Senior Director - Strategic Project Lead

Job description

Business Introduction GSK remains committed to achieving bold commercial ambitions for the future. By 2031, we aim to deliver £40 billion in annual sales, leveraging our existing strong performance momentum to significantly increase our positive impact on the health of billions of patients globally. Our Ahead Together strategy is centered on early intervention to prevent and alter the course of disease, thereby protecting people and supporting healthcare systems. Our diverse portfolio consists of vaccines, specialty medicines, and general medicines. Through continuous innovation and a dedicated focus on scientific and technical excellence, we strive to develop and launch new, groundbreaking treatments that address critical health challenges. Position Summary GSK's R&D Digital & Tech (RDM DT) organization exists to accelerate the delivery of medicines and vaccines to patients by putting the right technology, data, and AI capabilities behind GSK R&D. You will act as the overall accountable leader for the Digital and Tech delivery of one or more large technology projects within the RDM DT portfolio of strategic programs — typically investments of £30m or more each — and own the governance, delivery, financial management, and value outcome reporting each program executes against. Your first program is likely to be GSK R&D's migration to, and adoption of, a single cloud capability from the two large strategic clouds in place today — a business-critical consolidation, expected to take 12–18 months, that underpins GSK's future cloud platform strategy and AI ambitions. This is an enterprise transformation leadership role: program leadership comes first, and deep cloud engineering expertise is not required. Our cloud and technology partners will bring migration execution expertise; you will ensure delivery, quality, governance, and business outcomes, holding those partners accountable and operating with confidence alongside GSK's most senior leaders. You will define the outcomes, secure the funding, build the team, and modernize how we deliver through AI and automation, ensuring these Tech projects are delivered on time, in full (OTIF), and to budget, in turn enabling pipeline value delivery to GSK R&D. Responsibilities This role will provide YOU the opportunity to lead key activities to progress YOUR career. These responsibilities include some of the following: Partner with senior leaders and at all levels of the project team to define program outcomes and value, and gain business case approval. Operate with confidence at the executive level, giving CIOs, executive committees, and senior business and technology leaders the governance, status reporting, and strategic oversight they need to trust the program. Define the budget and secure funding, building a financial case that holds up with finance and executive sponsors, then managing spend within budget tolerance. Establish the governance that enables delivery — the decision rights, forums, and reporting cadence that keep stakeholders aligned and programs moving. Define and manage cross-functional risks and dependencies, tracking and resolving risks, issues, and dependencies across technology functions, vendors, and business partners. Build the project team, establishing the right structure and resourcing to deliver. Own major vendor relationships — selecting solution and delivery providers, defining contracts, and leading cloud providers, consulting partners, and technology suppliers with clear contract governance and commercial accountability so they deliver on their commitments. Hold partners accountable with credibility, navigating technical discussions with cloud providers such as Microsoft or Google and with internal technology leaders, and challenging plans, estimates, and quality where needed. Deliver on time and in full, partnering across technology functions to hit 100% of agreed milestones (OTIF). Maintain strong budget discipline, keeping project spend and headcount variance within agreed thresholds. Track value delivery against the approved business case, ensuring committed value is realized and reported clearly to senior leadership. Champion AI-enabled ways of working, adopting modern AI and automation delivery methodologies that free team capacity, drive efficiencies, and accelerate migration — and challenging vendors to deliver AI-supported efficiencies of their own. Ensure compliance by design, confirming that solutions delivered meet GSK policies and standards, including GxP where applicable. Protect information security, ensuring appropriate controls are maintained throughout the delivery of the program. Drive a quality transition of solutions into BAU, with ongoing support and maintenance in place. Role-model and promote GSK's culture, focusing on trust, psychological safety, collaboration, inclusion, and brilliant basics. Attract, develop, and support outstanding people, partnering to embed learning and development initiatives. Foster a supportive, connected environment where teams are ready to thrive in an AI-driven future. Define how we keep score — delivering assigned Strategic Priority Projects to 100% of agreed milestones (OTIF), accelerating delivery cycle time through automation and AI, delivering the value committed in the business case to the agreed budget, and demonstrating improvements in culture across trust, inclusion, and brilliant basics. Why You? Basic Qualification We are seeking professionals with the following required skills and qualifications to help us achieve our goals 12+ yrs Significant experience in technology program management within a complex, global organization. Track record of leading large, complex enterprise transformation programs — global, multi-year, high-value technology initiatives such as cloud modernization, digital transformation, or enterprise platform migrations — from business case approval through delivery and transition into BAU. Direct ownership of end-to-end program outcomes, beyond PMO coordination, including governance, risk management, and complex dependency management. Proven track record of driving program delivery, automation, and cycle-time improvement, delivering strategic initiatives on time and at scale. Experience presenting to and influencing executive stakeholders, such as CIOs, executive committees, and senior business and technology leadership teams. Direct involvement in program financial management, including defining budgets, securing funding, managing spend within tolerance, and tracking value against an approved business case. Prior responsibility for owning major supplier relationships, including vendor selection, contract governance, commercial accountability, and leading consulting partners and technology providers. Working knowledge of cloud transformation concepts sufficient to engage credibly with cloud providers and technology leaders and to challenge vendors on plans and quality. Understanding of AI and automation and how they can accelerate large-scale technology delivery and migrations. Background in digital/tech, operations, or related fields. Preferred Qualification If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus Experience in pharma, life sciences, or other highly regulated environments; candidates from big tech or enterprise technology organizations looking to move into life sciences are also encouraged to apply. Experience leading large-scale cloud migration or cloud consolidation programs. Prior technical leadership experience, followed by a move into program or transformation leadership. Experience navigating GxP, information security, and compliance requirements in technology delivery. Experience leveraging AI-enabled or automated delivery methodologies to accelerate program delivery. #GSK-LI #AGTech Skills Change Management, Compliance Risk Management, Dependency Analysis, Executive Reports, Financial Acumen, Portfolio Performance Management, Portfolio Prioritization, Problem