-purpose systems, processes, and digital solutions.

The Associate Director will work closely with business leaders and subject matter experts to understand priorities, shape capability roadmaps including AI related business use cases, and drive delivery of solutions that improve how our development organizations work. This role requires strong relationship management, business process acumen, and the ability to lead across a complex, matrixed, and regulated environment.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary DTE business engagement lead for Clinical Development and Early Development


• Partner with business leaders and subject matter experts to understand priorities, challenges, and capability needs


• Translate business needs into scalable systems, workflows, and digital solutions


• Shape and manage demand intake, prioritization, and roadmap planning across supported functions


• Identify opportunities to improve business processes, user experience, and operational effectiveness


• Support and evolve business capabilities across Early Development, including Translational Medicine and related scientific teams


• Collaborate with product, engineering, data, analytics, quality, security, and compliance teams to deliver aligned solutions


• Support business case development, process improvements, and system enhancement planning


• Ensure solutions align with regulatory, governance, validation, security, and quality expectations


• Drive stakeholder alignment, change management, adoption, and continuous improvement


• Communicate plans, risks, dependencies, and outcomes to senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Bachelor's degree, Master's degree and/or MBA in life sciences, business, information systems, computer science, engineering, or a related field


• Typically 10+ years of relevant experience in business engagement, business relationship management, IT/DTE business partnering, product management, or similar roles


• Experience supporting Clinical Development and/or Early Development functions within biotechnology, pharmaceutical, or life sciences organizations


• Experience delivering AI business use cases to expedite business operations reducing overall submission timelines


• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, enhancing, or supporting systems and business processes that enable development organizations, including Translational Medicine capabilities


• Experience supporting or partnering on platforms used in clinical pharmacology, quantitative pharmacology, pharmacometrics, or modeling and simulation environments


• Familiarity with systems such as Metworx, Certara Phoenix, PK/PD data environments, and related modeling and simulation tools


• Experience supporting systems and business processes that enable Early Development activities in First-in-Human studies


• Experience gathering business requirements and translating them into scalable systems, workflows, and operating processes


• Strong understanding of business workflows, operational capabilities, and data needs across development functions


• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives involving business, product, engineering, data, quality, and compliance stakeholders


• Strong communication, facilitation, stakeholder management, and executive presentation skills


• Demonstrated ability to influence across a matrixed organization and drive execution in a dynamic environment


• Experience working in regulated environments with strong attention to compliance, governance, validation, and quality


• Advanced degree such as MBA, MS or other relevant graduate degree


• Experience supporting roadmap development, capability assessments, and business transformation initiatives


• Experience working in global biotechnology or pharmaceutical organizations

Preferred Qualification:

• Experience with Agile, product operating models, or other structured delivery methodologies


• Experience supporting roadmap development, capability assessments, and business transformation initiatives

#LI-hybrid #LI-JS1

At Vertex, we embrace continuous learning and encourage employees to stay informed on advances in AI, technology, automation, and industry trends. We seek talent who bring an external perspective, demonstrate curiosity and sound judgment, and thoughtfully adopt new capabilities that improve decision-making, drive innovation, increase efficiency, and help deliver better outcomes for patients.

Pay Range:

$164,400 - $246,600

Disclosure Statement:

The range provided is based on what we believe is a reasonable estimate for the base salary pay range for this job at the time of posting. This role is eligible for an annual bonus and annual equity awards. Some roles may also be eligible for overtim