Innovation Director

Remote US. Must be legally authorized to work in your country of residence without sponsorship. Relocation assistance is not provided. May require as-needed travel (0-20%) domestic and international.

About The Team

The Clinical Development Strategy and Innovation (CDSI) team is part of Thermo Fisher’s Clinical Research Group (CRG). This team leads and integrates strategy, operational excellence, and disruptive innovation to accelerate drug development for customers and patients. The innovation strategy team aims to uncover groundbreaking opportunities, rigorously validate concepts, and spearhead industry leadership to revolutionize drug development through transformative innovations.

Responsibilities

• Own and oversee a portfolio of innovation opportunities, ensuring coherence, prioritization, and alignment to strategic and commercial objectives.
• Lead identification, shaping, prioritization, and progression of opportunities, ensuring sustained focus on the highest-value initiatives.
• Guide portfolio prioritization and investment trade-offs, balancing emerging opportunity development with scaling of validated concepts.
• Contribute to governance, portfolio reviews, and investment decision-making activities across the innovation landscape.
• Support and influence long-term strategic planning activities within the assigned remit, contributing to future innovation priorities and capability direction.
• Identify patterns, dependencies, risks, and emerging opportunities that inform broader portfolio and enterprise innovation decisions.
• Oversee the development and communication of the enterprise innovation story, ensuring a clear, consistent, and compelling narrative across internal stakeholders, clients, partners, and external industry audiences.
• Partner with commercial, strategy, and communications teams to position innovation capabilities, thought leadership, and strategic initiatives effectively in the market.
• Represent the organization internally and externally as a recognized innovation leader, contributing to strategic discussions, industry engagement, client interactions, and thought leadership activities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Science, Technology, Engineering, or a related field. Advanced degree (MBA, MS) preferred.
• Previous experience leading innovation, transformation, strategy, product discovery, or technology-enabled business initiatives (comparable to 10+ years’ experience).
• Experience leading large-scale or enterprise-level portfolios, strategic initiatives, or cross-functional innovation programs.
• Able to communicate, receive, and understand information and ideas with diverse groups of people in a comprehensible and reasonable manner.
• Able to work upright and stationary for typical working hours.
• Ability to use and learn standard office equipment and technology with proficiency.
• Able to perform successfully under pressure while prioritizing and handling multiple projects or activities.

Skills

• Demonstrated success shaping and progressing high-impact innovation opportunities through structured discovery, validation, and transition activities.
• Experience influencing senior and executive stakeholders within matrixed organizations.
• Strong leadership experience across cross-functional business, digital, data, and technology environments.
• Experience representing innovation initiatives in senior governance forums, strategic planning discussions, or external industry settings.
• Deep understanding of innovation, experimentation, and evidence-based investment approaches.
• Strong commercial awareness and understanding of how innovation supports growth, differentiation, and competitive positioning.
• Strong communication and storytelling capabilities, including the ability to position innovation strategies, opportunities, and outcomes for executive, client, and external audiences.
• Ability to balance long-term strategic thinking with practical portfolio prioritization and progression.
• Strong analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Understanding of emerging technologies, digital transformation, and innovation trends relevant to clinical research and healthcare.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to engage effectively across global and cross-functional teams.

Schedule

Standard (Mon-Fri)

Environmental Conditions

Office