Job Description

At Bristol Myers Squibb, we are inspired by a single vision – transforming patients’ lives through science. In oncology, hematology, immunology and cardiovascular disease – and one of the most diverse and promising pipelines in the industry – each of our passionate colleagues contribute to innovations that drive meaningful change. We bring a human touch to every treatment we pioneer. Join us and make a difference.

General Expectations:

The Head of Project Planning is accountable for ensuring our Project Planning capability delivers timely, quality data to enable strategic enterprise portfolio decisions (e.g., portfolio tradeoffs, resourcing decisions, budget allocation, and revenue projections) and external reporting including to shareholders, Board of Directors, and regulatory agencies. 

The Head of Project Planning leads a group of 15-20 project planning professionals to rigorously maintain data quality for all projects in the BMS R&D pipeline (pre-clinical to marketed products) in partnership with global and regional drug development project managers and partner functions. The Head will be a strategic leader, responsible for defining and implementing the new vision of the Project Planner as a partner to the PM to ensure best in class planning is captured in the PM software to support strategic decision making at the project and portfolio level. 

As part of the R&D Strategy and Planning organization, the Head of Project Planning is a member of the extended RDSP leadership team and, as such, may interact broadly with stakeholders across the BMS enterprise up to and including the BMS executive team.  They are a core member of the Project Management Leadership Team acting as a change Agent for continuous improvement and transformational initiatives within both PM and RDSP.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Ensures appropriate modeling of development plans within enterprise systems that enable planning and decision making by development teams, functional areas, and governance.
• Ensures that the underlying data quality in the system is consistent with norms and is sufficient to enable strategic decision making and portfolio visualization
• Hires, develops and retains talent within their group and PM in general with an eye towards building a diverse organization which is open to new ideas, and enables success for colleagues of different backgrounds and experiences.
• Coaches and mentors Planning team leads and other direct reports to drive excellence and accountability; sets direction for expectations of the Planner role
• Develops a plan for growth of the Planner community to realize the new vision, including designing and implementing a learning curriculum for staff
• Actively partners with PM function (as a member of the PM Leadership Team) and key stakeholders to improve ways of working within BMS to deliver on the pipeline commitment and build an industry-leading PM team, up to and including leadership of enterprise level initiatives
• Partners with functional areas that own interconnecting systems to the PM software to ensure data quality, proactively address convergence issues, and define business processes and ways of working which enable overall data quality
• Partners with R&D Capabilities to design the next enhancements of the Planning system to ensure business needs are met and the pipeline is delivered to plan
• Contributes to best practices development and system enhancement efforts.
• Partners with IT, BI&A, and R&D Capabilities to ensure the system design enables accurate data recording and actionable reporting
• Seeks to proactively understand evolving business needs and deliver consistent, quality data to support it
• Is up to date on the latest external industry trends to inform internal processes, ways of working, and system enhancements with regards to project planning

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree with 13+ years of experience in pharmaceutical research, development, or commercialization or Associates degree with 18+ years experience in pharmaceutical research, development, or commercialization; degree in scientific field is optimal.  Direct experience related to scheduling creation, planning, and management is preferred. 
• Experience in managing direct reports with the demonstrated ability to lead others through change, cultivate meaningful relationships, set appropriate priorities to support organizational goals, and develop talent
• Leadership skills including situational leadership, ability to lead a team of experts and influence without authority 
• Takes the leader mindset to resolve issues and remove barriers – whether internal or external to immediate team.
• Ability to resolve complex problems and manage difficult stakeholder situations 
• Ability to independently assess emerging facts and devise a plan to act.
• Models the leader mindset with focus on continuous learning and solution orientation
• This position requires experience in the pharmaceutical industry with a solid understanding of drug development and commercialization.
• Participation on teams focused on drug development or pharmaceutical R&D in a matrix environment is a plus. 
• Experience with scheduling methodologies as well as technical literacy with computer applications necessary to create, manage and analyze project timelines is a must.  Experience with multiple planning software tools is a plus, e.g., Planisware
• Experience in project schedule quantitative risk assessment and management is highly desired
• Strong written and oral communication skills and demonstrated ability to interact directly and productively with team members and management and to manage and prioritize multiple competing priorities is also required

Around the world, we are passionate about making an impact on the lives of patients with serious diseases. Empowered to apply our individual talents and diverse perspectives in an inclusive culture, our shared values of passion, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion and integrity bring out the highest potential of each of our colleagues.

Bristol Myers Squibb recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility in our work environment. We offer a wide variety of competitive benefits, services and programs that provide our employees with the resources to pursue their goals, both at work and in their personal lives. 

Physical presence at the BMS worksite or physical presence in the field is an essential job function of this role which the Company deems critical to collaboration, innovation, productivity, employee well-being and engagement, and enhances the Company culture.

To protect the safety of our workforce, customers, patients and communities, the policy of the Company requires all employees and workers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, unless they have received an exception based on an approved request for a medical or religious reasonable accommodation.  Therefore, all BMS applicants seeking a role located in the U.S. and Puerto Rico must confirm that they have already received or are willing to receive the full COVID-19 vaccination by their start date as a qualification of the role and condition of employment.  This requirement is subject to state and local law restrictions and may not be applicable to employees working in certain jurisdictions such as Montana. This requirement is also subject to discussions with collective bargaining representatives in the U.S.

Our company is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request an approval of accommodation prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application or if you are applying to a role based in the U.S. or Puerto Rico and you believe that you are unable to receive a COVID-19 vaccine due to a medical condition or sincerely held religious belief, during or any part of the recruitment process, please direct your inquiries to adastaffingsupport@bms.com. Visit careers.bms.com/eeo-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

Any data processed in connection with role applications will be treated in accordance with applicable data privacy policies and regulations.