Strategic Portfolio Lead: Growth Execution

Biovac; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 1,800,000 - 3,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Biovac is seeking a Senior Programme Leader to drive the company’s 2035 growth strategy through a high-performance, cross-functional PMO. You will translate enterprise strategy into integrated execution plans, build governance and reporting frameworks, and lead executive-level delivery across Manufacturing, Commercial & Market Access, and related workstreams.

With 10–15+ years in biotech/pharma or scaling complex operations, you will partner with Exco, manage risks, and foster disciplined

Qualifications

• Postgraduate qualification in Business, Engineering, Strategy, Project Management, or related field.
• MBA and/or Programme/portfolio certifications preferred.
• Recognition of Prior Learning considered for extensive practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead the execution of Biovac’s 2035 growth portfolio across Exco portfolios.
• Translate enterprise strategy into integrated execution plans and governance structures.
• Develop and run an elevated PMO-style infrastructure for disciplined delivery and risk management.
• Provide executive reporting, dashboards, and KPI tracking for strategic delivery.
• Coordinate cross-functional workstreams and manage interdependencies to achieve on-time, on-budget delivery.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Governance

Portfolio management

Data analytics

Office 365

Education

Postgraduate qualification in Business/Engineering/Strategy/Project Management

MBA

Tools

Office 365

Job description

Job Purpose

• Lead the establishment and execution of Biovac’s delivery of its 10-year (defined from 2025) growth (primarily commercial and manufacturing targets) to drive the successful delivery of Biovac’s strategic growth journey. The role is accountable for translating the 10-year minimum strategic growth targets into disciplined execution by building and leading a high-performance strategic coordination infrastructure, governance model, reporting mechanisms, and enterprise delivery capability that ensures on-time, in-full and in-budget execution and achievement of strategic priorities.
• The incumbent will work closely with the CEO, Exco, and senior leadership team to actively matrix manage, coordinate and accelerate the 2035 commercial and manufacturing initiatives and targets, manage interdependencies, proactively mitigate delivery risks, and provide strategic insights that enable effective executive planning and decision-making. This role will ensure Biovac successfully delivers its growth ambitions through sleek, disciplined, high-performance execution, while avoiding bureaucracy and duplication with technical & operational project teams.
• The role carries a primary clear, measurable outcome: delivering Biovac’s growth target to 2035 on time, in full, and in budget, achieved by driving disciplined cross-functional execution across Biovac’s identified workstreams, as applicable —that agitates for delivery and risk mitigation while working collaboratively across functions, without assuming ownership of the underlying functions themselves. The secondary outcome of the role is to develop tools and governance frameworks that will aim for all four workstreams to work independently but synergistically.

Minimum Qualifications(s)

Required

• Postgraduate qualification in Business, Engineering, Strategy, Project Management, or related field

Preferred

• MBA and/ or Programme/portfolio certifications like Programme Management Professional (PgMP), Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), Projects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2), Agile transformation certification advantageous /
• Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) will be considered for extensive practical experience.

Experience, Knowledge and Skills Required for success

• 10 - 15+ years senior programme, transformation, or programme leadership experience within Biotech, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, or aggressively scaling complex industries, as well as:
• Proven success building strategic execution programme offices & capability from scratch
• Strong experience up to C-suite, and working directly with Exco / relevant senior structures would be advantageous
• Demonstrated strategy-to-execution capability through matrix managing clear deliverables
• Experience managing cross-functional strategic portfolios
• Strategy Execution & Portfolio Management
• GMP & Regulatory Environment Awareness
• Manufacturing & Supply Chain Value Chain
• Governance & Risk Management
• Data Analytics & Performance Management
• Well established knowledge across the full office 365 suite

Key Duties And Responsibilities

Strategic Integrated Leadership

• Lead the execution of Biovac’s targeted 2035 years portfolio to support the company’s growth ambition to 2035:
• Translate enterprise strategy into integrated execution plans
• Drive enterprise-wide delivery related to Biovac’s strategic 2035 growth and execution initiatives.
• Coordinate defined 2035 target growth execution priorities across Exco portfolios.
• Ensure core focus remains on critical strategic initiatives that are in scope
• Act as a trusted advisor to the CBO and Exco on 2035 targets delivery risks and execution priorities.
• Act as an activist integration leader — agitating for delivery and holding the pace, while working collaboratively across functions rather than directing functional teams directly.
• Convene regular forum of workstream chairs across Biovac’s strategic workstreams (Manufacturing Readiness & Execution; Commercial & Market Access; Institutional Strengthening, Innovation & Pipeline) to track progress against each workstream’s agreed deliverables.
• Identify cross-workstream resourcing and capacity conflicts and elevate these to Exco for prioritisation decisions, without taking on delivery responsibility that sits within the functions.

Strategic Integration Design & Infrastructure Development

• Work with Exco and service providers to design and implement a best-in-class strategic integrated plan capability. Build integrated plan (akin to a PMO infrastructure) including:
• Governance
• Enterprise delivery governance framework
• Decision-rights architecture
• Steering committee structures
• Stage-gate methodology

Delivery Management

• Strategic execution initiative prioritisation methodology
• Portfolio/workstream management framework
• Critical path dependency management
• Enterprise RAID (Risk, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) management

Reporting

• Executive dashboards
• 2035 Growth execution scorecards
• KPI and OKR tracking systems
• Benefits realization frameworks
• Predictive risk indicators

Cadence

• Weekly growth execution reviews
• Monthly Exco portfolio reviews
• Quarterly strategic execution sessions
• The role must create a sleek, efficient 2035 related growth execution programme focused on workstream delivery excellence.

Strategic Portfolio Leadership

• Lead and actively manage Biovac’s portfolio of enterprise-critical initiatives, including the typical portfolio areas such as Growth and market expansion, Strategic partnerships, ERP driving:
• Prioritisation of 2035 related strategic initiatives
• Monitoring of milestone delivery
• Identifying interdependencies
• Resolving execution bottlenecks
• Escalating critical decisions
• Tracking strategic benefits realization
• Tracking delivery against the top KPIs/deliverables agreed for each of Biovac’s four strategic workstreams (Manufacturing Readiness & Execution, Commercial & Market Access, Institutional Strengthening, Innovation & Pipeline)
• Driving execution discipline

Senior Leadership Alignment & Accountability

• Drive execution through Biovac’s senior leadership team. The role will influence, requiring exceptional executive presence and stakeholder management capability to achieve:
• Establishment of clear accountability mechanisms
• Holding relevant workstream leaders accountable for delivery
• Facilitating enterprise alignment sessions
• Ensuring clarity of ownership across strategic priorities
• Supporting leaders to solve cross-functional challenges
• Building execution capability across senior leadership

Executive Reporting & Strategic Insights

• Enable Exco to lead proactively through high-quality reporting and strategic insights through providing the following reports that describes what matters most, what is at risk, what decisions are required, what interventions are needed:
• Executive dashboards
• Delivery heatmaps
• Strategic risk reports
• Milestone tracking
• Portfolio performance reporting
• Predictive delivery insights

Enterprise Risk & Delivery Mitigation

• Lead proactive risk management across strategic initiatives by:
• Identifying delivery risks early
• Developing mitigation interventions
• Escalating critical blockers
• Coordinating enterprise responses
• Preventing execution failure

Core Competencies Required To Thrive

• Ability to process ambiguity and distil complex information into clear & concise communication
• Strategic Execution Excellence: Converts strategy into disciplined execution.
• Executive Presence & Influence: Able to challenge and influence senior leaders credibly.
• Systems Thinking: Sees enterprise interdependencies.
• Analytical & Commercial Acumen: Uses data to drive decisions.
• Revolutionary Change Leadership: Drives critical adoption through complexity.
• Governance & Portfolio Management: Creates order without bureaucracy.
• Political Savvy: Navigates complexity at executive level.
• High-Performance Orientation: Creates urgency and delivery discipline.
• Fluency in the bio pharmaceutical industry including GMP, quality systems and regulatory submission
• Strong financial acumen, capital planning, budget management, and cost-of-delay reasoning
• Willingness to deliver unwelcome news early and directly, prioritizing organizational outcomes over short-term relationship comfort
• Sound judgment on when to intervene directly versus when to preserve ownership and accountability with project teams
• Resilience and composure when plans require repeated re-baselining due to clinical, regulatory, or supply chain shifts, without losing organizational confidence in the PMO
• Results driven: Drives goals, goal refinement, risk mitigation and proactive, on-time, in-full and in budget achievement across the people operations and overall business deliverables.

Closing Date: 25 September 2026

• If you do not receive a response from us within three weeks after closing date, please understand that your application was not successful.
• We believe in the magic of diversity within teams and to achieve this, we do apply Employment Equity principles during our selection process where this is necessary to achieve such diversity.

Dear Applicant, we appreciate your interest in joining our organization. It is imperative for us that you understand how we handle your information. We are committed to ensuring the security and confidentiality of the information you provide. Your personal details will be collected for the sole purpose of the application process and will be used strictly for that purpose. By applying, you acknowledge and consent to the collection, use, and protection of your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy. If you have any inquiries or concerns, our Human Capital department is available to provide clarification. We look forward to reviewing your application.