Senior Director, Clinical & Statistical Programming (C&SP) – Technical Solutions
Locations: Switzerland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, United Kingdom (Hybrid)
As Senior Director, you’ll serve as a senior leader within Clinical & Statistical Programming, guiding a large, diverse, and geographically distributed organization. You’ll define the long‑term strategy, elevate technical capabilities, and ensure flawless execution across major therapeutic and regional portfolios—typically spanning 100+ FTEs or equivalent budget responsibility. The role is both strategic and operational, influencing the direction of the functional area, steering critical portfolio decisions, building future‑ready talent pipelines, and championing innovation that accelerates how we deliver clinical evidence to global health authorities.
Strategic Leadership
- Shape the long‑range vision for C&SP—technology, talent, processes, capabilities, and partnerships.
- Guide organizational evolution: operating model design, capability building, and resource strategies that scale with business needs.
- Lead decision‑making for functional strategy, sourcing models, and investment priorities across a highly complex portfolio.
Operational Excellence
- Oversee end‑to‑end delivery of C&SP activities across assigned therapeutic or regional portfolios.
- Provide leadership for functional inputs into regulatory submission strategies.
- Partner with Delivery Unit Heads and cross‑functional leaders to prioritize workloads, allocate resources, and remove barriers to execution.
- Ensure process excellence—governance, compliance, documentation, and continuous improvement.
- Foster deep collaboration across Clinical, Data Science, Statistics, Portfolio Delivery, Quality, Regulatory, Safety, Medical Affairs, and other internal stakeholders.
Technical Solutions
- Guide the evaluation, design, and deployment of innovative technologies—AI/ML, natural language processing, predictive modelling, automation, and efficiency‑enhancing tools.
- Drive the evolution of systems, platforms, and technical processes to ensure C&SP remains at the cutting edge.
- Establish frameworks, standards, and best practices that enable global consistency and scalability.
- Partner across R&D technical groups to leverage institutional knowledge, harmonize solutions, and accelerate breakthroughs.
- Build effective vendor partnerships and govern external sourcing models to ensure quality, value, and innovation.
- Support teams in designing algorithms, experimenting with data‑driven solutions, and measuring the business impact of new technologies.
People Leadership
- Lead, coach, and develop a global leadership team including TA/DA Heads, Portfolio Leads, and Technical Solutions leaders.
- Drive a strong talent strategy encompassing recruitment, succession planning, skill development, and organizational structure.
- Create a culture rooted in innovation, accountability, collaboration, and customer focus.
- Make high‑impact decisions that influence the long‑term direction of the function and broader R&D ecosystem.
What You’ll Bring
- Bachelor’s degree required in computer science, mathematics, data science, public health, or related scientific discipline; advanced degree preferred.
- 15+ years of experience in statistical programming, biometrics, or related areas within pharma/clinical research, with substantial leadership responsibility.
- 5–7+ years people leadership experience, ideally leading managers and large, multi‑layered teams.
- Expert understanding of statistical programming, clinical data flows, and modern technical ecosystems.
- Demonstrated strength in talent development, resource management, and organizational leadership.
- Deep knowledge of regulatory guidelines, clinical development processes, and industry standards.
- Proven ability to drive innovation, manage complex portfolios, and lead in a matrixed, cross‑functional environment.
- Exceptional communication, influencing, and stakeholder management capabilities.
- A passion for customer‑centric delivery and continuous improvement.
Required and Preferred Skills
- Advanced Analytics, Biostatistics, Collaboration, Compliance Management, Data Privacy Standards, Developing Others, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), Inclusive Leadership, Interpersonal Influence, Leadership, Program Management, Project Integration Management, Quality Assurance (QA), Regulatory Affairs Management, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Statistical Analysis Systems (SAS) Programming, Subject Matter Expert (SME) Collaboration, Systems Thinking