Senior Director, Strategy and Operations

Flagship Pioneering; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Flagship Pioneering seeks a Senior Director, Strategy and Operations in Cambridge, MA to lead origination team execution and portfolio initiatives. You will coordinate complex programs, dashboards, and governance, partnering with Finance, HR, Legal, IT and CEO office to drive value creation.

The role requires a strategic mindset, strong leadership, and outstanding communication skills to align multiple teams, manage budgets, and foster a high-performance culture onsite in Cambridge five days a

Qualifications

• Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in life sciences or engineering disciplines preferred, with related or equivalent work experience considered.
• 7+ years of industry/biotech experience in drug discovery, drug development, or engineering related to life sciences tools.
• Scientific/research background, preferably with broad disease-area expertise; management consulting experience in those fields considered.
• Experience across multiple therapeutics modalities (e.g., RNA-based therapies, biologics/antibodies, small molecules) a plus.
• Strong understanding of the biopharmaceutical landscape, and/or the life sciences tools/technologies space, including key players, emerging trends, and technological
• Program/Project/Portfolio Management Experience with project management tools and dashboards preferred.
• Strategic mindset with operational rigor.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams and manage multiple projects
• Exceptional leadership skills, EQ, and ability to lead through
• Exceptional communication skills; ability to analyze, synthesize and convey complex scientific and business information to senior stakeholders.
• Passion for growth and development, with openness to both giving and receiving constructive feedback and track record of acting on feedback
• Ability to work onsite in Cambridge MA in person preferably 5 days a week, with flexibility for 4 days.

Responsibilities

• Work with the Origination Team Leaders to set organizational priorities. Ensure that objectives and associated activities are clearly communicated and understood, and that goals are tracked.
• Maintain dashboards and track KPIs for Origination Team strategy and operations.
• Play a cross functional leadership role in identifying, designing and implementing strategic initiatives that impact the portfolio.
• Partner with Flagship Pioneering (FSP) functions and groups to ensure effective collaboration with Origination Teams’ portfolio companies.
• Provide visibility into and guidance on resource allocation across all projects and companies in the portfolios.
• Set agendas and cadence for Origination Team meetings and ensure successful preparation and execution for these meetings.
• Prepare or contribute to high-quality reports, briefings, presentations for meetings involving Origination Team Leaders and other FSP Leaders.
• Develop and utilize key program management tools, processes, AI agents and tools to ensure efficient tracking and reporting.
• Develop, maintain and disseminate current best practices for ideation, company creation, launch and fundraising preparedness.
• Enable transparent and candid communication across the Origination Team and portfolio companies.
• Identify opportunities for Origination Team projects and companies to collaborate with and draw upon FSP capabilities.
• Collaborate with Talent Acquisition and HR to ensure timely hiring and onboarding of new Origination Team members.
• Guide people resource allocation across the portfolio to align with bandwidth, development and execution priorities.
• Participate in culture development and sustainability.
• Work closely with Finance partners on Origination Team budgeting.
• Identify issues that impact the successful execution of plans. Escalate risks and offer mitigation ideas.
• Bring high energy and team spirit to lead a highly functioning team.

Skills

Strategic planning

Program management

Cross-functional leadership

Executive communication

Entrepreneurial mindset

Biotech industry knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in life sciences or engineering

PhD in life sciences or engineering (a plus)

Job description

Senior Director, Strategy and Operations

Cambridge, MA USA

Position Summary:

As a Flagship Labs Sr. Director, Strategy and Operations for 2 Origination Teams, you will be responsible for facilitating, coordinating and managing the execution of company creation activities with the highest degree of entrepreneurialism, creativity, agility and achievement-orientation. The role will entail serving as an operations thought partner to each Origination Team Leader, ensuring excellence in the execution of scientific innovation and entrepreneurial company creation, by e.g., supporting Flagship-wide corporate processes, leading program management best practices across Origination Team portfolio companies and initiatives’ implementation, and development of Origination talent and culture.

This highly visible position is responsible for coordinating organizational execution, optimizing communication, workflows, resource management, and productivity of the Origination Teams – in service of highly productive and effective value creation across a portfolio of companies. As such, you will have dual reporting lines to the Origination Team Leaders across the teams you contribute to.

Are you ready to translate vision into action in a fast paced and highly innovative ecosystem of early to mid-stage biotechnology companies?

Responsibilities:

• Work with the Origination Team Leaders to set organizational priorities. Ensure that objectives and associated activities are clearly communicated and understood, and that goals are tracked. Maintain dashboards and track KPIs for Origination Team strategy and operations.
• Play a cross functional leadership role in identifying, designing and implementing strategic initiatives that impact the portfolio.
• Partner with Flagship Pioneering (FSP) functions and groups such as Finance, HR, Legal, IT, Business Development, CEO office, Pioneering Medicines, Pioneering Intelligence, and other advisory groups to ensure effective collaboration with Origination Teams’ portfolio companies.
• In collaboration with the finance team, HR, and the individual originators, provide visibility into and guidance on the overall resource allocation across all projects and companies in the portfolios.
• As needed and on a temporary basis, partner with a specific portfolio company leadership team to ensure effective, timely execution of complex projects leading to the achievement of value creation milestones.
• Set agendas and cadence for Origination Team meetings and ensure successful preparation and execution for these meetings. Document and communicate decisions and action items from meetings and ensure follow-up and closure of action items.
• Prepare or contribute to the preparation of high-quality reports, briefings, presentations, etc. for meetings involving the Origination Team Leaders and other FSP Leaders (e.g., Origination Team and portfolio reviews). Document and ensure completion of follow-up items from those meetings.
• Develop and utilize key program management tools, processes, AI agents and tools to ensure efficient tracking and reporting
• Develop, maintain and disseminate current best practices for ideation, company creation, launch and fundraising preparedness.
• Enable transparent and candid communication across the Origination Team and portfolio companies.
• Identify opportunities for Origination Team projects and companies to collaborate with and draw upon FSP capabilities and ecosystem of companies. Facilitate and track collaborations.
• In collaboration with FSP Talent Acquisition and Human Resources leaders, ensure timely hiring and onboarding of new Origination Team members
• Guide people resource allocation across the portfolio to align with bandwidth, development and execution priorities.
• Actively participate in culture development and sustainability
• Work closely with Finance partners on Origination Team budgeting
• Identify issues that impact the successful execution of plans. Escalate risks and offer ideas to mitigate.
• Bring high energy and team spirit that leads to a highly functioning team.

Qualifications and skills:

• Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in life sciences or engineering disciplines preferred, with related or equivalent work experience considered. (Ph.D. degree a plus)
• 7+ years of industry/biotech experience in the fields of drug discovery, drug development, or engineering related to life sciences tools.
• Scientific/research background, preferably with broad disease-area expertise. Management consulting experience in those fields considered.
• Experience across multiple therapeutics modalities (e.g., RNA-based therapies, biologics/antibodies, small molecules, etc.) a plus.
• Strong understanding of the biopharmaceutical landscape, and/or the life sciences tools/technologies space, including key players, emerging trends, and technological
• Program/Project/Portfolio Management Experience with project management tools and dashboards preferred.
• Strategic mindset with operational rigor.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams and manage multiple projects
• Exceptional leadership skills, EQ, and ability to lead through
• Exceptional communication skills; ability to analyze, synthesize and convey complex scientific and business information to senior stakeholders.
• Passion for growth and development, with openness to both giving and receiving constructive feedback and track record of acting on feedback
• Ability to work onsite in Cambridge MA in person preferably 5 days a week, with flexibility for 4 days.

About Flagship Pioneering:

Flagship Pioneering is a scientific innovation engine that invents and builds companies that change the world.We bring together the greatest scientific minds with entrepreneurial company builders and assemble the capital to allow them to take courageous leaps in human health, sustainability, and beyond.

What sets Flagship apart is our ability to advance biotechnology by uniting life science innovation, company creation, and capital investment under one roof in a way that is largely without precedent. Ourteam of scientists, entrepreneurial leaders, and professional capital managers are each aligned around an institutionalized process that enables us to innovate andcreate breakthroughs for the benefit of people and planet.
Many of the companies Flagship has founded have addressed humanity’s most urgent challenges: vaccinating billions of people against COVID-19, curing intractable diseases, improving human health, preempting illness, and feeding the world by improving the resiliency and sustainability of agriculture.

Flagship has been recognized twice on FORTUNE’s “Change the World” list, an annual ranking of companies that have made a positive social and environmental impact through activities that are part of their core business strategies, and has been namedfour timesto Fast Company’s annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies.

Flagship Pioneering and our ecosystem companies are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

At Flagship, we recognize there is no perfect candidate. If you have some of the experience listed above but not all, please apply anyway. Experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way. We are dedicated to building diverse and inclusive teams and look forward to learning more about your unique background.

Privacy Notice for Applicants:When you apply for a role at Flagship Pioneering or one of its portfolio companies, we collect and use personal information you provide (such as your name, contact details, work history, and application materials) to evaluate your application, communicate with you, and comply with legal obligations. Your application data is processed through Greenhouse, our applicant tracking system, and may also be reviewed using AI-assisted screening tools. We do not sell your personal information. California residents have rights under the CCPA/CPRA including to know, delete, and opt out of the sharing of your personal information. If you are located in the EU or UK, we process your data under GDPR and you have rights to access, rectify, and erase your data. To exercise your rights or for questions, contact [e-mail].

The salary range for this role is $220,000 - $270,000. Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience. Flagship Pioneering currently offers healthcare coverage, annual incentive program, retirement benefits and a broad range of other benefits. Compensation and benefits information is based on Flagship Pioneering's good faith estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future.