Director, Business Strategy and Operations, Global Clinical Development Operations (GCDO)
If you are a current Jazz employee please apply via the Internal Career site
Jazz Pharmaceuticals is a global biopharma company whose purpose is to innovate to transform the lives of patients and their families. We are dedicated to developing life-changing medicines for people with serious diseases — often with limited or no therapeutic options. We have a diverse portfolio of marketed medicines, including leading therapies for sleep disorders and epilepsy, and a growing portfolio of cancer treatments. Our patient-focused and science-driven approach powers pioneering research and development advancements across our robust pipeline of innovative therapeutics in oncology and neuroscience. Jazz is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with research and development laboratories, manufacturing facilities and employees in multiple countries committed to serving patients worldwide. Please visit www.jazzpharmaceuticals.com for more information.
Job DescriptionBrief Description:
The Director, Business Strategy & Operations (BS&O) – GCDO serves as the strategic business partner and Chief of Staff to the Head of Global Clinical Development Operations and the GCDO Leadership Team (LT). Reporting to the Head of R&D Business Strategy & Operations, this role drives strategic alignment, operational cadence, workforce planning, and continuous improvement across the global clinical development operations organization.
The Director oversees multi-year workforce and resource planning, acts as the functional data steward for capacity models and budget cycles, coordinates business development due diligence and integration, and partners with the Communications team to ensure unified, transparent organizational messaging.
Essential Functions
1. Chief of Staff & Operational Governance
- Serve as trusted advisor and Chief of Staff to the Head of GCDO and the GCDO LT.
- Lead the operational rhythm of GCDO: establish agendas, facilitate LT meetings and strategic offsites, track action items, and drive execution.
- Partner with the R&D Chief of Staff to align GCDO priorities and governance with enterprise R&D strategy and portfolio milestones. Supports preparation for Quarterly Performance Meeting (QPM) and Board of Director Meetings.
- Represent GCDO in key R&D operational committees and cross-functional forums.
2. Workforce Planning & Resource Data Stewardship
- Lead proactive, multi-year workforce planning across GCDO in partnership with Finance, HR, and Resource Management.
- Serve as functional Data Steward for resource planning, overseeing named allocation tools, algorithm-based demand models, and timecard coding adherence to ensure data integrity.
- Translate clinical study pipeline requirements into robust FTE and contract resourcing forecasts to secure functional headcount and budget during annual and Long-Range Planning (LRP) cycles.
3. Financial Stewardship & Budget Management
- Partner with R&D Finance and GCDO budget holders to build, track, and optimize the functional operating budget (OpEx and headcount).
- Drive the financial operating cadence across monthly accruals, quarterly forecasting, variance reporting, and annual budget builds.
4. Business Due Diligence & Functional Integration
- Serve as the clinical operations lead on business development (BD), licensing, and M&A evaluations, assessing operational viability, trial delivery models, risks, and resource impacts.
- Lead post-transaction functional integration for acquired or partnered clinical assets, ensuring seamless onboarding, process alignment, and operational continuity.
5. Goal Setting, Performance & Process Improvement
- Lead GCDO annual goal-setting (OKRs/KPIs), cascading R&D priorities into actionable functional metrics and executive dashboards.
- Lead and implement targeted process improvement initiatives across GCDO and R&D interfaces, streamlining trial delivery workflows, eliminating bottlenecks, and updating operating standards.
- Apply structured change management methodologies to ensure sustainable adoption of process improvements across global teams.
6. Functional Communications & Culture
- Partner closely with the Communications team to design and execute GCDO communications, including Town Halls, All-Hands forums, and leadership announcements.
- Drive organizational health and engagement initiatives that reinforce accountability, trust, and clinical operational excellence.
- Foster a cohesive, forward-looking organizational culture that bridges project management rigor with data science and AI innovation, reinforcing transparency, accountability, and collaboration.
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
Key Competencies
- Executive Presence & Influence: Skilled at navigating organizational complexity, building consensus, and influencing without direct authority.
- Operational & Analytical Acumen: Adept at translating clinical pipeline demands into rigorous capacity models, budgets, and actionable operational plans.
- Strategic Problem-Solving: Ability to drive root-cause problem solving and lead impactful continuous improvement initiatives.
- Communication & Collaboration: Exceptional verbal, written, and presentation skills; experienced in partnering with Communications to engage large, dispersed organizations.
Experience
- Extensive progressive experience in the biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, or life sciences industry, with substantive exposure to drug development, portfolio/project management, data science/informatics, or R&D business operations.
- Experience operating in a strategic business operations, Chief of Staff, or PMO leadership capacity partnering directly with executive leaders (VP/SVP level).
- Direct experience leading workforce planning, capacity modeling oversight, named resource allocations, and timecard compliance.
- Demonstrated track record managing departmental budgets, financial forecasting, and variance tracking in collaboration with Finance.
- Experience participating in business development due diligence and leading post-deal functional integrations or external platform onboardings.
- Executive Presence & Strategic Partnership: High emotional intelligence with a proven ability to advise and influence senior functional executives (VP/SVP level) across diverse technical, analytical, and operational disciplines.
- High-Stakes Communication: Exceptional ability to synthesize complex project management narratives, data science strategies, and operational data into polished, compelling executive- and board-level presentations.
- Operational & Analytical Acumen: Strong capability to interpret complex resource models, algorithm demand outputs, and financial analyses to formulate actionable business strategies.
- Financial & Resource Stewardship: Demonstrated financial acumen managing multi-million-dollar functional operating budgets (OpEx, vendor contracts, software licensing) and multi-year workforce plans.
- Cross-Functional Orchestration: Proven track record in orchestrating multi-faceted initiatives across matrixed global teams, balancing competing priorities across distinct functional domains.
- Continuous Improvement & Innovation: Deep experience in process optimization, change management frameworks, and the practical application of digital and AI tools to enhance operational efficiency.
Required/Preferred Education and Licenses
- Bachelor’s degree in a Life Sciences discipline (Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacology, Neurobiology, Oncology, etc.) or related business/scientific field required.
- Advanced degree (MS, PhD, or MBA) strongly preferred.
- Lean Six Sigma, Agile, or Project Management (PMP) certification is a plus.
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Jazz Pharmaceuticals is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any characteristic protected by law.
FOR US BASED CANDIDATES ONLY
Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices and we strive to provide employees with total compensation packages that are market competitive. For this role, the full and complete base pay range is:
$192,000.00 - $288,000.00Individual compensation paid within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, and other pertinent factors. The goal is to ensure fair and competitive compensation aligned with the candidate's expertise and contributions, within the established pay framework and our Total Compensation philosophy. Internal equity considerations will also influence individual base pay decisions. This range will be reviewed on a regular basis.
At Jazz, your base pay is only one part of your total compensation package. The successful candidate may also be eligible for a discretionary annual cash bonus or incentive compensation (depending on the role), in accordance with the terms of the Company's Global Cash Bonus Plan or Incentive Compensation Plan, as well as discretionary equity grants in accordance with Jazz’s Long Term Equity Incentive Plan.
The successful candidate will also be eligible to participate in various benefits offerings, including, but not limited to, medical, dental and vision insurance, 401k retirement savings plan, and flexible paid vacation. For more information on our Benefits offerings please click here: https://careers.jazzpharma.com/benefits.html
Skills Required
- Extensive progressive experience in the biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, or life sciences industry
- Substantive exposure to drug development, portfolio or project management, data science or informatics, or R&D business operations
- Experience in strategic business operations, Chief of Staff, or PMO leadership partnering directly with VP- or SVP-level executives
- Experience leading workforce planning, capacity modeling oversight, named resource allocations, and timecard compliance
- Experience managing departmental budgets, financial forecasting, and variance tracking with Finance
- Experience participating in business development due diligence and leading post-deal functional integrations or external platform onboardings
- Ability to advise and influence senior functional executives across diverse technical, analytical, and operational disciplines
- Exceptional executive- and board-level communication, presentation, and synthesis skills
- Experience interpreting resource models, algorithmic demand outputs, and financial analyses
- Experience managing multi-million-dollar functional operating budgets and multi-year workforce plans
- Experience orchestrating initiatives across matrixed global teams
- Deep experience in process optimization and change management frameworks
- Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences or a related business or scientific field
- Advanced degree such as MS, PhD, or MBA
- Lean Six Sigma, Agile, or Project Management Professional certification
Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc and has not been reviewed or approved by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Fair & Transparent Compensation: Pay is considered competitive to strong versus biopharma peers, reinforced by market-competitive ranges in public postings. Company materials emphasize a robust total-rewards mix of base, bonus, and equity.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental & Family Support: Global paid child-bonding leave for all parents and paid caregiver leave are explicitly offered. Additional paid time elements like bereavement and a Global Volunteer Day expand family and life-event support.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits: A market-leading mental-health program provides extensive counseling and coaching access via Lyra. A Wellbeing Reimbursement Account and wellness resources broaden everyday lifestyle support.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc Insights
What We Do
Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq: JAZZ), is a global biopharmaceutical company whose purpose is to innovate to transform the lives of patients and their families. We are focused on developing life-changing medicines for people with serious diseases—often with limited or no options—so they can live their lives more fully. By transforming biopharmaceutical discoveries into novel medicines, we are working to give people around the world the opportunity to redefine what’s possible – to make the “small wins” big again. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Jazz Pharmaceuticals has a significant corporate presence in Palo Alto, CA, Philadelphia, PA and Oxford, England, with manufacturing facilities in Ireland and Italy. We maintain a highly collaborative culture where employees focus on how they can be successful and accomplish positive results by exemplifying the company’s core values: integrity, collaboration, passion, innovation and the pursuit of excellence. Together, we are more than 3,100 experts, analysts, specialists, advocates, scientists and professionals all with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Working together, we are proud to support patients, innovate and bring new medicines to market. For more information, please see our website at www.jazzpharma.com and follow us on Twitter at @JazzPharma. For information on fraudulent schemes involving our company name and recruitment, please visit https://bit.ly/2J1EjMA. For guidelines on engaging with Jazz on social media, please visit https://bit.ly/2OaMOuq.
