Principal Program Manager, IT Portfolio & Business Operations

PBO is establishing world-class capabilities in 3 key areas at Biogen:

• IT Planning: This includes of operational programs such as IT Strategic Planning and the Annual Operating Planning for Biogen’s ~$300M annual budget.

• IT Operations: This includes managing IT’s Financial, Human Resource, Procurement and Communications Operational Programs.

• Cross Functional Program Delivery (e.g. large, complex programs that require significant coordination of resources for successful delivery)

Key Responsibilities:

The Principal Program Manager for PBO (The PM), establishes and leads:

• Cross functional delivery programs to install new IT enabled capabilities at Biogen. Delivery programs have a fixed & finite schedule, scope and set of resources.

Cross functional programs have high degrees of:
o Shared Costs: Significant shared implementation costs (e.g. resources) across functions (e.g. Finance, HR, Supply Chain, etc.)
o Coordination: Significant coordination required across functions simultaneously.

• Operational programs to manage IT Planning and IT Operations.

Of these two program types, delivery and operational, The PM’s primary focus will be cross functional delivery programs. Cross functional programs are among Biogen’s largest and most impactful programs. They also tend to be complex. They require significant funding from different functions and coordination among functional resources.

Leading cross functional delivery programs includes:

• Establishing Subject Matter Expertise: Establishing an understanding of the subject the program addresses is essential.

• Leading (at times large) project teams.

• Establishing and managing program outcomes: maintain clear focus on targeted outcomes throughout the program’s lifecycle.

• Managing the program: Managing the program’s schedule, scope, resources (including $ and teams), risk, quality, and change (organizational, process, people, etc.).

• Governance: Ensuring the appropriate program oversight is maintained.

Establishing and running operational programs may be a PM’s secondary responsibility.

Establishing and running operational programs includes:

• Establishing Deep Subject Matter Expertise: Establishing a deep understanding of the subject the program addresses is essential.

• Defining the program: clearly documenting the program’s compelling goals/outcomes, processes, templates, tool requirements, measures, roles and responsibilities, governance, etc.

• Managing Change: In an Agile way, ensuring complete and effective adoption of the program’s stakeholders.

• Running the program: facilitating the operation of the program and being the chairperson and/or facilitator of the program’s the governance forums.

• IT Product Management: if an IT tool is central to the operational program, The Analyst may act as the product manager for that IT tool (for example: a portfolio management and financial planning tool is central to IT Strategic Planning and Annual Operating Planning, respectively).

Characteristics of the successful candidate:

The PBO team consists of:
o Program Managers who are effective team leaders
o Analysts who are superb at
o Being data-driven: establish data frameworks and collect data to make optimal data-driven decisions
o making the complex simple
o Identifying opportunities that are paired with compelling implementation plans
o identifying root-causes of problems and proposing solutions
o Strategic thinkers who bravely share clear visions of a better future for Biogen, adapt these visions based on feedback, then implement them in an Agile way.
o Facilitators who tactfully influence team members to achieve shared goals/directives.

• Experience with complex data comparisons, manipulation; ability to translate complex data into simple data-driven recommendations.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Ability to communicate complex topics to audiences with varying de

Biogen has one of the most exciting pipelines in the Biotech / Pharmaceutical industry. Over the next five years, the company plans to significantly grow its portfolio. This growth brings exciting opportunities to work with our expanding business areas. One of these opportunities is to work in IT Portfolio and Business Operations (PBO) to improve how Biogen delivers some of its largest and most complex cross-functional programs.