As a highly cross-functional relationship manager responsible for:

• Developing a solid understanding of the partner organization, decision making and interests to facilitate the mutual understanding of Verge and the partner organization 
• Developing strong working relationships and coordinating across Verge and the partner organization to drive effective communication, informed decision making, alignment and timely action for strong execution and optimal results
• Leading efforts to establish mutual understanding, respect, trust, and good communication between alliance partners
• Anticipating changes and managing transitions throughout the alliance life cycle for Verge and the partner organization 

As a proactive risk manager responsible for:

• Becoming intimately familiar with the contractual agreement and related documents to carefully monitor both Verge’s and partner organization’s commitments to proactively identify and address issues at the right level and resolve conflicts in an equitable and timely manner with clarity to mitigate delays to collaboration project milestones (timelines and deliverables) and risk to contractual commitments.
• Engaging partner counterpart to proactively manage relationship and / or project issues and unexpected events and to resolve conflicts at the lowest level of escalation
• Briefing executive leadership on risks that threaten the health of the partnership

Program management:

• Oversee the successful delivery of the program scope, goals, and resource requirement responsible for: Liaising with Business Development, Research & Development
• Legal and Finance to ensure key contract stage gates, financial transactions, progress reports, etc. are handled appropriately and provide information/updates as needed
• Liaising with the Business Development Lead to facilitate the preparation of agreements and amendments
• Managing the execution of amendments in line with business needs
• Managing the process for review and approval of reports and milestone payments

Project Management:

• Working with the Verge Project Lead to develop and understand the project / work plan (deliverables, milestones, and timeline) and budget and how it ties to the defined program 
• Developing tools to enable project tracking, resource management, record keeping, and file sharing
• Proactively tracking, monitoring, and communicating contract milestones, obligations, and financial payments 
• Tracking Project Team interactions with business partners
• Facilitating key internal and external meetings (for governance committees and project teams) by coordinating agendas, leading meetings, moderating discussion, preparing minutes, detailing action items and deliverables, tracking and assuring that action items are addressed, and deliverables fulfilled

As an operational and process lead responsible for:

• Developing, leading, managing, and executing the operational framework of the individual alliances to ensure governance of the relationships
• Having an in-depth working knowledge of the contractual agreement and related documents to ensure all parties are adhering to their obligations including generation of scientific data, resourcing, finances, timelines, reporting, disclosures, and decision-making
• Setting specific and measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor, measure, report on alliance performance
• Leading period health checks based on KPIs to ensure mutual compliance with contractual obligations
• Ensuring common and mutual understanding of the operational framework within Verge and the partner organization
• Defining how the roles and responsibilities are shared and who has the right to make decisions throughout the lifecycle of the alliance
• Constantly evaluating, measuring, and analyzing Verge’s alliances, thinking across the business about what could be better, proposing and implementing continuous improvements and best practices to have Verge be considered a partner of choice and optimize the value of Verge’s alliances.

You will have...

• Bachelor’s degree with 6+ years of project management experience (or graduate degree with 4+ years of experience) in PHARMA/BIOTECH Industry
• 3+ years of experience in Alliance Management, Program Management, Business Development, or related function 
• Excellent interpersonal skills, oral and written communication skills, including specifically, the skills needed to manage complex conversations and interactions as they arise 
• Understanding of the drug development process and working knowledge of the essential activities for all key functional areas
• Strong management and leadership qualities with demonstrated ability to influence without authority in a complex matrixed organizational structure
• Excellent organization skills with strong attention to detail with the ability to manage competing priorities, capable of leading multiple partnerships and collaborations simultaneously
• Experience managing and resolving issues, risks, and conflicts; high level of problem-solving capability and business acumen
• High level of proficiency in G Suite or MS Office software, with technical proficiency in the use of program planning and tracking tools and systems

Outcomes:

• Success is measured not only by concrete milestones and deliverables but also the seamless collaboration across Verge and the partner organizations defined by teamwork, timely decision making, keeping to timelines, communication, and trust. 
• >90% of monthly checks indicate strong alliance and project is meeting milestones 
• Project objectives delivered in accordance to defined contractual parameters of alliance