Senior Director, Project & Portfolio Management
insitro· Technical Operations
Hybrid (South San Francisco, CA)$264k - $298kFull-timePosted 4mo ago
About the role
Senior leadership role responsible for building and leading an AI-forward Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) organization to discover and advance a high-value portfolio of drug candidates across neurological, ophthalmological, and metabolic indications. Partners with Therapeutic Area, Operations, Clinical, and Business Development to develop rightsized project strategies, integrated plans, and AI-enabled portfolio decision tools.
Responsibilities
- Partner with project team leaders to develop rightsized project strategies and create high-performance team environments
- Develop and execute high quality integrated project plans with clear timelines spanning research, discovery, clinical development, software engineering, and data science/machine learning
- Collaborate with Compute, Operations and Finance to establish agentic AI project management, decision and resource allocation tools across the portfolio
- Lead governance and portfolio planning/reviews processes with appropriate decision tools
- Lead matrix team meetings to enable collaboration, decision-making, and alignment with internal and external customers
- Manage all aspects of project scope, deliverables, risks, and resources
- Resolve complex problems and maintain positive working relationships with collaborators
- Navigate ambiguity in a dynamic startup environment and adapt priorities and resources as needed
- Self-directed and proactive with good judgment to respond quickly to changing environments
Qualifications
- BS degree required in a life science field, MS or PhD preferred
- Minimum of 15 years of experience in biotech/pharmaceutical R&D and clinical development, including 8+ years in project/portfolio leadership leading cross-functional matrix teams
- Extensive knowledge of drug development process across at least one modality (recombinant biologic, small molecule, oligonucleotide) with experience in translational stages, CMC, early commercial assessment and clinical development (IND to Phase 2)
- Strong proficiency in conventional project management tools and techniques (critical path analysis, scenario planning, budget and resource management)
- Experience designing and implementing agentic workflows in pharma/biotech
- Experience setting up or leading governance and portfolio planning/reviews with decision tools
- Understanding of metabolism, neuroscience or ophthalmology and competitive landscape
- Ability to communicate complex information to executive leaders
- Experience leading matrix teams and managing risks, resources, and deliverables
- Strong interpersonal skills for collaboration and relationship-building
- Comfort with startup dynamics, ambiguity, and shifting priorities
- Self-directed with decisive problem-solving and judgment
Skills
Required:Project and portfolio managementStrategic project planningCommunication with executives
Nice to have:AI-enabled/agentic project management
Benefits
- 401(k) plan with employer matching
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage including mental health support
- Open, flexible vacation policy
- Paid parental leave of at least 16 weeks (birth) and 10 weeks (new parent)
- Quarterly budget for books and online courses
- Support to attend professional conferences
- New hire home office setup stipend
- Monthly cell phone & internet stipend
- Free onsite baristas and daily lunch for onsite/hybrid employees
- Free commuter bus network to South San Francisco HQ
Last updated Jul 23, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About insitro
Making Medicines Differently
At insitro, we are building a different kind of drug company to bring better drugs faster to the patients who can benefit most. Through the power of machine learning (ML) and data at scale, we decode the complexities of biology to unlock transformative new medicines.
PipelinePlatformPeoplePublications & PressML-driven platformdrug discoveryneurosciencemetabolism
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