Director, Business Process Management

Cytokinetics; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 227,000 - 265,000; Full time

Job summary

Cytokinetics in South San Francisco, CA seeks a Director of Business Process Management to lead enterprise BPM across Global Supply Chain & Technical Operations. You will design end-to-end process architecture, embed a sustainable operating model, and drive digital transformation, inspection readiness, and scalable growth.

The role partners with BPOs and leadership to ensure compliant, measurable processes aligned with strategic goals, fostering a culture of ownership and continuous improvement

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Life Sciences or related field required; Master’s degree or MBA preferred.
• Minimum 8–10 years in a regulated healthcare industry segment with 5–10 years in operational excellence, strategy and business operations or similar leadership roles.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing and supply chain processes, cGMP, regulatory requirements, and external manufacturing complexities.
• Proven track record of delivering measurable improvements in operational performance, cost reduction, and process efficiency.
• Excellent communication, influencing, and stakeholder management abilities across organizational levels and with external partners.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, matrixed, global environment.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the enterprise BPM strategy across Global Supply Chain & Technical Operations.
• Establish standardized process taxonomy across value streams and work instructions.
• Define governance, ownership, lifecycle management, and change control for enterprise processes.
• Lead organizational adoption of standardized processes and BPM communities of practice.
• Drive operating excellence through KPIs, performance metrics, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Skills

Project management

Change management

Facilitation

Stakeholder management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Life Sciences

Master’s degree or MBA preferred

Job description

Cytokinetics is a specialty cardiovascular biopharmaceutical company, building on its over 25 years of pioneering scientific innovations in muscle biology, and advancing a pipeline of potential new medicines for patients suffering from diseases of cardiac muscle dysfunction.

The Director, Business Process Management serves as the enterprise leader responsible for establishing, governing, and continuously advancing Business Process Management (BPM) across Global Supply Chain & Technical Operations (GSC&TO). This role is accountable for designing the organization's end-to-end business process architecture and embedding a sustainable operating model that enables operational excellence, digital transformation, inspection readiness, organizational scalability, and commercial growth.

Working across Supply Chain, Quality, Technical Operations, External Manufacturing, Regulatory, and Information Technology, the Director will establish standardized business processes spanning the Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, and Enable value streams while creating a culture of business process ownership, governance, performance management, and continuous improvement.

This leader will partner closely with Business Process Owners (BPOs), Operational Excellence, Digital & IT, and functional leadership to ensure business processes remain compliant, measurable, scalable, and aligned with the company's strategic objectives.

Responsibilities

Business Process Management

• Develop and execute the enterprise Business Process Management strategy across Global Supply Chain & Technical Operations
• Establish standardized process taxonomy including:
• Level 1 Enterprise Value Streams
• Level 2 Cross-Functional Processes
• Level 3 Operational Processes
• Level 4 Work Instructions and Local Procedures
• In partnership with functional area leadership, defines business process ownership across all major value streams.
• Serve as the key architect for designing GSC&TO’s multi-year maturity road map, ensuring the Business Process Owners (BPO) have clear, actionable, and measurable plans for driving YoY improvement objectives.
• Define governance, ownership, lifecycle management, and change control for all enterprise business processes.
• Establish the Business Process Governance Council.

Process Performance & Operational Excellence

• Collaborate with business owners to conduct baseline maturity assessments for all core GSC&TO processes (Plan, Make, Source, and Deliver) and publish multi-year improvement roadmaps.
• Identify cross-functional process dependencies, bottlenecks, redundancies, and opportunities for simplification
• Establish the mechanisms and structure(s) that enable the BPOs to link operational KPIs, process health metrics, and continuous improvement initiatives back to the organization’s strategic objectives.
• In partnership with business owners, identify opportunities for process optimization and develop tools and systems which allow the business to objectively understand trade-offs (e.g., effort vs. impact, cost vs. value, risk vs. benefit, etc.).
• In support of business owners, define standardized KPIs for process health, effectiveness, compliance, risk, and maturity.
• In partnership with Operational Excellence, lead enterprise value stream assessments and facilitate workshops to drive continuous improvement across the organization.
• Champion a culture of operational excellence by applying principles from Business Process Reengineering, Lean, Value Stream Management, SIPOC, etc..

Organizational Change Leadership

• Lead organizational adoption of standardized processes by facilitating workshops, establishing BPM communities of practice, conducting voice of the customer, and elucidating knowledge management throughout the organization by sharing best practices and lessons learned.
• Champion a forward-looking culture of systems thinking, continuous learning, accountability, and process stewardship.
• Promote a culture centered on process excellence rather than functional optimization.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Life Sciences, or related field required; Master’s degree or MBA preferred.
• Minimum 8–10 years of experience in a regulated healthcare industry segment (e.g., pharmaceutical development, supply chain, manufacturing, medical device, or technical operations, with at least 5–10 years in operational excellence, strategy and business operations, or similar leadership roles.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing and supply chain processes, cGMP, regulatory requirements, and the complexities of external manufacturing.
• Proven track record of delivering measurable improvements in operational performance, cost reduction, and process efficiency.
• Exceptional project management, change management, and facilitation skills.
• Excellent communication, influencing, and stakeholder management abilities across all organizational levels and with external partners.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, matrixed, and global environment.

Competencies

• Strategic thinking with a hands-on approach.
• Results-oriented and data-driven decision-making.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to influence cross-functional leaders without direct authority while driving enterprise alignment.
• Passion for excellence and continuous improvement.
• Comfortable with domestic and/or international travel up to 40% to conduct discovery, facilitate workshops, and support business objectives

Pay Range

The expected salary range for this position based on the primary location of South San Francisco, CA is $226,800 - $264,600. The base pay offered will take into account internal equity and may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. Base salary is just one component of our competitive total compensation package, which includes equity in the form of stock options and/or restricted stock units, comprehensive health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance coverage, 401k retirement benefits with employer match, learning and wellness stipends, and paid time off. Note that benefits are subject to change and may vary based on jurisdiction of employment.

Our employees come from different backgrounds, and we celebrate those differences. We are looking for the best candidates for our open roles, but do not expect applicants to meet every qualification in order to be considered. If you are excited about what you could accomplish at Cytokinetics and believe you can add value to our team, we would love to hear from you.

Our passion is anchored in robust scientific thinking, grounded in integrity and critical thinking. We keep the patient front and center in all we do – all actions and decisions are in service of the patient and their caregivers. We champion integrity, ethics, doing the right thing, and being our best selves.

Cytokinetics is an Equal Opportunity Employer