Senior Director, Program Lead

Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Waltham (MA); On-site; USD 226,000 - 310,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity-based compensation

Annual performance bonus

Comprehensive benefits package

Long-term incentive plan

Job summary

Deciphera is seeking a Senior Director, Program Lead to drive strategy and execution for one or more assets. You will apply deep drug development expertise and a collaborative approach to steer asset programs from concept through lifecycle management.

The role emphasizes leading global plans, managing risk, aligning stakeholders, and delivering asset value. Competitive compensation includes equity-based pay and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 15+ years drug development experience in biopharma.
• Minimum 3 years leading development programs.
• Strong cross-functional influencing and communication skills.
• Ability to lead strategic asset programs and drive decisions.

Responsibilities

• Define global program strategy for assets with full accountability.
• Lead cross-functional teams to align goals, timelines, and budgets.
• Communicate program status to leadership and stakeholders.
• Identify risks and mitigations and drive data-driven decisions.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Influence without authority

Written and verbal communication

Program management

Tools

MS Office

Smartsheet

ThinkCell

MS Project

Job description

Deciphera, a member of Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing important new medicines and providing hope to people living with cancer, neurologic and autoimmune disease. Deciphera isleveragingits proprietary switch-control kinase inhibitor platform and deepexpertisein kinase biology to develop a broad portfolio of innovative medicines. In addition to advancing multiple product candidates fromDeciphera’splatform in clinical studies, QINLOCK® (ripretinib) isDeciphera’sswitch-control kinase inhibitor approved in many countries including the European Union and the United States for the treatment of adult patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) who have received prior treatment with 3 or more kinase inhibitors, including imatinib. ROMVIMZA® (vimseltinib) is a kinase inhibitor approved in the United States for adult patients with symptomatictenosynovialgiant cell tumor (TGCT) for which surgical resection will potentially cause worsening functional limitation or severe morbidity, and in the European Union for adult patients with TGCT associated with clinically relevant physical function deterioration and in whom surgical options have been exhausted or would induce unacceptable morbidity or disability.

The spirit of collaboration that has brought medications to life continues to guide how weoperate, grow, and discover new breakthroughs. We cultivate an inclusive culture that values curiosity, creativity, and shared accountability—empowering individuals to challenge the unknown together.

Deciphera offers competitive compensation, including equity-based compensation,and a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, 401(k) retirement plan, lifeinsuranceand a flexible spending account for either health care and/or dependent care.

Job Description

Role Summary:

Deciphera’s cross-functional program teams drive the strategy and operations of our late preclinical, clinical, and commercial assets. We are seeking a dynamic, seasoned Sr Director, Program Lead (PL) who will be responsible and accountable for one or more therapeutic assets. The successful candidate will be a strategic leader who can leverage their strong drug development expertise, EQ, and organizational skills to develop and drive the asset strategy and for leading all development and life-cycle management projects associated with the asset. Key attributes of the successful candidate include:

Key Responsibilities:

• Program Strategy & Execution Accountability (60%)
  • For a given asset/program, responsible for the development and execution of the overarching global program strategy. The PL leads all research and development activities associated with an asset from approximately nomination of lead candidates to the marketplace with full accountability.
  • Drive the development and execution of the strategic plan, appropriately balancing data quality, timelines and costs based on current internal corporate considerations and the external landscape.
  • Lead one or more cross-functional program teams to define program vision, strategy, goals, decision points, investments and areas of risk and associated mitigations and contingencies.
  • Partners closely with the program manager to provide strategic, process and operational leadership to the Program team
  • Identifies and communicates risks and appropriate mitigations
  • Lead data-driven decision-making processes to enable timely and objective development decisions
• Communicate (20%)
  • Holistic and confident communication: ensure PT clearly understands expectations from leadership, ensure leadership clearly understands program status, timelines, milestones, risks and mitigations
  • Focus team efforts on most critical tasks; identify and resolve communication bottlenecks
  • Participate in Portfolio Strategy Steering Committee meetings as the key representative of the program team
  • Liaise with relevant stakeholders within the Ono Pharma Group to ensure alignment across entities. Liaise with peers within the Program Leadership and Management function to maintain consistent cross-project standards, ensure aligned strategies, and to determine overlap of competing priorities.
• Promotes organizational reputation by engaging with internal and external stakeholders and collaborating actively with other Deciphera PLs (20%)
  • PLs are experienced, versatile and strong enterprise leaders
  • PLs are highly collaborative cross-functional leaders who consistently drive top performance and deliver against challenging goals
  • PLs ensure that risks and challenges are addressed proactively and collaboratively with partner functions, with joint decision making when appropriate to drive, deliver and maximize asset value.
  • PLs are effective in communicating to partners and stakeholders at an appropriate level of detail.
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 15 years drug development experience in the biopharmaceutical industry including a minimum of 3 years’ development program leadership experience
• Solid understanding of drug development process (steps, functions and their roles, key interdependencies)
• Strong interpersonal skills, with a proven track record of influencing without authority across a matrixed organization
• Highly effective influencer without authority at all levels
• Builds consensus, but identifies a final decision maker / escalates when required
• Outstanding written and oral communicator, able to clearly and accurately express complex ideas
• Demonstrated ability to be flexible and open to adjusting approaches as new information or circumstances emerge
• Resilient in a fast-paced, rapidly evolving environment
• Highly motivated with a "hands on" leadership style - no task is too big or small!
• Strategic, efficient, organized, and empathetic leader who can zoom both in and out
• Committed to driving the program forward to the next strategic inflection point to enable an informed decision for next steps, in line with corporate objectives.

Preferred Capabilities

• Has experience managing cross functional teams
• Experience working with the Alliance and Business Development Teams and understanding the importance of partnerships
• Experience with MS office suite (PowerPoint, Excel, MS Teams) required, project management tools (Smartsheet, ThinkCell, MS Project) a plus

Additional Information

Deciphera is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The base salary pay range for this role is $226,200 - $310,000. Actual compensation packages will depend on various factors, including, but not limited to depth of experience, education, skillset, overall performance and/or location.

Deciphera believes in providing a competitive compensation and benefits package to all employees. Our base salary is just one component of Deciphera’s competitive total rewards strategy that also includes annual performance bonus, a long-term incentive plan, full range of benefits and other incentive compensation plans (if applicable)

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY INFORMATION

Deciphera is committed to equal employment opportunity and values diversity. To ensure that we comply with reporting requirements, Providing this information is optional. It will not be accessible or used in the hiring process, and has no effect on your opportunity for employment. This information will also be treated confidentially. We are committed to make all hiring decisions and other employment decisions on a non-discriminatory basis.