Nearly 37 million Americans are currently affected by Chronic Kidney Disease. 37 million.
At Akebia we take that number very seriously and every day we come to work, with the purpose of bettering the lives of each person impacted by kidney disease and the renal community that serves them.
Our tenacious, passionate employees’ challenge the status quo and work to develop unique therapeutics that have the potential to set new standards of care for people living with kidney disease.
This is life-changing work, and we are all in, are you?

JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Director, Program Lead is responsible as the development program lead for late and commercial stage programs at Akebia. This individual will lead and oversee strategic planning, execution, and delivery of cross functional program plans within the organization. This role ensures alignment within corporate objectives, and serves as a key liaison between executive leadership and program teams. The Senior Director will also provide leadership to program manager(s) for their dedicated programs. This role will have direct people management responsibilities.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• Advanced degree required (i.e., PhD, PharmD, MD) and 10-15+ years of Program Management experience in the Biotech/Pharmaceutical industry.
• Solid understanding of the drug development process (steps, functions and their role, key interdependencies)
• Demonstrated ability to lead the development of complex drug development project strategy and deliver on project plans, timelines, progress, and outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience leading and motivating cross-functional teams and managing direct reports
• Outstanding leadership skills including excellent verbal and written communication skills, an innovative approach to problem-solving, and an integrated view of business and scientific issues.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Project and Microsoft PowerPoint.

• Lead the cross-functional team responsible for the continued development and lifecycle management activities for Vafseo® (vadadustat), integrating into the larger VAFSEO strategy team to ensure successful achievement of program objectives aligned with the business strategy
• Oversee program management activities for assigned programs, including planning, reporting, global risk assessment and mitigation, and lessons-learned
• Facilitate program reporting and presentation of program information to the Executive Leadership Team, Functional Heads, and other key stakeholders
• Provide systems oversight to support capacity planning
• Work with Program Leads and Program Managers across other programs to establish best practices and consistent standards, using the same dashboards, formats, approaches, etc. to drive efficiency, alignment, and effective planning with the program management group
• Contribute to long-range planning (LRP) and budgetary planning at the program level
• Drive a performance-based culture through accountability, coaching and mentoring of direct reports, and providing regular feedback to foster leadership, strategic thinking, and business acumen
• Facilitate decision-making, collaboration, and problem-solving with people at all levels of the organization to accomplish shared program goals
• Effectively manage multiple projects and responsibilities concurrently
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced innovative environment while remaining flexible, proactive, resourceful and efficient are essential
• Ability to integrate cross-functional issues and balance competing priorities effectively
• Proven ability to communicate clearly and present key information objectively and collaborate effectively with management
• Demonstrated ability to clearly and concisely communicate/ prepare presentations for management