Head Business Planning and Operations, Strategy, Portfolio and Hubs (SPH)

Work Your Magic with us!  Start your next chapter and join EMD Serono.

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.

United As One for Patients, our purpose in Healthcare is to help create, improve and prolong lives. We develop medicines, intelligent devices and innovative technologies in therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Neurology and Fertility. Our teams work together across 6 continents with passion and relentless curiosity in order to help patients at every stage of life. Joining our Healthcare team is becoming part of a diverse, inclusive and flexible working culture, presenting great opportunities for personal development and career advancement across the globe.

This role does not offer sponsorship for work authorization. External applicants must be eligible to work in the US.

Your Role:

The Head Business Planning and Operations, SPH acts as Chief of Staff to the Head of SPH and ensures that the function operates with clear priorities, disciplined execution and strong decision support.  The role owns the SPH operating rhythm, including leadership-team governance, planning, budget coordination, communications, scorecards, travel/off-site planning, action tracking and continuous improvement across SPH.

Act as trusted Chief of Staff to the Head of SPH, helping translate functional strategy into clear priorities, operating plans, leadership decisions and disciplined follow-through.

Act as a key thought partner and „sounding board“ to brainstorm ideas, identify solutions and apply knowledge and expertise to problem solve.

Own the SPH leadership-team operating rhythm, including annual and quarterly planning cycles, Leadership Team agendas, meeting cadence, pre-reads, decision logs, minutes and action tracking, providing regular exposure to strategic discussions and executive decision-making.

Ensure leadership discussions are decision-oriented by preparing high-quality briefing materials, synthesizing complex input, clarifying options, escalating risks and enabling timely alignment across stakeholders.

Coordinate SPH planning, budget/resource follow-up and performance transparency, partnering with Finance, HR and relevant functional teams to maintain an integrated view of priorities, resources, commitments and delivery progress, while building strong cross-functional relationships across R&D and enabling functions.

Maintain SPH scorecards, dashboards and operating reports that provide concise visibility on key initiatives, risks, decisions, dependencies, budget status and agreed follow-up actions.

Plan and deliver SPH townhalls, leadership sessions, off-sites and key communications, ensuring agendas, storylines, materials and follow-up are purposeful, consistent and aligned with the Head of SPH priorities.

Drive continuous improvement in SPH ways of working, including simplification of processes, clarification of governance, stronger knowledge management, more effective collaboration routines and adoption of digital and AI-enabled tools.

Manage cross-functional interfaces with R&D partners, enabling functions, project teams, external vendors and senior stakeholders, ensuring strong collaboration, clear ownership and proactive resolution of operational issues, creating opportunities to develop a broad and influential network across the R&D ecosystem.

Handle confidential and sensitive materials with sound judgment, compliance awareness and discretion, including leadership matters, organizational topics, budget information and strategic documents.

Support onboarding, engagement and alignment across the SPH organization by helping connect teams, clarify expectations, reinforce priorities and ensure consistent communication of decisions and next steps, fostering strong relationships and collaboration across a diverse stakeholder community.

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications:

Degree in life sciences, medicine, business, economics, engineering or a related field required; advanced degree preferred.

10+ years of relevant experience in R&D, life sciences, healthcare, strategy, portfolio management, business operations or R&D transformation.

Preferred Qualifications:

Proven experience supporting senior leaders as Chief of Staff, business operations lead, programme lead or similar trusted partner role.

Strong track record in leadership governance, planning cycles, budget/resource coordination, executive materials and cross-functional delivery.

Location: Billerica MA

Pay Range for this position: $148,400 - $222,700

The offer range represents the anticipated low and high end of the base pay compensation for this position. The actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, level of experience, education, skills, and other job-related factors. Position may be eligible for sales or performance-based bonuses. Benefits offered by the Company include health insurance, paid time off (PTO), retirement contributions, and other perquisites. For more information click here .

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe that this variety drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!

Apply now and become a part of a team that is dedicated to Sparking Discovery and Elevating Humanity!