Position Overview: As the head of Program Management, you will be responsible for establishing and leading the PM function at Oruka and supporting the development of all portfolio assets. We are looking for someone with strong leadership and management experience to be the strategic and operational partner for the leadership team in identifying, planning, and delivering on key portfolio priorities. You should have an innate approach that is centered on integrity, collaboration, and organization and a proven track record of operational execution in one or more core areas of drug development. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership: Oversee project management activities, scenario planning, identify and manage project objectives, work plans, timelines, budgets, providing formal and informal status updates to stakeholders as needed. 
• Program Management Oversight: Establish and maintain functionally integrated project schedules to enable accurate project analyses, identification of critical path activities and areas of resource constraint. Support operational excellence by developing tools (e.g., dashboards and other content) to drive communication and collaboration within teams and across the organization.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Lead, facilitate and document project team meetings, cross-functional communication and decision making, ensuring alignment with internal functional groups and leadership. Manage risk mitigation strategies, assess project risk and support mitigation planning and tracking.
• PM Infrastructure: Track and/or identify novel ideas and/or current opportunities for business process improvements, recommend solutions, and provide input to leadership regarding priorities and resource allocation to meet goals. Demonstrated experience with direct people leadership, including hiring, managing, and mentoring direct reports.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a scientific or business field with a minimum of 12 years of experience in Project Management in a biotechnology or pharmaceutical setting.
• Proven track record in setting up a successful PM function from the ground up, preferably in a startup environment.
• Comprehensive knowledge of drug development from research through development and commercialization.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to design creative solutions to complex challenges.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with an ability to influence, motivate others and manage conflicting points of view.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment, prioritizing and managing multiple projects simultaneously.