Director, Functional Lead, Global Functional Center of Excellence

Job description

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. The Functional Lead provides strategic and functional leadership for the Global Trial Lead (GTL) organization across an assigned Therapeutic Area or TA cluster or Pillar. The role is accountable for building and sustaining GTL capability, leading talent and succession management, and aligning workforce capacity, skills, and deployment with evolving portfolio and study needs in partnership with Operational Program Leaders and other key stakeholders. The Functional Lead strengthens organizational performance by fostering an engaged GTL/GTA community, providing functional coaching and guidance, and establishing consistent functional standards, playbooks, and ways of working across therapeutic areas and geographies. The role monitors functional performance and workforce trends, identifies systemic risks and capability gaps, and translates insights into targeted actions that improve quality, efficiency, and trial execution. In addition, the Functional Lead provides strategic leadership for an enterprise-wide functional portfolio—such as Capability, Talent, Resource Management, Functional Excellence, Digital and Innovation, or Ways of Working—and contributes to the evolution of the GTL operating model. Acting as a change leader and functional subject matter expert, the role champions continuous improvement, digital and AI-enabled transformation, and cross-functional initiatives that strengthen the scalability, consistency, and long-term effectiveness of the GTL function. Disclaimer: The responsibilities listed below are a summary; other responsibilities will be assigned as required. Reporting Relationship Reports to the Head of Global Trial Functional Center. Functional leadership scope: GTLs across the full career ladder – GTL, Senior GTL, Associate Director GTL and Director GTL. Operates through a defined decision-rights interface with OPLs (operational demand, priorities and study-performance feedback); TA Heads (TA context and strategy); Operational excellence process lead (process improvement); and any relevant Department or function Head or their representatives within and above GDO (streamline collaboration and ways of working) Partners with the GTL Resourcing Lead on demand–supply balancing and with enterprise functions on the assigned horizontal portfolio. Key Responsibilities 1. Develop & Sustain GTL Capability (Competency, Upskilling, Career Paths) -          Lead the development and execution of GTL capability strategies by driving competency assessments, identifying skill gaps, implementing targeted upskilling initiatives, and establishing standardized best practices that enhance individual and organizational performance. -          Define and evolve the GTL career architecture by overseeing career pathways, mentoring programs, cross-TA development opportunities, and future-ready workforce strategies, including adaptation of roles, skills, and ways of working in response to AI and automation advancements. 2. Right GTL – Right Study: Workforce Planning & Capacity (with OPL) Collaborate with OPL Line Manager on GTL capacity planning, skill-to-study matching, workload balancing, deployment, and rebalancing across the assigned TA or TA cluster or Pillar and ensure alignment with portfolio priorities and demand. Drive continuous, forward-looking workforce planning by translating evolving portfolio demand and capacity forecasts into resource requirements, hiring plans, hub and location strategies, and future GTL capability requirements. Partner with OPLs to define annual core objectives for GTLs and enable their appropriate adaptation, ensuring they can be tailored to the priorities and operational requirements of individual trials. 3. Talent Management: Recruitment, Onboarding, Succession & Retention undefined 4. Build GTL/GTA Community & Knowledge Sharing Lead the development of an engaged GTL/GTA community by promoting continuous learning, providing functional coaching and guidance, addressing capability and resource challenges, and enabling strong partnership and feedback loops across operational and matrix leadership teams. 5. Drive Functional Standards & Continuous Improvement -          Lead the development, implementation, and governance of GTL functional standards, playbooks, and ways of working across therapeutic areas and geographies. Drive harmonization of processes, facilitate the sharing of lessons learned and best practices, and ensure consistent adoption of standardized approaches that improve trial execution, reduce variability, and strengthen operational quality across the GTL organization. -          Own functional performance oversight for assigned Pillar by establishing and monitoring key performance indicators, conducting trend analyses, identifying systemic barriers and organizational risks, and translating insights into targeted improvement initiatives. Partner with Operational Program Leaders (OPLs), GTL leadership, and cross-functional stakeholders to drive accountability, close feedback loops, and continuously enhance organizational effectiveness. -          Provide strategic leadership for enterprise-wide functional portfolios, such as Talent, Capability, Functional Excellence, Resource Management, Digital & Innovation, or Ways of Working. Ensure alignment and consistency across TA or TA clusters or Pillar, lead cross-functional initiatives, and contribute to shaping future operating models, workforce strategies, and investment priorities that advance the GTL function globally. Champion transformation, innovation, and organizational effectiveness by driving adoption of digital solutions, AI-enabled capabilities, and simplified ways of working. Serve as a functional SME and change leader for process improvement initiatives, support departmental budgeting and resource planning, and partner with the Functional Head to define, implement, and sustain Centers of Excellence that enhance capability, scalability, and long-term organizational performance. Qualifications & Experience Education/Experience/Licenses/Certifications BA/BS in a relevant discipline required; advanced degree in life sciences or healthcare preferred. 12+ years in pharmaceutical clinical development or clinical operations, including functional leadership of clinical trial professionals in a matrix environment; hands-on experience leading global trials strongly preferred. For expanded-scope assignments, experience influencing leaders and owning a function-wide or enterprise-level initiative is preferred. Demonstrated track record building capability systems at scale: competency frameworks, structured upskilling programs, succession planning and talent pipelines. Demonstrated Clinical Trial Delivery process improvement. Hands-on experience with workforce planning, capacity analytics and skill-based deployment models. Proven change leadership through organizational transformation, including hub build-up or operating-model transitions. Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Ability to manage global teams through indirect leadership within a matrix organization. Fluency in the GTL role end-to-end and the clinical trial delivery ecosystem sufficient to assess capability credibly — without assuming delivery accountability. Data-driven decision making: comfort with workforce analytics, study-level KPI frameworks, dashboarding and trend interpretation; experience standing up or operating a Center of Excellence, PMO or equivalent