Associate Director Program Management

About the role

Leads the Project Management function at site or portfolio level. Owns overall customer delivery performance and satisfaction through the project management team. Accountable for site-level project governance, escalation framework, and controls. Responsible for portfolio visibility, performance tracking, and reporting, with financial forecasts supported in partnership with Finance. Acts as a key interface between clients, site leadership, and global functions.

Responsibilities

• Project Delivery & Customer Accountability
  • Hold overall accountability for portfolio delivery performance, ensuring commitments on scope, timeline, cost, quality, and compliance are met through effective PM execution.
  • Act as the escalation point for high-risk, cross-project, or unresolved issues, ensuring appropriate ownership and resolution across PMs and functions.
  • Maintain active oversight of customer satisfaction, ensuring expectations are clearly set, managed, and met throughout the project lifecycle.
• Governance, Meetings & Escalation
  • Establish and own the site-level governance framework, aligned to Global PMO standards, including internal project team meetings, joint project team meetings with customers, and steering or governance forums where applicable.
  • Ensure governance practices include clear meeting cadence, agendas, minutes, action tracking, and escalation pathways.
  • Provide structured portfolio visibility and escalation to site leadership and relevant functional stakeholders.
• Planning, Risk & Delivery Management
  • Ensure consistent application of project planning disciplines across the PM team, including project schedules, critical path management, and RAID processes.
  • Maintain accountability for portfolio delivery performance, proactively identifying and addressing cross-project risks to timeline, scope, or cost.
  • Drive a proactive, risk-based approach to managing delivery and business exposure.
• Scope Change & Commercial Alignment
  • Ensure effective scope change management across the project portfolio, with accountability residing at project level with PMs.
  • Support and guide PMs, particularly junior PMs, in managing scope change processes and customer discussions, partnering with Business Development on commercial or non-routine changes as required.
  • Ensure scope changes follow contractual terms, governance expectations, internal approval processes, and customer communication standards.
• Financial Oversight & Portfolio Reporting
  • Ensure accurate and timely project financial inputs (forecasting, milestones, risks) are provided by PMs, and partner with Finance to support forward-looking demand visibility across the portfolio.
  • Provide regular portfolio-level reporting on project status, schedule and cost variance, key risks, and overall outlook.
  • Oversee coordination of invoicing activities to ensure billing is accurate, timely, and aligned with project progress and delivery milestones.
• People Leadership & Capability Development
  • Lead, coach, and develop the Project Management team, ensuring clear role accountability and consistent application of project management standards.
  • Support performance management, capability development, and succession planning within the PM function.
  • Promote a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, customer focus, and business acumen.
• Systems, Process & Continuous Improvement
  • Ensure effective use of project management systems, tools, and reporting mechanisms.
  • Partner with Global PMO to implement standardized processes and frameworks and drive continuous improvement in project delivery practices.
  • Contribute to cross-functional operational excellence initiatives impacting project outcomes.
• Cross-Functional & Site Leadership Interface
  • Act as a key interface between customers, site leadership, and global functions, representing project commitments, customer priorities, and business needs.
  • Partner with Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance to balance customer expectations with site capacity, delivery risk, and broader business needs.
  • Where applicable, contribute to customer demand planning and longer-term capacity, workforce, or portfolio discussions.

Success Measures

• On-time, on-budget project delivery
• Customer satisfaction and retention
• Effective governance and escalation management
• Portfolio visibility and forecast accuracy
• PM team capability, engagement, and consistency
• Compliance with quality and regulatory expectations

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a scientific, technical, or business discipline (advanced degree preferred)
• Formal Project Management training or certification (PMP / PRINCE2 / equivalent preferred)
• Demonstrated experience both leading client-facing, cross-functional project teams and delivering projects directly in a regulated environment
• Strong working knowledge of project management tools such as Smartsheet or MS Project, with the ability to support the PM team in core tool usage
• Strong commercial, financial, and customer-management acumen

Required Skills

• Customer & patient centric
• Strategic thinking with operational rigor
• Strong communication and influence
• Risk-based decision-making
• Accountability and ownership mindset
• Ability to lead through complexity and ambiguity