Associate Operational Excellence Director

Position Summary:

The Associate Operational Excellence Director leverages expertise and knowledge to plan and manage initiatives and activities designed to improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of studies to Sponsors. The Associate Director develops and implements processes, standards or operational plans with the goal of operational excellence across the business collaborating across a group of diverse stakeholders.

Essential Functions of the job include but are not limited to:

• Lead the planning, execution, and delivery of enterprise initiatives and cross-functional programs from initiation through close-out.
• Define project scope, objectives, deliverables, timelines, and success metrics in alignment with organizational priorities.
• Manage project risks, dependencies, and issues, escalating as appropriate to ensure successful outcomes.
• Apply structured project and program management methodologies to ensure consistent, predictable delivery
• Support the vision of and commitment to continuous improvement in operational excellence across all activities.
• Translate enterprise and functional strategies into actionable plans and roadmaps for enterprise initiatives.
• Support execution of transformation, process improvement, and operational effectiveness programs.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality, scalability, and consistency across the organization.
• Ensure enterprise initiatives are aligned with governance requirements, quality standards, and regulatory expectations.
• Lead the evaluation of business processes and workflows to identify opportunities for improvement or automation.
• Lead stakeholders in root-cause problem-solving techniques to identify core process challenges.
• Lead the development of recommendations for process improvement, leveraging subject matter experts for critical input.
• Partner with cross functional leadership to prioritize improvement opportunities and support strategic initiatives.
• Identify, develop and execute strategies for on-going and sustained improvement in operational functions, including identification of tools, systems, staffing or other resources, procedures, and communication.
• Partner on the design and implementation of new business processes with organizational context and priorities in mind.
• Lead organizational change management to ensure adoption and sustainability of process changes.
• Lead internal communication to effectively update stakeholders on progress, performance, key issues, and blockers that may impact business attainment or critical program and project completion.
• Identify operational risks and lead implementation of mitigation plans.
• Ensure or lead the documentation of business process.
• Establish key performance metrics and dashboards for monitoring operational performance.
• Translate enterprise and functional strategies into actionable plans and roadmaps for enterprise initiatives.
• Support execution of transformation, process improvement, and operational effectiveness programs.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality, scalability, and consistency across the organization.
• Ensure enterprise initiatives are aligned with governance requirements, quality standards, and regulatory expectations.
• Oversee or lead training and guidance to teams on new processes and how to identify improvement opportunities, building awareness on continual improvement initiatives.
• Standardizes best practices and processes across the organization to ensure consistency and sustainability.
• Monitor, measure, and analyze the effectiveness of new initiatives and processes, making adjustments as needed.
• Develop and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress and drive decision-making.
• Monitor adoption of process, system and organizational changes to ensure long-term and sustained adoption.

Qualifications:

Minimum Required:

• Bachelor’s degree (or its international equivalent) + 12 years of related experience

Other Required:

• Experience in CRO/pharmaceutical/biotechnology drug development or demonstrated competency in the key areas of the role
• Strong drug development experience with understanding of other functions relevant to the position.

Skills:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Strong strategic and analytical thinking
• Ability to prioritize critical needs
• Strong clinical operations and drug development experience
• Strong computer skills, specifically with MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and with web/data-based platforms

Competencies:

• Exhibits high self-motivation and is able to work and plan independently as well as in a team environment
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills. Proficiency in data analysis and performance metrics.
• Highly organized with excellent presentation, oral and written communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal and client-facing skills and a proven ability to contribute to a team environment.
• Proven ability to effectively influence, negotiate and manage conflict.
• Strong sense of ownership and pride in quality of outputs.
• Ability to multitask tight timelines prioritizing workload and maintaining high quality standards.
• Flexible attitude with respect to work assignments, new learning opportunities, and ability to thrive in a fast-paced dynamic environment.

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