Reporting to the Senior Program Officer of Integrated Portfolio Management in Global Health, the Research Project Manager will combine discovery leadership with project and portfolio management skills to drive progression of early stage discovery projects and ensure the availability of a continuous pipeline of assets for clinical development. This position is a two-year Limited Term Employee (LTE) position. It will be based in Seattle, Washington. The Research Project Manager will combine industrial rigor and academic creativity to drive innovative results in keeping with the core mission and values of the BMGF. The Research Project Manager will work in close partnership with program officers at the BMGF across a range of therapeutic areas and modalities, including small molecules, biologics and vaccines, and with industry, academic and nonprofit partners to build an infrastructure capable of supporting the analysis and progression of a complex portfolio, with the goal of improving portfolio breadth, increasing the efficiency of decision making, and ensuring rigorous, decision-oriented experimentation.
Responsibilities will include development of detailed project plans for new efforts, facilitating data exchange between teams, managing timelines, fostering communication among diverse stakeholders, measuring project progress, organizing project review meetings, and driving milestone achievement and go/no-go decision making.
The Research Project Manager will work closely with Research Discovery Support (RDS) team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (Gates MRI), whose members have similar roles.
The successful candidate will be an innovative, sophisticated, and highly creative individual who thrives in a “get it done” environment, with a strong track record of hands-on experience in project management for preclinical discovery with an emphasis on project leadership and project management skills. They will have the following mix of personal and professional characteristics:
- At least 5 years of experience within one or more technical roles in pharmaceutical R&D drug discovery, biotechnology drug discovery, or related life science industry
- Demonstrated ability to provide effective project management to research discovery teams and a solid understanding of the drug or biologic discovery and early development processes.
- Excellent organizational and communication skills required for extensive interactions with multiple collaborators and partners.
- Equally comfortable with high level strategic analysis and “down-in-the-weeds” detail-oriented execution.
- Experience in infectious disease is desirable, as is experience working with multiple classes of compounds/interventions (small molecules, biologics, vaccines, diagnostics, vector controls).
- Comfort with ambiguity and complexity required; must be open to change and able to work across multiple projects and therapeutic areas/modalities simultaneously.
- Strong interpersonal skills with polish and presence; ability to influence others at all levels and lead in a highly matrixed organization
- Personal leadership style that inspires trust, confidence, and collaboration.
- Passionate, persistent and tenacious. Strong ability to prioritize and operate with a sense of urgency
- Experience in pioneering the start-up of new organizations or functions is a significant plus
- Sense of humor a must.
- Position may require significant travel.
- Passion for the values of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a commitment to deliver results against our mission