About the role
Work Schedule
Standard (Mon-Fri)
Environmental Conditions
Office
Job Description
The Executive Director, Biotech Client Experience & Onboarding provides enterprise-level leadership for the Client Experience & Onboarding function, with accountability for shaping how Biotech clients are onboarded, launched, and transitioned from commercial pursuit through early lifecycle delivery. This role owns the global strategy, operating model, and performance outcomes for the function, directly influencing revenue realization, repeat business, startup quality, and cost-to-serve across Biotech Operations.
The role carries full accountability for impact metrics, including authorization conversion, startup execution quality, and client satisfaction, and serves as the senior leader accountable for the Associate Director cohort’s performance, capability development, and succession readiness. The Executive Director operates with broad autonomy, sets functional direction, and partners with senior commercial and delivery leaders to enable profitable growth across a $2B+ annual authorization pipeline.
Key Responsibilities
Enterprise Strategy & Governance
Define and govern the global Client Experience & Onboarding strategy across Biotech portfolios.
Establish enterprise-wide engagement criteria, intake governance, and prioritization models aligned to commercial and operational strategy.
Design and enforce quality gates, startup KPIs, and lifecycle governance standards to ensure consistent execution at scale.
Serve as the senior decision authority for complex onboarding models, escalations, and non-standard client engagements.
Organizational Leadership & Talent Stewardship
Lead, develop, and performance-manage a global team of Associate Directors and Directors with full accountability for talent outcomes, succession planning, and organizational scalability.
Design and institutionalize training curricula, playbooks, and QA frameworks that build durable organizational capability.
Set functional goals, cascade enterprise priorities, and hold leaders accountable to measurable business outcomes.
Financial & Business Impact Ownership
Own and report on enterprise performance metrics including:Authorization-to-start hit rates for clients with smaller or emerging portfolios
Startup issue rates and time-to-initiation
Voice-of-Customer (VOC) outcomes
Cost-of-service (COS) performance
Drive corrective action plans when performance deviates from targets, with authority to reallocate resources or redesign processes.
Directly influence revenue realization, margin protection, and long-term client retention.
Risk Management & Executive Escalation
Establish early-warning indicators and predictive risk models to proactively mitigate startup and delivery risk.
Lead cross-functional escalation management for high-impact client or operational issues.
Coach leaders on root-cause analysis, remediation planning, and proactive risk prevention.
Continuous Improvement & Innovation
Translate VOC insights into systemic improvements to onboarding, bid defense readiness, and speed-to-startup pathways.
Pilot and scale concierge or differentiated onboarding offerings aligned to strategic client segments.
Continuously evolve operating models to improve efficiency, scalability, and client outcomes.
Executive & Cross-Functional Leadership
Partner with senior leaders across Sales, Delivery, Finance, Legal, and Accelerator teams to ensure commercial clarity, operational readiness, and profitable growth.
Act as a trusted executive advisor on onboarding strategy, client risk, and early lifecycle execution.
Impact & Outcomes
Drives measurable improvements in revenue realization, startup quality, and repeat business performance.
Enables scalable growth by institutionalizing consistent, high-quality onboarding across Biotech portfolios.
Strengthens client loyalty through proactive engagement, transparency, and early issue resolution.
Protects margin and cost-to-serve through disciplined governance and risk management.
Education & Experience
Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or PMP preferred.
10–15+ years of progressive leadership experience in client services, operations, or project management within complex, matrixed organizations.
Demonstrated success building and scaling global, mid-to-senior-level teams.
Proven ownership of enterprise performance metrics tied to revenue, margin, and client outcomes.
Experience leading multi-region operating models and commercial-to-delivery governance.
Skills & Capabilities
Enterprise strategy execution
Organizational design and talent leadership
Financial and performance management
Executive communication and influence
Data-driven decision-making and risk management
Education
Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or PMP preferred.
Compensation and Benefits
The salary range estimated for this position based in North Carolina is $186,700.00–$248,900.00.
This position may also be eligible to receive a variable annual bonus based on company, team, and/or individual performance results in accordance with company policy. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package that our U.S. colleagues and their families can count on, which includes:
A choice of national medical and dental plans, and a national vision plan, including health incentive programs
Employee assistance and family support programs, including commuter benefits and tuition reimbursement
At least 120 hours paid time off (PTO), 10 paid holidays annually, paid parental leave (3 weeks for bonding and 8 weeks for caregiver leave), accident and life insurance, and short- and long-term disability in accordance with company policy
Retirement and savings programs, such as our competitive 401(k) U.S. retirement savings plan
Employees’ Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) offers eligible colleagues the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount
For more information on our benefits, please visit: https://jobs.thermofisher.com/global/en/total-rewards