Associate Director - Succession and Assessment Strategy

At Bristol Myers Squibb, our employees often ask, “Who are you working for?”—a question that fuels collaboration, accountability, and urgency in our work. Our purpose-driven culture inspires us to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines to prevail over serious diseases. We offer uniquely interesting and meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and a supportive environment that values inclusion, wellbeing, flexibility, and comprehensive benefits. This is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it.

What we are looking for:

The Associate Director, Succession & Assessments serves as a key leader in building frameworks to drive leadership continuity, executive readiness, and long‑term workforce sustainability. This role leads the strategy and design of enterprise succession planning, executive assessment, and strategic workforce planning initiatives.

Who you will work with:

This position reports to the Senior Director, Enterprise Talent Processes and Enablement.

Partnering closely with senior HR leaders, Talent Partners and business stakeholders, this role ensures the organization has clear visibility into leadership pipelines, critical roles, and future capability needs. The Associate Director integrates data, assessments, and workforce insights to support thoughtful, equitable, and forward‑looking talent decisions.

Primary Responsibilities:

Succession Strategy & Critical Role Alignment

• Lead the design and evolution of enterprise succession planning and succession pool strategy across executive and enterprise critical roles.

• Define and maintain clear succession frameworks, criteria, and readiness definitions that support consistent and effective succession planning.

• Partner with Executive Talent Partners, HR Business Partners and functional leaders to identify and align critical roles and capabilities essential to business continuity and future growth.

• Identify, design and implement critical pipeline development and engagement experience

• Ensure functional succession plans are aligned with enterprise standards while reflecting unique business needs.

• Design and implement succession planning discussion tools and resources to ensure ETM’s ability to translate insights into actionable development and risk mitigation plans.

Succession Reporting, Systems & Workforce Insights

• Own succession data governance, reporting, and analytics to provide clear visibility into bench strength, readiness, and leadership risk.

• Partner with HR Operations and Technology to configure and optimize Workday succession and talent planning functionality.

• Develop and maintain dashboards and insights that support executive decision‑making and workforce planning conversations.

• Ensure data accuracy, consistency, and usability across succession and talent planning processes.

Assessment & Coaching Strategy

• Lead the strategy and design of assessment approaches, including discovery, tool selection, and application across leadership populations.

• Ensure assessments are purpose‑driven, evidence‑based, and aligned with leadership expectations and succession needs.

• Translate assessment insights into development priorities and coaching recommendations.

• Own executive coaching vendor management, including selection, contracting, oversight, and quality assurance.

• Partner with Learning, Talent, and HR Business Partners to integrate assessment and coaching insights into development and succession strategies.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s in HR, Organizational Psychology, or related field preferred.

• 7+ years of experience in succession planning, executive assessment, workforce planning, or related talent disciplines.

• Strong expertise in succession frameworks, critical role identification, and leadership readiness evaluation.

• Experience working with executive assessments and coaching providers.

• Familiarity with HR systems (Workday preferred), reporting, and talent analytics.

• Proven ability to partner with senior leaders and facilitate high‑stakes talent discussions.

• Strong analytical, strategic thinking, and problem‑solving skills.

• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management capabilities.

• Able to manage multiple, interdependent initiatives with strong execution and attention to detail.

• Comfortable operating in ambiguity while driving clarity and alignment.

We hire for skills and capabilities, not just credentials – if this role excites you, but doesn’t perfectly match your resume, we encourage you to apply anyway.

Princeton - NJ - US: $166,010 - $201,159 


The starting pay range(s) listed above is for full-time employees (FTE). You may also be eligible for additional discretionary incentive cash and stock opportunities. We determine starting pay thoughtfully – carefully considering the nature of the role, required skills, work location, schedule and the knowledge and experience you bring. Final compensation is guided by pay equity principles and applicable employment laws. Compensation programs are reviewed on an ongoing basis and may be adjusted over time to reflect evolving market factors, and individual, team or Company performance.

Benefits:

Subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans then in effect, you may be eligible to participate in our comprehensive benefit plans – including wellbeing support, retirement and financial protection benefits, and insurance offerings (medical, dental, vision, life and disability).

U.S.-based exempt employees are eligible for Flexible Time Off (FTO), which provides paid time off without a set accrual limit, subject to manager approval, along with 11 paid company holidays each year.

Non-exempt employees, RayzeBio employees, and employees located in Puerto Rico receive 160 hours of paid vacation annually for new hires (subject to manager approval), 11 paid company holidays, and 3 optional holidays.

Depending on eligibility, employees may also have access to additional time-off benefits, including paid sick leave, up to two paid volunteer days per year, summer hours flexibility, and leaves of absence for medical, personal, parental, caregiver, bereavement, or military needs. Eligible employees also enjoy an annual Global Shutdown between Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

U.S.-based job seekers can explore full benefit offerings athttps://careers.bms.com/benefits

How We Work

Where you work matters – because collaboration, innovation and patient impact happen in many settings. Our roles are structured across four work models: site-essential, site-by-design, field-based and remote-by-design. The model assigned to this role is based on its core responsibilities. Learn more at https://careers.bms.com/ways-of-working.

Supporting People with Disabilities

BMS is dedicated to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace accommodations/adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request a reasonable workplace accommodation/adjustment prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodations/adjustments in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, direct your inquiries to [email protected]. Visit careers.bms.com/eeo-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

Candidate Rights

BMS will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, pursuant to applicable laws in your area.

For roles based in Los Angeles County only:  If you live in or expect to work from Los Angeles County if hired for this position, please visit this page for important additional information: https://careers.bms.com/california-residents/

Data Protection

We will never request payments, financial information, or social security numbers during our application or recruitment process. Learn more about protecting yourself at https://careers.bms.com/fraud-protection.

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

If this posting is missing required information required by local law or incorrect, contact BMS at [email protected]with the Job Title and Requisition number. Do not send application-related inquiries to this email. To check your application status, please login to your Candidate Home Account.

R1602266 : Associate Director, Succession and Assessment Strategy