Senior Director, Clinical Data Management Portfolio, Resource, Operations

Job Description

The Senior Director Clinical Data Management Portfolio Resource Operations reports to the Head of their respective function and serves as the strategic functional lead for functional area portfolio resource and operational governance. Accountable for integrated analytics forecasting and strategic portfolio insights this role ensures global alignment across functions geographies and stakeholders. As a key member of the functional area leadership team the Senior Director partners with in-function and cross-functional partners to shape enterprise planning drive efficiency and guide long-range operational strategies.

Responsibilities

Strategic & Functional Leadership:

• Provide functional area operations leadership and direction across the assigned organization; define policies governance frameworks and forecasting methodologies; provide operations oversight to monitor consistent execution quality and compliance with functional area business processes.

• Represent the functional area portfolio resource and operations management in enterprise forums; communicate options/risks/trade-offs; serve as escalation point for issues arising within assigned teams or geographies.

• Lead or sponsor global initiatives to improve operational efficiency continuous improvement leveraging automation / AI quality by design and change management in alignment with Global Data Management & Standards (GDMS) priorities.

• Work with leadership to design the roadmap for the functional area operating model optimization and define guardrails for AI-First planning and reporting standards.

• Champions organizational change strategy; drives adoption of new operating models and digital capabilities across global functions.

Operational Governance Execution & Cross-Functional Alignment:

• Oversee capacity modeling forecasting methodologies trade-offs and demandsupply trade-offs aligned with business financial and operational objectives to maximize efficiency and outcomes.

• Establish objectives key results performance metrics and dashboards in partnership with relevant stakeholders (IT Finance GDMS functional areas & GCTO stakeholders); drive accountability for outcomes.

• In collaboration with process owners define performance capacity and quality indicators for GDMS Operations Reviews and leadership dashboards.

• Govern resource financial controls and budget for assigned teams including productivity benchmarks and service provider/contracting frameworks; ensure adherence to global SLA/SOW standards and maintain compliance and audit readiness.

• Set the strategy for role-specific curricula and proficiency levels; support the development of GDMS-wide training needs that are within scope; build communities of practice; develop future leaders and succession pipelines within Portfolio & Resource Operations team.

• Approve headcount/JD plans and funding cases and oversee real-time compliance-driven workload balancing / allocation across geographies - including proactive capacity planning absence/holiday coverage and surge redistribution - to ensure business continuity and on-time delivery to regulatory and business timelines.

• Champion Human-First Organization principles in process and tooling decisions and ensure changes improve clarity workload balance and decision quality.

People Management & Talent Development:

• Align teams around a clear direction; set clear objectives aligned to organizational goals; assign work and set priorities accounting for work-life balance sustainability.

• Conduct regular check-ins and annual reviews; coach for performance; provide recognition.

• Develop career plans; create growth opportunities and promotion cases; ensure appropriate training and mentoring.

• Lead recruiting and hiring and oversee performance management activities including management of sensitive employee-relations matters in partnership with HR.

• Coordinate on-shore/off-shore and contingent resources; ensure role clarity and effective handoffs.

• Manage an operating budget and optimize spend against priorities.

• Inspires and ensures that team leaders are effectively supporting and empowering their individual leaders.

• Oversight of FSP (Functional Service Provider) contracts people and attrition.

• Ability to architect or apply enterprise-level capacity modeling and operational forecasting across regions/functional areas and connect to operational drivers or workforce cost modeling; ability to use analytical and forecasting tools (e.g. dashboards capacity models) to inform resourcing planning and operational decisions.

• Ability to link portfolio management financial planning and performance into unified decision models.

• Applies cross-functional planning cost management and resource prioritization to clinical data operations with a strong end-to-end understanding of data management and experience designing and running governance that connects data people processes and performance across systems.

• Ability to apply industry benchmarks and internal baselines to set targets measure maturity and drive continuous improvement.

• Proven experience implementing risk-based and digital data practices using data and automation to focus effort where risks are highest.

• Ability to define and enforce standards for integration reuse and scalability of data tools and solutions.

• Strong understanding of clinical data management operational systems and related performance measures.

• Expertise in KPI and data-product governance (definitions lineage quality controls lifecycle) to maintain a single source of truth.

• Experience developing implementing and applying portfolio and capacity models to manage cross-functional operations

• Strategy and consulting skills to drive operating model adoption; experience developing and utilizing value realization frameworks to drive business optimization

• Deep knowledge of ICH/GCP (International Council of Harmonization - Good Clinical Practices) guidelines and how they apply to clinical data management activities.

Clinical Data Management-specific Technical Skills:

• Able to apply cross-functional planning cost management and resource prioritization to clinical data operations scenarios.

Non-technical knowledge skills and abilities

• Strategic leadership with the ability to align diverse teams and stakeholders around shared objectives interfaces and responsibilities across functions geographies and seniority levels.

• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence motivating and guiding cross-functional and virtual teams without direct reporting authority.

• Exceptional communication influence and storytelling skills including the ability to convey complex or technical information to diverse audiences.

• Ability to integrate business operational and people dimensions into effective decision-making; coordinates work and drives timely resolution of complex issues.

• Resilient and adaptable able to balance strategic vision with operational execution and perform effectively under pressure.

• Demonstrated disciplined prioritization focusing teams on critical metrics and high-value initiatives.

• Advanced negotiation skills in addition to stakeholder management.

• Ability to create a high-performance inclusive culture that attracts develops and retains senior talent.

• Demonstrated ability to drive large-scale change leadership embed innovation and drive continuous improvement initiatives through designing communications training and adoption strategies to standardize ways of working globally.

• Fluent in English with excellent written and verbal communication skills to clearly convey complex or technical information.

Enterprise Leadership Skills

• Networking & Partnerships Builds strategic partnerships across GDMS IT Finance GCTO stakeholders and process owners to align portfolio priorities resolve cross-functional constraints and drive transparency in performance capacity and funding decisions across geographies.

• Influence Influences senior stakeholders by presenting clear data-backed insights and trade-off scenarios securing alignment on resourcing funding and operational priorities that advance shared enterprise objectives.

• Talent Development Develops a high-performing Portfolio & Resource Operations organization by defining capability standards building succession pipelines coaching leaders and aligning workforce strategy to evolving business and regulatory demands.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelors Degree in Life science Data or Information technology with 13 years of experience in data management project management life sciences or pharmaceutical industries including:

  • 5 years of people management experience.

  • Demonstrated experience in managing operations for large complex geographic diverse departments including budget contracts resource utilization sponsorship and leading cross functional projects.

• Advanced Degree (Masters or Doctorate) in Business Life Science Data Information Technology with 10 years of experience in data management project management life sciences or pharmaceutical industries including:

  • 5 years of people management experience.

  • Demonstrated experience in managing operations for large complex geographic diverse departments including budget contracts resource utilization sponsorship and leading cross functional projects.

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