Associate Director – R&D Business Continuity & Crisis Management

Associate Director – R&D Business Continuity & Crisis Management

Requirements

• BS/BA Degree in Business, Information Technology, Life Sciences, or a related field required; advanced degree preferred.
• Associate Business Continuity Professional (ABCP) / Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) / ISO 22301 or similar industry recognized certification preferred
• Strong understanding of business continuity frameworks, risk management methodologies, and regulatory considerations in a R&D environment.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to translate complex challenges into clear, actionable plans.
• Ability to navigate a matrixed organization, working autonomously while building strong partnerships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, with an ability to anticipate risks and proactively address them.
• Ability to support the business during disruptive incidents, including weekends and holidays.

Responsibilities

• Assist in developing and refining the R&D BCCM program strategy, ensuring alignment with enterprise-wide resiliency program/policies and industry best practices.
• Provide support during the annual strategy-setting and prioritization process, helping to align R&D leaders on key program objectives and initiatives.
• Assist with preparing materials for senior leadership updates, business case development, and cross-functional collaboration efforts.
• Support external scans to identify program enhancement opportunities and benchmark against best-in-class operational resilience capabilities.
• Execute R&D BCCM program objectives, including development, implementation and continuous improvement of business impact assessments, business continuity plans, risk mitigation plans, and fit-for-purpose exercises.
• Develop and maintain site-specific crisis management plans for critical R&D sites.
• Manage and assign training to embed BCCM best practices and enhance organizational resilience culture.
• Conduct BCCM due diligence assessments on third parties, ensuring a resilient supply chain.
• Support crisis response efforts, including participating in the Enterprise Resiliency PMO and Crisis Event Response Team (CERT).
• Serve as a liaison between R&D and enterprise crisis response teams, facilitating information flow and ensuring timely decision-making.
• Drive continuous improvement via capturing lessons learned after actual events to refine crisis response plans and embed efficiency/productivity improvements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in crisis management and response (Geo/Political, Pandemic, Natural Disaster, Cyber) preferred
• Experience in business continuity/Risk Management preferred
• 5+ years of pharma R&D industry preferred
• Experience in crisis response leadership and issue management is a plus.