Associate Director, Development Project Management

Definium Therapeutics is a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company with a mission to forge a new era of psychiatry by applying scientific rigor to psychedelics. Our goal is to develop accessible treatments that unlock healing at scale. Our lead product candidate, lysergide tartrate (a proprietary orally disintegrating tablet form of lysergide (LSD) D-tartrate), represents a highly differentiated, potential best-in-class opportunity for patients suffering from generalized anxiety, major depressive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Our early-stage pipeline includes DT402, the R-enantiomer of MDMA, targeting the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), specifically addressing social communication challenges. Headquartered in New York, Definium Therapeutics trades on Nasdaq under the symbol DFTX.

About the role

We are seeking an Associate Director, Development Project Management, to serve as a strategic execution partner across programs, functional, and cross-functional teams in a growing environment. This individual will lead integrated planning, milestone tracking, risk and issue management, governance readiness, and cross-functional execution for assigned programs and initiatives. The ideal candidate will bring strong drug development experience, excellent stakeholder management skills, and the ability to create structure, drive accountability, and influence without authority in a lean, fast-paced organization. Experience with late-stage development, regulatory submission planning, and tools such as Planisware Enterprise is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and maintenance of integrated project plans that align program strategy, milestones, deliverables, dependencies, and decision points across key functions, ensuring alignment with sub-team plans.
• Partner with sub-team functional leads to ensure plans are realistic, aligned, and positioned to support successful program execution.
• Drive cross-functional execution by monitoring progress against milestones, deliverables, timelines, resources, and critical path activities.
• Facilitate productive team meetings and ensure clear accountability for decisions, actions, and follow-up activities.
• Proactively identify, assess, and manage risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, and opportunities that may impact program objectives.
• Partner with teams to develop mitigation strategies, contingency plans, and escalation recommendations to enable informed decision-making.
• Support governance and leadership forums by preparing decision-focused materials, status updates, risk summaries, and recommendations.
• Ensure timely communication and alignment of key program priorities, decisions, milestones, and risks across stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities to improve planning, execution, team effectiveness, and operational processes to enhance organizational performance.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in a scientific, business, operations, or related discipline required; Advanced degree in science, business, operations, or related discipline preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of overall experience in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry.
• Minimum of 8 years of project/program management experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech, or life sciences industry.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end drug development business processes.
• Experience supporting cross-functional development teams, functional workstreams, or program-level initiatives in a matrixed environment.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and manage integrated project plans, milestones, critical paths, dependencies, risks, issues, assumptions, and decision points.
• Experience working across one or more development functions, such as clinical development, clinical operations, CMC, regulatory affairs, preclinical, translational, commercial, or medical affairs.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office and project management tools, such as Microsoft Project, Planisware Enterprise, Smartsheet, or equivalent systems.
• Experience in late-phase development organizations or late-stage asset planning preferred.
• Experience supporting NDA, BLA, MAA, major regulatory submissions, or submission-readiness planning preferred.
• Experience using Planisware Enterprise or other portfolio/project management systems in a development environment preferred.
• PMP, Agile, Lean Six Sigma, or other relevant project management certification preferred.

Pay

The starting base pay range for this position is $150,000.00–195,000.00. Compensation will be determined based on several factors including, but not limited to, skill set, years of experience, and the employee's geographic location. Employees in this role may be entitled to additional compensation, including bonus and equity.

Benefits

• 100% paid health benefits including Medical, Dental, and Vision for you and your dependents.
• 401(k) program with company match and vesting after the first month of employment.
• Flexible time off.
• Generous parental leave.
• Additional fringe perks.